4 ms·

I don't think "overpriced" is a valid criticism of a system built to funnel money from people with disposable income to artists. It seems to reflect a distaste

I don't think "overpriced" is a valid criticism of a system built to funnel money from people with disposable income to artists. It seems to reflect a distaste for the entire concept of arts patronage. Other things that are overpriced to a pure pragmatist: getting your name in the credits of a video by a youtube creator you'd like to support. Tickets to a recital for a recent graduate raising money to travel during audition season. Getting a museum wing named after you. Appointing a poet laureate. If you want to live in a world where artists can afford to devote a majority of their time to their art instead of day jobs, you have to tolerate that systems are built to fund them, even if you balk at some of the most sensational price tags or artists' tastes.

egypturnash 5y ago
Patreon is a thing that works to funnel money from people with disposable income to artists without any involvement of The World's Most Inefficient Database, aka "blockchain". It pays most of my bills. The name is literally a riff on "patron".
throwaway17_17 5y ago
NFTs are not being seen or used as a ‘system built to funnel money … to artists’. That maybe one vision you have for them, but it is not the artists getting paid for the NFTs. Some company that is hosting/running/administering a blockchain is getting money. There have been numerous cases and public postings about these companies selling NFTs to buyers and the artist did not know, authorize, or consent to the sale. Sure, maybe that is one possible usage, i.e. artists getting paid for art, but for now there doesn’t seem to be any patronage happening. It’s all corporate press pushes or scammy looking behaviors.
- xkapastel 5y ago
  That's clearly untrue, there are plenty of artists being paid for art with NFTs. Just go on NFT Twitter and look.
throwhauser 5y ago
How much of the money is going to artists though, and how much to opportunistic NFT "drops" of random junk that are borrowing legitimacy from actual artists?
dmitriid 5y ago
> a system built to funnel money from people with disposable income to artists If you think NFTs are such a syste, you're mistaken.

egypturnash 5y ago

Patreon is a thing that works to funnel money from people with disposable income to artists without any involvement of The World's Most Inefficient Database, aka "blockchain". It pays most of my bills. The name is literally a riff on "patron".

throwaway17_17 5y ago

NFTs are not being seen or used as a ‘system built to funnel money … to artists’. That maybe one vision you have for them, but it is not the artists getting paid for the NFTs. Some company that is hosting/running/administering a blockchain is getting money. There have been numerous cases and public postings about these companies selling NFTs to buyers and the artist did not know, authorize, or consent to the sale. Sure, maybe that is one possible usage, i.e. artists getting paid for art, but for now there doesn’t seem to be any patronage happening. It’s all corporate press pushes or scammy looking behaviors.

xkapastel 5y ago
That's clearly untrue, there are plenty of artists being paid for art with NFTs. Just go on NFT Twitter and look.

throwhauser 5y ago

How much of the money is going to artists though, and how much to opportunistic NFT "drops" of random junk that are borrowing legitimacy from actual artists?

dmitriid 5y ago

> a system built to funnel money from people with disposable income to artists If you think NFTs are such a syste, you're mistaken.