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BEST SELLING PRODUCTS
Published
6 months agoon
By
Urban Moolah
In 2021, we witnessed a new creator economy born on the blockchain. Throughout the year, artists have risen to NFT superstardom, billion-dollar brands have been forged in the span of a few months and NFTs have changed lives time and time again. Yet, the most inspiring aspect of the NFT space is the fact that artists of all creeds and mediums have found community, support, and financial security by embracing this technology.
In keeping with our mission to empower creators, we’re excited to introduce Next Up — our new franchise dedicated to showcasing rising artists. In our inaugural edition, we curated a list of 22 ascendant talents who are poised to make major waves in 2022. Every month going forward, we’ll also be curating a more intimate Next Up selection to provide a regular platform to up-and-comers across the space.
Without further ado, nft now’s 22 Next Up ones to watch in 2022.
After receiving a coveted XCOPY co-sign, Alpha Centauri Kid captivated the NFT space in October with his record-setting genesis auction on SuperRare for “ctrl + alt + generate.” The piece sold to 6529 for 165.29 ETH ($606,568) following a pitched bidding war involving leading collectors like Cozomo de’ Medici and Starry Night Capital. ACK recently made his major auction house debut in the nft now x Christie’s x OpenSea auction with a standout piece called “girl with balloon” that shockingly transformed into “pepe with balloon” upon its sale in Banksyesque fashion. – Matt Medved
Andrea Oshea is a 3D animator and prominent Black crypto artist based in Atlanta, Ga. He’s worked with Snapchat, Adult Swim, Vogue, Netflix, and more, and has described his art as being “inspired by aesthetic beauty, luxury, storytelling, the future and the feeling of limitless moments.”
Oshea has released numerous influential pieces throughout 2021, including a tribute to Chadwick Boseman titled A Young Boy’s Dream. To close out the year, his piece Ego Death was sold as part of Christie’s first-ever on-chain auction, presented as part of nft now x Christie’s “The Gateway”. – Langston Thomas
Here’s an overview of my latest music NFT and how it’s gonna work, which I think could be an interesting possibility for how music artists use NFT technology in the future.
Reply here if you have any questions & my DMs are open! pic.twitter.com/HO5d20lEdJ
— blackdave.eth (@BlackDave) December 19, 2021
Black Dave is a visual artist, producer, and recording artist based out of Charleston, S.C. Dave is a prolific creative working on multiple projects across various mediums all at once, citing anime, rap, hardcore rock and streetwear as his biggest creative influences. He’s continued to churn out a wide variety of both music and NFT releases throughout the year, establishing himself as one of the most prominent Black voices in the NFT space. – LT
Landscape photography NFTs have enjoyed a renaissance over the past year, empowering a new class of intrepid explorers like Cath Simard. The Sony Alpha ambassador rose to prominence in the space following the 100 ETH ($303,481) sale of her viral #FreeHawaiiPhoto to notable collector GMoney, which became the world’s first image to have its rights released following purchase. Cath is also deep in the NFT space, and when she’s not spelunking through frozen caves and capturing aurora borealis, she can often be found advocating for her favorite project – the cult classic CryptoDickbutts. – MM
Compusophy is an anonymous artist that melds tech and visual art. Having burst onto the scene towards the beginning of 2021, he first started gaining a following through minimalistic, geometric pieces that many felt were an homage to blue-chip artist Pak.
After an abrupt disappearance in April that shocked many in his collector community, the enigmatic creator returned to the NFT space and hit the ground running with numerous giveaways, Twitter analytics events, and auctions. Having garnered support from numerous prominent crypto artists, it seems likely Compu will continue to outdo himself in 2022. – LT
Diana Sinclair is a 17-year-old critically acclaimed visual artist, activist, and curator. In Nov 2020, she was selected as a 2021 YoungArts National Finalist in Photography and has since easily become a staple of the NFT space.
