Brian Eno Slams NFTs: “Now Artists Can Become Little Capitalist Assholes As Well”

"I’ve been approached several times to “make an NFT.” So far, nothing has convinced me that there is anything worth making in that arena. “Worth making” for me implies bringing something into existence that adds value to the world, not just to a bank account. If I had primarily wanted to make money, I would have had a different career as a different kind of person. I probably wouldn’t have chosen to be an artist. NFTs seem to me just a way for artists to get a little piece of the action from global capitalism, our own cute little version of financialization. How sweet — now artists can become little capitalist assholes as well…

People I like and trust are convinced they’re the best thing since sliced bread, so I wish I could have a more positive view. But right now, I mainly see hustlers looking for suckers and lots of bright-eyed artists willing to play the latter role. Forgive my cynicism… I’m not feeling too positive right now"

https://www.stereogum.com/2171374/brian-eno-slams-nfts-now-artists-can-become-little-capitalist-assholes-as-well/news/

It appears that Ubisoft's big NFT push has made them sell a grand total of 14 NFTs.

Also, should I merge this with the crypto thread?

Don't merge.

there's an NFT thread too isn't there? 

and lols. eno speaking his mind. nice. 

edit: meanwhile - 

https://boingboing.net/2021/12/17/limited-edition-color-shifting-turntable-designed-by-brian-eno.html

  Quote

 

It's already too late to sign up for Brian Eno's colorful, glowing turntable: the limited edition sold out almost as soon as it became available. No price was made public, but Eno prints offered by the same gallery were 1,440 euros ($1,630) a pop. If you have to ask…

Eno collaborated again with the Paul Stolper Gallery in London, this time releasing 50 turntables whose plinth and platter morph into different colors and add a psychedelically visual layer of listening to music. Like the music he pioneered, the turntables create the perfect vibe for a meditative or contemplative atmosphere.

Specs:

acrylic, LED lights · 420mm x 420mm x 76mm case on 16mm feet with an 18mm clear platter · Total height from top of platter to base 110mm · Edition of 50 · signature and edition number engraved on the back right-hand side · Copyright The Artist

 

 

 

 

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edit: apparently it's $11,000 or there abouts.. 

https://newsnationusa.com/news/technology/brian-eno-has-made-a-record-player-and-it-looks-seriously-psychedelic/

yeah literally no difference between the turntable and a piece of digital art. why is that so hard to understand for people? I'm not some sort of over-zealous freak about crypto and NFTs but there is just as much silly fuss against them as for them. The only remotely convincing argument about NFTs are the environmental impacts but now I wonder what are the embodied carbon emissions for one of those turntables vs one NFT on the ETH blockchain. I've studied co2 in shipping and supply chains for construction goods and it's never a good look to claim a digital item is somehow less "green" that one made entirely of plastic and expensive metals and shipped all over the world lol

I suppose he's objecting to many speaking about NFTs on investment terms instead of artistic ones and I understand that. I would like to direct him to the art market of the last... i don't know.. 100 years? 

They stole my apes, Eno! 

  On 12/21/2021 at 8:47 PM, luke viia said:

They stole my apes, Eno! 

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-12-21-let-off-steam-with-this-doom-nft-mod

  On 12/21/2021 at 8:26 PM, dr lopez said:

yeah literally no difference between the turntable and a piece of digital art. why is that so hard to understand for people? I'm not some sort of over-zealous freak about crypto and NFTs but there is just as much silly fuss against them as for them. The only remotely convincing argument about NFTs are the environmental impacts but now I wonder what are the embodied carbon emissions for one of those turntables vs one NFT on the ETH blockchain. I've studied co2 in shipping and supply chains for construction goods and it's never a good look to claim a digital item is somehow less "green" that one made entirely of plastic and expensive metals and shipped all over the world lol

 

I suppose he's objecting to many speaking about NFTs on investment terms instead of artistic ones and I understand that. I would like to direct him to the art market of the last... i don't know.. 100 years? 

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Yeah literally no difference between a physical media player and a piece of digital art... Not saying the price is justified but definitely more-so that than some fucking meme or pixel art piece.

 Eno 

there is definitely a difference between most pieces of art, be they physical or digital (or whatever) and an NFT. NFTs are not ownership of...anything. they're a receipt that says you own a thing that you do not own in any traditional sense of the word. 

a stupid physical turntable that costs 11k can be picked up, used, held, broken, thrown into a lake, looked at, resold, etc. you can create one million NFTs that all say 'i own the picture of Aphex Twin that someone took in an airplane where he's dropping a USB drive" and sell it to one million different people and they all have the exact same rights to that image, which is fucking none.

NFTs only exist to prop up bullshit crypto scam culture to try and drag real cash into the fake markets they're creating from whole cloth. they're 100% scams and anyone who doesn't see that doesn't understand them. or is just an asshole.

https://lp.adam.jp/ryuichi-sakamoto-595nfts-en.html

  Quote

The 595 music notes contained in the 96 bars of the right-hand melody of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s signature composition, “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” were digitally split into single notes and converted into unique NFTs. Each item is linked with an image of the music sheet for the bar containing the corresponding note. Additionally, there will be an auction for “NFT for the rights to obtain “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” by Ryuichi Sakamoto handwritten music sheet'' “, after the sale opens. 

Please be a joke

When they said Return to Monke, I didn't think they meant all this NFT bullshit.

I'd like to hear Brian Eno explain why he thinks the art world hadn't already been full of little capitalist assholes for the 50 years prior to NFTs.

