International auction house Sotheby’s announced today that it will accept Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrency payments for a physical art auction, beginning with the May 12 auction of “Love is in the Air” by the famed street artist Banksy. It is the first time that a major auction house has accepted cryptocurrency payments for physical artwork, according to Sotheby’s.
Source: You Can Buy a Banksy With Bitcoin or Ethereum From Sotheby’s – Decrypt
Blockchain-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) recently have made a big splash in the art world and beyond. Fundamentally, they allow for the unique differentiation and ownership of digital goods. In addition to generating both headlines and confusion, NFTs have drawn attention to the high carbon footprint of certain blockchain applications.
Source: What does digital art have to do with sustainability? | Greenbiz
In what Primary Wave describes as a “multi million dollar deal”, the acquisition will also see the publisher obtain a share in the duo’s master royalty income stream across Rihanna’s first seven albums. The deal encompasses master income for some of Rihanna’s biggest hits including We Found Love, Umbrella, Don’t Stop the Music, Disturbia, Stay, Rude Boy, and What’s My Name.
Merck Mercuriadis calls Andrew Watt “arguably the most important writer and producer in the world today”. Now, Hipgnosis Songs Fund has acquired 105 songs from Watt – including both the writer and publisher’s share of the compositions. A filing this morning (May 5) reveals that the Watt catalog acquired by Hipgnosis generated $1.27m in 2017, $3.41m in 2018, and $4.34m in 2019.
Source: Hipgnosis acquires 105 songs from Grammy-winner Andrew Watt in eight-figure deal
New research published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office shows that social media networks are regularly used by pirates. An analysis of millions of conversations estimates that 35% of all digital content discussions “could be possibly related to piracy.” Interestingly, not all content niches prefer the same social media platforms.
Source: EU Study: Movie Pirates Chat on Reddit and Music Pirates Prefer Twitter * TorrentFreak
Twitter’s acquisition spree continues today with Scroll, a $5-a-month subscription service that removes ads from participating news sites. Twitter is working on building out a new kind of subscription plan that will include Scroll, the recently acquired Revue newsletter service, and other homegrown Twitter services.
Source: Twitter is buying Scroll, the subscription service that removes ads from news sites
The 48-year-old voiced his critical opinion of advances during UnitedMasters’ third SelectCon, which the four-year-old company broadcasted via Twitch. As an aside, Amazon-owned Twitch and UnitedMasters partnered to deliver the two-day livestream event to fans – a particularly interesting point, given Twitch’s ongoing licensing dispute with the major labels.
Source: Pharrell Compares Label Advances to ‘Illegal Loans’ — ‘No One Should Own You’
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kid Creole and the Coconuts have become the latest artists to cash in on their catalogue of hits, selling the rights to songs including Californication and Annie I’m Not Your Daddy to London-listed music royalties investment firms. The Chili Peppers are poised to sell their publishing rights to London-listed music investment firm Hipgnosis, reportedly for more than $140m (£101m).
Source: Red Hot Chili Peppers sell rights to catalogue of hits to Hipgnosis
One the same day as Fortnite maker Epic Games goes to trial with one of the biggest legal challenges to the App Store’s business model to date, it has simultaneously announced the acquisition of the artist portfolio community ArtStation — and immediately lowered the commissions on sales.
Source: Epic Games buys artist community ArtStation, drops commissions to 12%
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney offered a granular explanation of Fortnite to paint an expansive portrait of his company’s world on the first day of what is expected to be a three-week trial, pitting Epic against Apple in a fight over Apple’s App Store fees and other rules that could reshape the $100 billion app economy.
Source: Apple and Epic Trial Opens With a Tour of the Fortnite ‘Metaverse’