Primarily focusing on art that explores identity, self-exploration, and social justice, Sinclair had already built up a robust network of support within the NFT space before making history via their work on OneOf’s Whitney Houston auction. The landmark $999,999 sale not only helped illustrate how NFTs can help bring iconic artists into a new era of music culture, but also elevated Sinclair’s status as an ascendant star. – LT
Isaac Wright, better known by his moniker Drift, is a photographer who went viral over the past year after being arrested at gunpoint for climbing a skyscraper in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally a hobbyist urban explorer, Wright gained notoriety via his pictures atop buildings, bridges and other high-elevation places usually unreachable by a lone human.
While Wright’s Where My Vans Go photo series has become a highly coveted collection in the NFT space, his art has continued to earn him prosecution for trespassing. Yet, as a judge ruled in favor of treatment and no jail time, settling the six felony charges against him, the NFT space as a whole seems to be expecting more groundbreaking photography from him in 2022. – LT
One of the most notable artists to come out of the hic et nunc ecosystem on the Tezos blockchain, Fiedler pairs throwback GIF art with neon colors that memorably contrast with his work’s sci-fi/horror subject matter. The Brazilian artist has become instantly recognizable and now counts luminaries like XCOPY among his collectors. He’s also got a penchant for philanthropy, recently releasing an edition of 100 to help feed needy families in Curitiba. – MM
Gossamer Rozen (aka Grelysian) is a non-binary, transgender, Filipino/African American artist who has continued to push the boundaries of both their physical and digital art in 2021. While Rozen has worked on a wide array of solo and collaborative NFT endeavors (including the popular Woodies project) throughout the year, they continue to focus on expressing intimacy and self-actualization through tattooing, woodcarving, textile art, soft sculpture, digital media and more. – LT
Gremplin is a visual artist who started his deep dive into NFTs in January of 2021. After slowly releasing wide variety of pieces and projects, the anonymous artist developed his own signature style through trial and error, gaining popularity in the NFT space.
After being involved with numerous projects throughout the year — including the successful Nouns NFT project — the enigmatic creator came out with the now massively popular CrypToadz collection. While Gremplin has only just begun to truly define his own artistic identity in the NFT space, with the seemingly full support of the NFT community at his disposal, exciting new endeavors from the independent creative seem inevitable in 2022. – LT
(1/6) Over the weekend I silently released a 20ETH crowdfund for my forthcoming project, I’M TIRED OF BEING HYPERSURVEILLED, and we’re already at 3.75ETH ($16,241.44)!!
I felt the need to write an open letter & thread to talk more about it allhttps://t.co/Pkz6Wn5lOg
— HENO.eth 🇪🇹🇪🇷 (@mynameisheno) December 7, 2021
A first-generation Ethiopian/Eritrean-American artist and musician whose work focuses on the Black consciousness, Heno channeled his toxic experiences with law enforcement into a fourteen-track album titled “I’m Tired Of Being Hypersurveilled” with an ongoing 20 ETH crowdfund. In October, he performed at the opening of Umba Daima’s Crossroads Exhibition NFT gallery in Atlanta and has been a vocal advocate for Black creatives in the space. – MM
Jake Osmun, better known in the NFT space as JakeTheDegen or JAKΞ, is a music photographer turned crypto artist who has seen continuous success in 2021. Having started out the year with little experience in NFTs, he began his deep dive into the space after winning Punk #5514 from Punk4156 via a Twitter contest. Although he was grinding for a good few months to establish a solid foothold in the space, his multimedia pieces have continued to earn him accolades from top-tier artists and collectors. – LT
NFTs are poised to disrupt the film industry, particularly in helping independent filmmakers crowdfund projects and independently monetize intellectual property. Acclaimed photographer Julie Pacino is a living case study for this new model. She recently released her “Keepers of the Inn” project to finance her forthcoming feature film, I Live Here Now, which is based on her cinematic genesis NFT photography collection by the same name. – MM
Klara Vollstaedt is a transgender artist from Canada whose work analyzes the divide between the digital and the real world, as well as the personas and relationships that exist within it. She started out the year with a barrage of impressive 1/1 3D pieces before pivoting to conceive her adorable PFP project KBOTs. With a successful avatar series under her belt, Vollstaedt will continue to develop in all creative endeavors in 2022. – LT
Music video NFTs are poised to have a moment and no one is doing them better than Latashá. The Brooklyn-born singer and rapper recently set a new music NFT record on Zora with her stunning video for “GOGO WYNE,” which sold for 13.4207 ETH ($50,398). In between divining fortunes and dancing in dazzling outfits, Latashá somehow also finds time to run community programming for Zora and help onboard and educate newcomers to the NFT space. – MM
Connor Campbell, better known by his moniker LEViT∆TE, is an audiovisual artist based out of California. Recently, he joined a collaborative effort to mint and auction Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht’s genesis NFT.
