Music critic Anthony Fantano on WaPo a couple of months ago:
There’s an ocean of articles about NFTs where the story is less about the art — there’s not much on that front, anyway — and more about their perceived value. Nowhere are these headlines proliferating faster than in the music world, with artists being turned into crypto billboards by brands such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, which releases illustrations of cartoon primates.
The musicians Post Malone and the Weeknd recently dropped a music video that depicted the purchase of a Bored Ape NFT (Post Malone reportedly spent more than $700,000 for his two Bored Apes). But he’s just the latest artist to jump on the bandwagon. Eminem, Justin Bieber, Lil Baby, Future and Steve Aoki are among those grabbing headlines by simply making announcements of a NFT purchase.
This isn’t a passion; it’s barely a newfound interest. The whole thing stinks like an astroturfed promotional campaign to generate interest in cheaply made primate doodles. …
These are brand tie-ins. Nothing more, nothing less.
Fantano hastens to add that he’s not against the idea, just the current implementation.
For me, the artists advertising their own acquisition of NFTs while selling their own is like pissing in your backyard pond. There’s an eco-system inherent in a good fan experience, and while the financial aspect for the artist is inevitable, the fans will resent feeling like they’re being milked like cows, rather than making contributions, however trivial, to the artistic endeavour. Being part of something is an important part of the human experience for just about everyone.
Being manipulated is not desirable.
