An Artist's Journey in the World of NFTs and Crypto

It all started because I was procrastinating. When you work from home as a freelancer, it can be easy to let yourself go to laziness from time to time (at least in my case).

So one of these mornings, even though I had tons of work lined up for clients, I decided to chill and watch something on YouTube. I was browsing videos on my feed and suddenly, one of them caught my attention.

$69 Million for a JPEG File — The Wild World of NFTs

I stared at my screen in disbelief for a few seconds. If this was a video from some unknown YouTuber, I would’ve probably taxed it as clickbait, but the video was from a channel I know and like so I clicked the link and watched… and then…

!*@(BOOOMMMM!!!#(*$KAPOW!!%^&*#(

(That was the sound of my brain exploding.)

I was mind blown. Where was I living all this time? I’m an artist, I’m tech-savvy, I even know how to code… and I never heard about the NFT revolution?

If you’ve been living under a rock the same way I was and just stumbled on this blog post through pure randomness without knowing what an NFT is, everything I’m about to say might sound very confusing. If you’re interested in diving into the subject, I highly recommend you read this extensive article:

The Non-Fungible Token Bible: Everything you need to know about NFTs

Taken from this post, here’s a general definition of what is an NFT.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique, digital items with blockchain-managed ownership. Examples include collectibles, game items, digital art, event tickets, domain names, and even ownership records for physical assets.

So in a nutshell, creating an NFT means you’re taking something and turning it into a one-of-a-kind item (or a limited series of items) by creating a smart contract on the blockchain. It’s that scarcity coupled with the proof of authenticity that has the potential to make some NFTs so valuable. Many artists are turning to NFTs as a new way to commercialize their art because of the appeal they have for collectors and art lovers. Digital art NFTs are assets, similar to owning a unique artwork. That’s why they appeal not only to art lovers and collectors but also to people who are looking for profitable ways to invest their money.

What got me into NFTs is NOT the promise of money

Now before I go on, I just want to specify something important. I know many people are interested in NFTs because of the potential financial rewards and yes, this side is definitely interesting. For artists and creatives like me, it’s great to find opportunities that can help us monetize our art and raise our social status above the survival line. But that’s not the main reason why I said my mind was blown.

You see, in the days leading to my unexpected discovery, I was facing an artistic conundrum.

I’m a musician, singer, writer, and live coder. All of these elements are an important part of my creative universe as a whole. Live coding is a great way for me to express myself because it allows me to combine my love for programming with my love for music. Because I’m using Sonic Pi and its language is very readable (it’s based on the Ruby programming language), I can even push that further by incorporating some storytelling in my performances. In live coding performances, the audience sees all the code being typed on the screen, which adds an extra layer to how the performer can communicate.

But I’m also a creative nonfiction writer and memoirist. I love to tell stories about my adventures traveling the world, and about my journey through healing, self-transformation, and the development of my creative process.

But here’s the thing, how do I unite these worlds together? I was racking my brain trying to understand which ways and which platform would be best suited to give people the full experience I want to communicate. If I publish an essay, I can add a link to a music track or video in my post but people interested to read are not necessarily interested in listening. Similarly, if I release a track on some platform, even though I can put a link to the story that it relates to, most people who will find the track are there to listen, not necessarily to read.

I was scratching my head to understand what’s the best platform for me to focus on and how to give people that full experience that is not only the written words and not only the music but a combination of all these elements together.

Then, I discovered NFTs and everything just clicked.

I can take all these different parts that relate to one another and bundle them in a coherent experience inside one NFT. I can put together an audio file, digital art, a beautifully designed e-book with lyrics and a personal essay, a unique video clip, the Sonic Pi code I wrote to play the song live along with a sample pack for someone who wants to have fun playing it or remixing it, and more. The possibilities are endless! There are just so many ways to be creative in how you present your art.

This got me thinking and I came up with a general idea for different NFT experiences. For example, here’s what I’m working on doing for one of my songs I released in 2017 called “Paradise”.

I’m creating four different experiences and tailored towards people with slightly different interests.

1. Paradise-Experiencing

For someone interested mainly in owning the audio file. This NFT contains a link to an audio file hosted on IPFS and a collection of beautiful wallpapers, both for desktop and mobile, made from stills taken from the official Paradise video clip.

2. Paradise-Expressing

Same as above, with the addition of a beautifully designed e-book with the lyrics of the song and a personal note written by me.

3. Paradise-Manifesting

This one is specially tailored for someone that has more interest in playing with the song, either by live coding with Sonic Pi or by remixing it in a DAW.

It will contain:

• everything listed above in the previous NFTS (an IPFS link to the audio file, the wallpapers, and the PDF with lyrics and a personal note)
• a Ruby file with the Sonic Pi code
• a sample pack if someone wants to remix it

4. Paradise-Beyond

That’s the ultimate experience. Everything that for me creates the whole universe for this song. It will have everything listed above (the audio, wallpapers, e-book with lyrics and a personal note, the Ruby file with the code, and the sample pack) but in addition, the e-book will contain a personal essay I wrote about self-transformation and reinventing yourself and your reality (which are the roots of how this song came to life, as I explain in the essay).

That’s my master plan.

If this model works for this song, I intend to keep it for creating new NFTs with other tracks I released. The first NFT, Paradise-Experiencing, is already created and is currently on auction on Mintable.

To be continued…

In Part 2 of these chronicles, I’ll give you all the details on how I did my research for the best platform to create and sell my NFT, why I chose Mintable, why I’m using IPFS and how I’m doing it, and how I started to go down and down the rabbit hole of cryptocurrencies, which is why I’m here writing on this platform.

I’m documenting my process so that I can write about it here and share it with you, so if you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments below! Or even better, leave me a tip. This will help me know that what I’m writing is interesting to some of you and will encourage me to keep going in publishing these updates.

And if you’re also tumbling down the world of NFTs at the moment, feel free to connect with me through social, I’d love to hear from other people and artists going through a similar process.

In the meantime, if you’re curious, you can view my first NFT for sale on Mintable.

This story was originally published by Mynah Marie on Publish0x