Although Campbell began minting and selling his own NFTs in July of 2020, he has continued to work behind the scenes on visuals for numerous big-name music and NFT projects. Considering Ulbricht’s genesis NFT — which was unveiled at nft now x Christie’s “The Gateway” — sold for $6.27 million, LEViT∆TE enters 2022 as an integral part of the NFT ecosystem. – LT
A 3D artist and music producer who has worked with some of the top artists and brands in the world, including Kanye West’s “Donda” show and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade NFT drop, REO is now coming into his own as an artist. In November, his “emersion” genesis piece on SuperRare sold to Mondoir for 12 ETH ($51,403) in an auction that featured bids from the likes of FVCKRENDER, BT, ThankYouX, and more. – MM
Self-described as the “first and only drag artist on SuperRare,” Sam J unapologetically explores their queer identity in colorful animated pieces that count tastemaking artists like Fewocious, Claire Silver, Erin Beesley among their collectors. Based in Amsterdam, Sam J has displayed works at RAREWORLD: SuperRare x SuperWorld Miami and Amsterdam Fashion Week. – MM
A prolific generative artist who wears many hats and monikers, sgt_slaughtermelon first caught our attention with his whimsical modernist project Lazlo Lissitsky before rising to prominence with his Art Blocks Factory autoRAD drop in collaboration with Tartaria Archivist. He recently announced a Tezos collection called “The Lost Works of Sargei Slaughtermelovich,” proving that his algorithmic inspiration still cannot be confined to one name or blockchain. – MM
Shaylin Wallace certainly lives up to her name, attracting attention across the NFT space over the past year with her stunning surrealist works on platforms like Foundation, Makersplace, Async Art and KnownOrigin. The 22-year-old artist recently showcased at the nft now x Christie’s “The Gateway” gallery during Art Basel Miami and is clearly positioned to build upon her current momentum in the year to come. – MM
SHL0MS is an anonymous artist who aims to push boundaries and challenge perceptions of what constitutes art. As a prominent member of the non-fungible community, SHL0MS has not only greatly contributed to NFT meme culture, but continues to turn heads with unique, complex drops akin to digital performance art. With a presence that lies somewhere between shitposter extraordinaire and NFT social commentator, SHL0MS is only getting started. – LT
happy that my auction for by now is included in this list.
sold 2.3% of the master recording in perpetuity for 11ETH to a fan back in April and have been nonstop ever since. https://t.co/GYOXJTiSg5
— VÉRITÉ (@Verite) December 16, 2021
NFTs are changing the game for independent musicians. Brooklyn singer/songwriter VÉRITÉ was an early mover in the space, selling 2.3% of her “By Now” master recording in perpetuity for 11 ETH on Zora in April. In addition to inspiring other indie artists and making our list of the top music NFT moments of 2021, VÉRITÉ has been actively releasing music NFTs on medium-native platforms like Catalog and Sound.xyz. – MM
The second-annual Zoratopia event — presented by community-led platform, Zora — was held this week during NFT.NYC. The goal of the event was to showcase the diversity present in the NFT space by featuring an array of creators who have innovated in all sectors of the NFT and Zora ecosystems.
Spanning three days of programming, Zoratopia was spearheaded by a mish-mash of influential creators, including Zora’s own head of community programming, Latashá. Kicking off with yoga and brunch on June 21 at Gaia Nomaya in Brooklyn, the first day of activities drew to a close with music and art. Headlining the slew of art performances for the day’s guests were BXB Love, Blaire WYMN, and Jem Gold.
