Daily Times

During my recent trip to New York City, I stumbled upon a unique opportunity to engage with the movers and shakers who were busy revolutionising collecting NFTs through the lens of pop culture and old-school music.

Getty Images, the world’s foremost visual media platform, partnered up with Candy Digital, one of the leading multi-billion dollars NFT firms in the United States, to curate iconic images from the 1970s of prominent musicians and New York City’s vibrant cultural scene. Called “The 1970s Music & Culture Collection,” it’s the first mintable NFT collection to feature stars such as David Bowie, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC and Elvis Presley amongst others.

This partnership is led by Candy Digital’s CEO Scott Lawin and meticulously curated by Getty Images’ Shawn Waldron, Curator for Print Sales and Exhibitions. I had an insightful discussion with both of them that centred on the idea behind the project and its prospects. Being a well-known name in New York City’s hedge fund and venture capital circles, Lawin is excited about utilising new technologies (Web3 for instance) and empowering photographers in the digital marketplace for fans and collectors to feel captivated. For him, curation and emotional resonance were crucial elements in choosing the 1970s with six iconic photographers selected from the era. He added that music, fashion and political discourse had a lasting impact and Candy Digital’s strategy in coordination with Getty Images played a pivotal role in this regard.

Every major brand is rethinking the way digital assets are utilised.

Similarly, my interaction with Shawn Waldron focused on curation, and being an established curator and exhibitor, his role was nothing short of artistic. For him, choosing the 1970s was a mutual decision for the kind of impact it had on pop culture for decades. Major political events such as the Watergate scandal, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 1973 Oil Crisis and the Iranian Revolution were also playing their part in defining the era.

On the question of the idea behind Candy Digital, Lawin stated that the world is increasingly tilting towards digital platforms and owning such assets is gonna become pervasive. He optimistically stated that every major brand is rethinking the way digital assets are utilised and owning them shall all be about products, loyalty, engagement or even communities. Since crypto and blockchains aren’t easy to understand for most people, Candy Digital’s purpose was to provide a streamlined user interface and have institutional-grade partners for digital ownership by its customers that involves a ‘full lifecycle’ for NFT minting.

On the question of future projects, Lawin added that multiple plans are in the process of being materialised which involve major league baseballs, NASCAR, college football teams, Netflix and of course, Getty Images. The focus remains on an ecosystem where a series of products are launched for connecting audiences in a continuous cycle involving both digital and physical platforms.

On partnership with Netflix, our discussion focused on Stranger Things, considered one of the most iconic shows in modern television history. Lawin stated that in light of the show’s Season 4 released last May, an online AR game and 11,111 NFTs based on various characters in the story were launched with the hype built up through the show’s trailer. 70,000 people from 30 countries were engaged in the online game and created content through social media apps such as TikTok.

Coming back to the partnership with Getty Images, there are plans to introduce collections from the 1980s and 1990s as well which include both music and arts. Again, according to Lawin, the focus remains on those eras’ impact on our communities.

Getty’s Waldron had a similar take and believed in the cultural impact of each decade is like reliving those moments. On a personal note, his favourite era is the 1940s in terms of image collections given the resonating history. Of course, for music, the golden age can’t be specifically defined since people have their preferred choices but generally speaking, the golden age of Hollywood as a film industry is considered to peak in the 1940s and falter by the 1960s

On a lighter note, I asked Lawin about his favourite musician and he enthusiastically considered Jimi Hendrix who had a huge impact on his love for music with energy, creativity and lyricism being the primary reasons. Nirvana, R.E.M and 80s synth-pop songs were other influences on his life as a cross-generation music connoisseur.

He absolutely believes that there is a correlation between increased digital economic activities and the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the reasons why Candy Digital came into existence was for fans of digital collectable assets that led to a boom cycle for NFTs in 2021 since people are nowadays giving ample time to such causes.

On the future of NFTs across the world, Lawin emphasised that they would remain a key segment despite the public’s divided opinion over the ‘craziness of selling monkey NFT selling for a million dollars’.

Candy Digital’s focus is to build unique identities for its customer base in terms of transactions and engagements for digital assets that could be historic. On the debate between NFT and metaverse, Lawin believes that the latter isn’t confined to virtual reality since the lines are blurred. However, NFTs are of much greater value and prominence where rewards and digital ownership remain untapped and coincide with reality,

In conclusion, I would like to add that these conversations increased my interest in owning digital assets and look forward to playing my part as a consumer in light of Web3’s prominence in recent times.

For consumers in Pakistan, where the market for such platforms is of a niche nature, such partnerships can be used as an example to understand and expand the clout of digital economics, especially when red-tapism is prevalent in the developing world.

The writer is Editor (Special Reports), Daily Times. He tweets @mhassankhan06