Thread by @punk6529

1/ OK, last NFT photography thread this weekend to try to consolidate a bit my thoughts on what we discussed.

I think it is important for me to share first my view of the medium-term future of photography NFTs because I think it makes a lot of the rest more clear

2/ My general view of photography NFTs circa 2025 is:

- Infinite collections
- Infinite artists (pros and advanced amateurs)
- Infinite very decent photography NFTs
- Average selling price: 0.00 ETH
- Average licensing revenue: $0.00
- Average print sales: Close to zero

3/ Photography already has tremendous supply.

The reason micro-stock sites exist is not because corporations are evil or something strange like that.

It is because there are an awful lot of pretty decent photographers who enjoy photography and will accept the marginal income

4/ This is going to be accelerated with NFTs.

For the first time, everyone, pro or amateur, in whatever country in the world, will have access to the exact same distribution and monetization platform.

And from countries where 1ETH is an annual salary for many...

5/ So if, as a photographer, your implicit strategy is that there is going to be some type of global floor on, I dunno, prices of good landscape photographs of beaches, I regret to inform you that this is not a good business strategy.

You have to think harder than this

6/ The easiest thing for 6529 to do is to just send hopium into my feed. I already collect a lot so I obviously support artists.

If I just say "LFG, all artists are GMI!" then I will get a lot of likes and nice looking 🚀🥳🔥🙏 emojis in return

7/ But this would be a lie and 6529 does not lie, even in exchange for cool emojis

8/ If you are in NFT photography *today*, congratulations you are super early and you have a chance to make it!

But you have to have a plan to make it and that plan is not "but my prints are going to be very valuable when 1,000,000 other photographers onboard"

9/ My base level recommendation for an emerging photographer today in the NFT space is "build 1,000 true fans".

You can read about it here and it still stands 1000%.

This is a default great strategy.

https://twitter.com/punk6529/status/1438042185207799812

10/ Note that the thread says "for emerging photographers"

If you are already a famous, awarding-winning, well-compensated or otherwise elite photographer, this thread is not for you.

🤝you have already made it and don't need my advice

11/ Now what I have been trying to say all weekend is beyond "1,000 true fans" there may be another strategy to experiment with and that strategy is "use the network for you, not against you"

@punk4156 said the most powerful 3 words in NFTs "provenance not copyright"

12/ This does not mean we want your copyrights. What it means is that for the first time we know with certainty who the owner of a digital art good actually is.

In which case, there is always the OG token holder and the viral stuff is often just marketing for the token

13/ When I first rolled on twitter, a lot of people tried to "Right Click Save As" punk 6529.

I serenely told them "go right ahead" because there is no actual question who owns this punk and if you want to do unpaid marketing for me, be my guest

14/ Rights Models:
a) Artist keeps all rights: 99.9999999% of NFTs
b) Commercial rights shared with collector
c) Commercial rights to collector
d) Non-commercial rights to world
e) All rights to world

There are nuances but these are the big buckets

15/ So far in NFTs, we have seen:

- overwhelmingly type a
- A bit of type b, with BAYC and Meebits
- The first large type e) with @cathsimard_ and @gmoneyNFT leading the charge

16/ I try to imagine if I were the business manager for an emerging NFT photographer. Here is what I conclude:

a) 99% of cases the photographer would make more money 😉
b) I would aim for 1,000 true fans
c) I would do some careful experiments w/rights

17/ I am not saying abandon model a). Right now it is the base model that everyone understands.

But you likely have hundreds or thousand of photographs.

Why not experiment with different models w/ a couple & particularly e) that gets the network maybe working for you

18/ Releasing work under a Creative Commons 0 license is nothing new in the world.

The new part is releasing under a Creative Commons 0 license and having 6529 or @gmoneyNFT pay you to do so!

19/ The way I analyze the proposition it is the following:

Donate a work to the world ✅
Get paid ✅
If you get lucky, get some marketing* ✅

* Not a guarantee, but whatever, you were paid for this work.

20/ I also think this is an excellent use of crowd purchases.

I might only have the budget for 1ETH or 5ETH or 10ETH to push this forward.

But if there is an important meme or photo we want to set free and still respect the artist, we can group buy it and set it free!

21/ To summarize:
a) You need a plan
b) There are many different types of plans
c) You should pick the right plan for you
d) Testing different rights for different photos can be part of your plan (it is just a tool in your toolbox, nothing more than that)

22/ And of course, I ♥️ you, I ♥️ art, I ♥️ photography, I want all of you to make it

🥳🚀🙏

LFG!