Steve Aoki on the Future of Digital Art: “NFTs are a Juggernaut That Cannot Be Stopped”
After selling his debut NFT collection for a cool $4.25 million, famed dance music producer Steve Aoki believes the future of digital art is bright.
In collaboration with renowned visual artist Antoni Tudisco, Aoki’s debut “Dream Catcher” collection was sold on Nifty Gateway, one of the NFT industry’s leading marketplaces, to former T-Mobile CEO John Legere. Aoki’s team tells EDM.com that Legere forked over a record-breaking single auction price of $888,888.88 for a piece called “hairy.”
“Music has always been what my life is rooted in, but I’ve been a passionate collector of collectibles and various forms of art for as long as I can remember,” Aoki said in a press statement. “NFTs gave me an opportunity to finally merge art, collectible culture and music in a way I’ve never been able to realize before. I had no idea what to expect when we started this project so the feedback and response from the NFT community has been overwhelming to say the least.”
Odds are you’ve found yourself in a Google rabbit hole recently as the NFT craze continues to erupt across the arts sector. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital collectibles whose ownership is verified by blockchain technology, ensuring authenticity. The value of the items, which are purchased with cryptocurrency, lies in their inability to replicated, rendering them wholly unique to their owners.
“I do believe that this is where the world is going by any means necessary,” Aoki continued. “NFTs are a juggernaut that cannot be stopped. It will soon be normalized and be a structural pillar in our culture. If you’re reading this now, you’re early. Time to build, innovate and disrupt the entire space.”
To find out more about the explosion of NFTs and their collision course with the EDM community, read our interview with the founders of Nifty Gateway. “In my opinion, EDM artists are just the perfect fit for NFTs. They’re very tech savvy and the demographics are very similar to the kind of people who are buying NFTs,” said one. “They’re well positioned to understand the technology because their careers are based around technology already. It’s no real surprise they’ve taken to it like fish to water.”
FOLLOW STEVE AOKI:
Website: steveaoki.com
Facebook: facebook.com/steveaoki
Twitter: twitter.com/steveaoki
Instagram: instagram.com/steveaoki
Spotify: spoti.fi/3d1TLFn