The following day saw panels featuring industry leaders. These segments, dubbed The New Internet Panel, touched on topics such as building tools for emerging mindsets, and how diversity will play a crucial role in building the future of Web3. Each of Zoratopia’s events brought out a diverse — and at times, a predominantly non-white — audience that spoke to Zora’s mission of inclusiveness, curating events that accurately represent the NFT space as a whole. The second day also saw a photoshoot for members of Zora’s NFT fam in attendance.
On the third and final day of the event, Zora hosted what was surely one of the most sizable undertakings of all the NFT.NYC satellite events. Beginning with an NFT exhibit promising attendees exclusive (and free) access to merchandise, the day’s events segued into a raucous afterparty starting at 6 p.m. EDT: the Zoratopia Ravey Bashment. Throughout the night, influential acts like TOKiMONSTA, Iman Europe, Mick Jenkins, and Latashá herself graced the venue’s two stages.
These performances were accompanied by NFT displays, immersive art installations, and free food and drink keeping attendees flowing through the Knockdown Center in Queens, New York.
Published
5 hours agoon
June 24, 2022By
Urban Moolah
Just when we thought the 2022 crypto timeline couldn’t get any crazier, deceased American tech retailer RadioShack has been resurrected on Twitter as a snarky Web3 brand. Instead of a one-stop-shop for batteries, computer cables, and remote-control toys, theonce-beloved electronics dealer has been reinvigorated as a cryptocurrency swap.
RadioShack has actually existed as a Web3 company for a couple of years now (don’t fret, this isn’t some sort of Mandela effect) thanks to the handiwork of entrepreneur investors Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez.
Old business plan: politely sell hdmi cords to customers.
New business plan: snappin necks and cashin checks bitches.
— RatioShack (@RadioShack) June 23, 2022
It all dates back to November 2020 when the aforementioned Mehr and Lopez made headlines after they bought RadioShack out of bankruptcy. While the deal definitely raised some eyebrows at the time, the company’s recent social media campaigns have been drawing quite a bit of attention in the NFT and crypto space.
Reportedly spearheaded by influential NFT collector fxnction, the RadioShack Twitter as of late has been on a tirade, roasting NFT traders, calling out other discontinued brands, and engaging in witty (and sometimes vulgar) back and forths with members of the NFT community. Yet it seems the stunt was mostly a bid for the attention of the greater NFT ecosystem as RadioShack looks to compete with other crypto swaps and exchanges during a bear market.
Stunt or not, once the news was out that fxnction was behind RadioShack’s snarkiness, many other prominent NFT personalities joined in on the joke, engaging in some (probably much-needed) blockchain comedy relief. Although it remains to be seen if RadioShack will keep up its streak as a hot topic, the simple fact that a retro brand has transformed into a fully-fledged Web3 entity is truly incredible.
Published
6 hours agoon
June 24, 2022By
Urban Moolah
One of the most challenging aspects of buying and selling NFTs is finding the right one to purchase. Choosing the perfect NFT for your collection can be as simple as browsing a marketplace in search of art you enjoy (much like browsing through items on Amazon). This is where many people get their start in the NFT world.
But NFTs offer a lot more than just art. Smart contracts in NFTs (bits of computer code that allow them to be minted and traded without third parties) let owners access unique assets contained within the NFT, manage their transferability, and more. There’s also a massive social aspect to buying an NFT. When you become an NFT owner, you become a part of a project’s community, led by a team that (often) has plans to expand the project for months and years to come.
There are plenty of good reasons to buy NFTs, and each person in the community has their own motivation for doing so. To be clear this is not financial advice — never spend more than you’re willing to lose. But if you’re ready to find the NFT that’s right for you, this guide covers everything you need to know. To make things easy to digest, we’ve broken things down based on the primary reasons people generally have for buying NFTs: To empower artists, for collectibility, to use as an investment, and to join a community.