  On 12/22/2021 at 12:52 AM, auxien said:

there is definitely a difference between most pieces of art, be they physical or digital (or whatever) and an NFT. NFTs are not ownership of...anything. they're a receipt that says you own a thing that you do not own in any traditional sense of the word. 

a stupid physical turntable that costs 11k can be picked up, used, held, broken, thrown into a lake, looked at, resold, etc. you can create one million NFTs that all say 'i own the picture of Aphex Twin that someone took in an airplane where he's dropping a USB drive" and sell it to one million different people and they all have the exact same rights to that image, which is fucking none.

NFTs only exist to prop up bullshit crypto scam culture to try and drag real cash into the fake markets they're creating from whole cloth. they're 100% scams and anyone who doesn't see that doesn't understand them. or is just an asshole.

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this sounds like you're getting mad at people wasting their money on something stupid like an NFT. I'm of the opinion that they can waste their money on whatever they want. I'm certainly not buying any, but i'm also not buying a hyper exclusive record or turntable that i'll never open or use. Sneakerheads are far more pathetic than NFT nerds to me, esp because of the geopolitical situation that sneakers are created under- ie tremendously exploitative labor conditions in the global south.

Can you explain more why this is "100% a scam" ? I have friends who are digital artists and now feel they can sell their legitimate art on a worldwide marketplace and receive compensation commensurate to physical media artists for the first time. The NFT blockchain system, however flawed, is allowing that. Personally I think that is kind of interesting and something new. They are not scamming anyone, they are selling their art. Of course there are grifters making dumb meme nft shit but there are grifters everywhere and in every market. 

I think a lot of people who think crypto is a scam or is "dragging real cash into fake markets" has simply tuned out or ignored the immense levels of grift, theft, scamming and bullshit that is *already* happening in every other market in the entrenched world of global capitalism. The NFT "scams" are a drop in the ocean in comparison to the rampant, legal (!) money laundering in the government defense contract world. Or pharma. or subprime mortgages. or literally anything else. super boomer energy to get mad at crypto and NFTs when our world is literally defined by corporate grift

  On 12/22/2021 at 2:39 PM, dr lopez said:

Can you explain more why this is "100% a scam" ?

go read the thread already full of articles and explanations

  On 12/21/2021 at 8:26 PM, dr lopez said:

yeah literally no difference between the turntable and a piece of digital art.

“Right-click save as” disagrees with that statement…

Ambient 5: Music for Non-Fuckable Tokens

also:

Here Come The Stupid NFTs

Taking Ape NFTs (By Right-Click Save As)

Another Non-Green NFT

Before and After NFTs

  On 12/22/2021 at 1:19 AM, Enthusiast said:

https://lp.adam.jp/ryuichi-sakamoto-595nfts-en.html

Please be a joke

NFT for the rights to obtain “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” by Ryuichi Sakamoto handwritten music sheet”, the physical copy will be sent after the notice by "Adam byGMO". 
 

this part is cool but the rest is BS. 
 

  On 12/22/2021 at 2:39 PM, dr lopez said:

Can you explain more why this is "100% a scam" ? I have friends who are digital artists and now feel they can sell their legitimate art on a worldwide marketplace and receive compensation commensurate to physical media artists for the first time.

I think you’re confusing here: artists can sell worldwide through the internet with relative ease, and have been able to do so for some time. Bandcamp for example has offered sales to multiple countries for a number of years. 
 

NFTs are not the actual artwork, and therein lies the scam. This has been explained in more detail previously in the thread. 

you can sell digital art (not music) on bandcamp? Like a 3D digital object or an animation?

  On 12/22/2021 at 1:41 AM, TubularCorporation said:

I'd like to hear Brian Eno explain why he thinks the art world hadn't already been full of little capitalist assholes for the 50 years prior to NFTs.

pretty much this. I wonder how much of a pay check he gets when one of those $11,000 turntables sells... wasn't he also selling some super expensive app awhile back? none of it seems worth it to me. but I'm not the target market here. maybe if I had millions in the bank I'd think differently about it. who knows.

If you could right click save as NFTs you could right click save as Bitcoin.

yeah the right click save as argument doesnt really work either... we all pay for bandcamp downloads when we could just as easily pirate the music and not pay for it, but we choose to pay because we understand it's supporting artists. this is the same reason people are buying NFTs. to support the artist who made it rather than just "steal" it.

  On 12/22/2021 at 4:35 PM, zero said:

pretty much this. I wonder how much of a pay check he gets when one of those $11,000 turntables sells... wasn't he also selling some super expensive app awhile back? none of it seems worth it to me. but I'm not the target market here. maybe if I had millions in the bank I'd think differently about it. who knows.

Also agree.  I don’t really care about this NFT business, got more important things to worry about.
 

(Sent you a PM yesterday mr. zero in reply to yours)

It's the 'exclusivity' that I find distasteful (and the exorbitant prices)

edit: obv Eno's turntable falls into this as well, but NFTs are truly next level artificial scarcity. 

  On 12/22/2021 at 4:53 PM, dr lopez said:

yeah the right click save as argument doesnt really work either... we all pay for bandcamp downloads when we could just as easily pirate the music and not pay for it, but we choose to pay because we understand it's supporting artists. this is the same reason people are buying NFTs. to support the artist who made it rather than just "steal" it.

I call BS on this, sorry man. This is not, it seems, why NFTs are as popular as they are. I don't doubt some artists use it that way, but it's being exploited by many "entrepreneurs" far beyond this potentially positive use (I still think that creating scarcity where it doesn't truly exist is shitty). That's why so many of us are moaning. "Things" are being bought and sold for WAY more than they could possibly be worth, in the name of shuffling money and making more of it out of minimal effort.