Getty Images has officially entered the world of NFTs. A new, exclusive partnership with Candy Digital –a company specializing in digital collectibles– will see them develop a marketplace for NFTs from Getty Images’ extensive photographic archives.
This new project will also make a large collection of Getty’s analog archives of never-before-seen, historically valuable photographs available in digital –and collectible– form for the first time.
It also marks Candy Digital’s first footing into the arts and culture space, as they have so far operated mostly in the sports sphere.
A Getty Images NFT Collection of Historical Photography
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a relatively novel product linked to the Ethereum blockchain that, in a nutshell, lets people buy and sell unique digital assets. Some see it as the future of fine art collecting and trading, some think its value is more in the possibility to monetize smaller pieces of work, such as GIFs, digital stickers, or even tweets.
Through this newly announced, multi-year, and exclusive partnership with Candy Digital, the ever-prestigious Getty Images stock photo agency is set to turn its 465-million files library into collectible NFT products.
What’s even more important, they announced this also includes digitalizing their analog photographic archive, with over 165 million unique and historically relevant images from the past two centuries in fields like art, culture, music, world events, and more. This collection includes very rare images from legendary, pioneer photographers.
Many of these valuable pictures have never been seen by the general public before, and will now be made available not only for viewing but also for purchasing alongside more contemporary images, as NFTs through the Getty Images marketplace on Candy Digital.
The Getty Images NFTs Marketplace
The new online shop for collectible Getty pictures will be developed on Candy Digital’s platform, and it will support primary and secondary transactions, accepting payment through credit cards and cryptocurrencies.
As for the NFTs, they’ll be coined on the Palm blockchain. This system is compatible with Ethereum, plus is scalable and environmentally friendly, according to the companies.
Who is Candy Digital
If you’re not into NFTs or sports collectibles at large, you may not have heard of Candy Digital. This is a tech company that develops officially licensed digital collectibles for sports fans.
Through official partnerships with the MBL, the Race Team Alliance, and the WWE, Candy Digital manages marketplaces for sports fans and collectors to buy, trade, and share premium NFTs –like baseball cards for example– around their passions. Their teaming up with Getty Images marks their first move in the arts and culture world.
Stock Photography as NFTs
Getty Images isn’t the only photography agency seeking to enter the NFT playground. Adobe is also making moves in this direction, having recently added support for the Polygon cryptocurrency platform on Behance –their online creative community– to help users create and showcase NFTs.
The Associated Press is also working on developing an NFT marketplace in collaboration with Xooa for buying and selling some of their award-winning, photojournalism photographs.
Having three big names in the industry exploring this path is very interesting.
What do you make of this new NFT marketplace for historical Getty images? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