One of the best things about the advent of NFTs is that they enable artists to directly profit from their work, removing the need to go through intermediaries like large, cumbersome cultural institutions. This empowerment is one of the main things we celebrate here at nft now. It has opened up a new creative economy for all kinds of artists, including musicians, who have long languished in the shadow of unfair treatment by streaming services like Spotify.
Finding an artist you are already a fan of on the NFT marketplace can be a bit of a challenge as the industry is still in its infancy. While several well-known artists have taken to NFTs, many have yet to. That said, thousands and thousands of artists sell them, giving you a great chance to discover artwork and creatives you might never have otherwise come across.
An excellent place to start looking is Undervalued, our weekly series that lists existing NFT projects and artists that we think are well worth your time and deserve more attention from the NFT community. You can also check out Upcoming Drops, our weekly breakdown of notable projects that are launching in the near future.
Another good way to find artists and projects is by following well-known collectors in the NFT space. RAC, Zeneca_33, 4156, Anonymoux, Jason Bailey, Mike Darlington, DeeZe, Gmoney, Misan Harriman, Illestrater, Mondoir, Lady Phe0nix, NFT Girl, 6259, Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, Brett Shear, and 33NFT, are just some of the space’s well-respected collectors. For more information on these and other influencers in the NFT community, check out the NFT100, our annual list of some of the most notable tastemakers, builders, innovators, and leaders in the space.
Finally, one of the simplest ways to explore the NFT world is to go to an NFT marketplace like OpenSea, LooksRare, Nifty Gateway, Magic Eden, and others and simply browse through their artists and projects. While quite random, it’s a great way to serendipitously stumble upon projects in the space.
NFTs have made it a great time to be someone who likes collectibles, having taken the concept behind things like trading cards and moved it into the digital era.
NBA Top Shot is probably the best example of this. NBA Top Shot is a blockchain-based virtual trading card platform from a collaboration between Dapper Labs, the NBA, and the NBA Players Association. The collectibles, called Moments — which are NFTs of various NBA highlights — are traded on the Top Shot marketplace and vary in their rarity. Top Shot users are some of the most passionate about collecting memorabilia, and many of them bank on the value of their collections growing over time.
Basketball fans can also collect The Association NFTs, the NBA’s version of digital trading cards, compared to the captured highlights of Top Shot. 30,000 NFTs were minted during the recently-ended 2022 NBA playoff run, amounting to 125 editions per player. The NFTs are connected to live data feeds for each team and player and update automatically; even the players’ appearances will change as these stats evolve.
For baseball fans, there’s the MLB ICON Leadoff NFT collectibles project, a partnership between digital collectibles company Candy Digital, Major League Baseball, and MLB Players Inc. Featuring 720 players, the collectibles’ stats will be updated as the season progresses, turning the NFTs into a baseball card that is never quite the same from one moment to the next. Each card comes with various distinctions and rarity levels.
Collectors can also buy Play of the Day NFTs, similar to NBA Top Shot’s Moments. Each day during the regular season, a moment will be picked and made available as an NFT for a limited amount of time the following day.
Tennis fans can check out 3-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka’s Ballman Project (which he helped build) on OpenSea. Consisting of 6,200 unique 16-bit trading cards, the project has done 205 ETH (almost $250,000 at the time of writing) in trade volume.
Apart from sports-related projects, many of the NFT projects, like PFP projects, can be considered collectibles as well, but we’ll dive into those later.
If you’re hoping to get in on the ground floor with the next multimillion-dollar NFT project, it’s going to require a lot of research and legwork. To begin with, if you’re trying to buy an NFT as an investment, it’s important to remember that there has been an extreme rise in NFT scams and fraud. Even some of the most well-known individuals and organizations have been caught promoting NFT scams or behaving unethically. So it’s essential to learn how to research projects properly before you start.
There are five main things to keep in mind when determining if an NFT project is legitimate or not.
Firstly, check who’s behind the project. Are they well-known in the space? How long have they been active in the community? When were their NFT marketplace accounts created? Vetting (to the degree that you can) artists and project developers is a key point of focus here.
