Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs as they are known, have created a buzz throughout the cryptocurrency world and beyond. Love them or hate them, you can’t deny that they are fast becoming a larger conversation piece in pop culture.
One sign of NFTs’ growing prevalence is that Time Magazine, the 99-year-old news titan that was the first outlet to use the term ‘World War II’ and ‘socialite’ has dropped over 20,000 NFTs since September 2021. The ‘TIMEPieces’ as they’re called, have made a $10 million profit for the magazine, with $600,000 going to charities.
TIME Pushing Web3 Boundaries
The media brand released its first NFT in March 2021 and released the first-ever full NFT magazine issue a year later. Much of the credit is due to Keith Grossman, president of TIME, who has spent more than a year building TIME’s digital asset presence from scratch.
Grossman said, “As time continues to push the boundaries as to what is possible within the Web3 ecosystem, producing the first-ever full magazine on the blockchain seemed like a natural extension for our brand, and we knew this issue, in particular, would be cherished by our community.”
NFTs are unique digital assets, like artwork or baseball cards, that are verified and stored on blockchains. Ethereum, the second largest token in the world, makes most NFTs on its network. More and more traditional forms of media, entertainment, and art are “smelling the roses” when it comes to NFTs and how they can build revenue. TIME continues to break sales records for NFTs in its industry.
Holders of these coveted TIMEPieces can connect their digital wallets to Time’s website to get unlimited access to Time content and exclusive invitations to live and virtual events. Celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon, with Anthony Hopkins and Eva Longoria among the stars holding TIMEPieces.
Ushering In A New Generation
In addition to having the magazine’s most iconic cover stories auctioned off, popular TIMEPieces include art and photography from around 90 up-and-coming Web3 artists, such as Farokh Sarmad, Joanne Hollings, Al Pacino’s daughter, Julie Pacino, and more. Time adds its famous red framing to each NFT created by these emerging artists. The selection of artists was handpicked by Time’s creative director, D.W. Pine.
Grossman described contributions from these ascending NFT creators as highlighting the “next generation of artists” as Time approaches a century in publishing.
TIME Into the Metaverse
The brand has also partnered with The Sandbox to make a virtual space in the metaverse entitled ‘TIME Square.’ This space will be a central location for the brand to host virtual art and commerce events.
Grossman, along with many other top-minded operators and investors, believes the future of digital assets will come from their utility instead of their collectability. “As this new technology was getting adapted, one camp emerged around the notion of building a community that had a set of values and principles,” he said in an interview. “And another emerged around what I would call ‘greed-based communities.”
“Forget Bored Apes for a second,” Grossman continued. “When you move out of the collectible space and focus on the community, the tokens not only allow you to verify ownership, but it allows them to affix a royalty on future sales.”
TIME is not the only highly reputable news agency to begin offering NFTs. Read our article on the new Associated Press NFT marketplace.