Secondly, check their social media following and look for excessive numbers, which is a good indicator of fake followers. Spend a few days clicking around the project’s Discord. Get a feel for the community and, most importantly, the developers. Are they answering people’s questions? Do they have information about official links, roadmaps, and sneak peeks? A good rule of thumb is that a project is only as good as its community, so if you’re getting some strange vibes about that community, it’s probably best to trust your instincts and take your money elsewhere.
Smaller projects that have the potential to grow and become something significant are your friend. You can use tools like Icy Tools and Rarity Tools to check out projects that are minting now and in the near future to decide if you want to get in on the ground floor or not. Be sure to take a look at our article on tools for tracking NFTs for a more comprehensive list.
Thirdly, investigate the mint price. NFTs are usually priced in ETH, and the legitimate ones will most likely be priced fairly. Even Bored Ape Yacht Club, the most successful NFT project of all time, originally minted at 0.08 ETH.
The fourth thing to note is the project’s roadmap, which consists of the goals project developers hope they will achieve once the primary sale is over. If what the developers have planned seems too grandiose to be true, it might be. Also, remember that a fair amount of legitimate projects these days are shucking the idea of a roadmap. The successful Goblintown NFT project famously strode onto the scene with the tagline, “No roadmap. No utility. No Discord. CC0.”
Lastly, check how the community is (or isn’t) being managed. Again, the Discord is crucial. If moderators and project leaders are having unsavory interactions with the community or if there is an air of harassment or disinterest, it may not be the kind of project you want to get involved in.
Remember, NFT markets are highly speculative. Like crypto markets, they are subject to change, sometimes drastic change. Yes, people have come out of NFT trading with huge profits, but they’ve lost big, too. Never construe anything you read online (including this guide) for financial or legal advice. Never invest more into a project than you can afford to lose. The value of an NFT or an NFT project is only worth what people are willing to pay for them, and there is no guarantee that that value will increase (or decrease) at any point in time.
Most often, the NFTs that end up selling for millions come from PFP NFT projects. PFP NFT projects are NFTs made to be used as profile pictures on social media. They’re the perfect size and shape for profile display and have grown in popularity immensely in the last few years. In fact, the most popular PFP projects made those who purchased the items millionaires.
Finding good PFP projects starts with following respected and established collectors in the space, which you can find on our NFT100 list. You can also check out our guide on how to find the right PFP project for you, which lists projects by price and gives a sense of the ethos of the community behind the project and what they stand for.
Speaking of community, joining one in the NFT world is one of the best parts of getting into NFTs.
When done right, developers and artists build up a welcoming, diverse, and evolving community around their projects. And, because you’ve collected one or more of a project’s NFTs, you are now a part of an exclusive group, which always has its appeal.
While no one thing will be true of the countless NFT communities out there, it’s generally the case that most community interactions occur in a project’s Discord. A healthy and thriving community will be at least somewhat consistently active in the Discord and feature members helping answer questions about the project and onboarding newcomers in the space to the NFT ecosystem.
In the Discord, a project’s team will generally provide information about upcoming drops, give occasional sneak peeks into the future stages of the project, provide a space for people to share suggestions, hold AMAs with the team, and warn members about scams. Some projects will even organize IRL events and get-togethers to further foster cohesion. And if you’re lucky, the project developers and moderators will also have a sense of humor.
If community is your focus, find a project whose art you like first. One of the best things about a community is the ability to share in your love of a project’s art. Then, take your time exploring the Discord. Even if it looks good at the outset, there are things you can only really understand after being a part of that community for days at a time. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and put yourself out there — how the team and other members respond will tell you a lot about what kind of a community it is and whether or not you want to be a part of it.
Everyone has a different reason for wanting to get into NFTs. For some, it’s simple curiosity, which is as good a place to start as any. Whatever you’re looking for, make sure you do your research. If you can navigate the space with a healthy awareness of the risks, you’re more likely to end up having a great time. Web3 is a great place to be, after all.
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