Product Viability
Currently, there are only three companies that operate on our same field but with extremely different methodologies.
- 1.LaCollection is a French digital company based in Paris founded in mid 2021. In October, they partnered with the British Museum to turn works by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai into NFT and sell them. The sale ran concurrently with the "Hokusai: The Great Picture of Everything" exhibition, which the museum opened on Sept. 30 and ran till Jan. 30, 2022. Of the 200 physical paintings, more than 10.000 digital copies was produced through the creation of an artificial scarcity system, dividing the works into bands of rarity dependent on the number of copies that LaCollection has decided for the same physical copy. The auctions carried out so far have generated significant revenues. The Ultra Rare pieces have been sold for $45.000 while the lower rarity classes have been sold for figures from 500 to 3000 dollars. Despite the apparent success, their business model entails enormous criticisms, precisely in the points in which it differs the most from MIDA’s operative methodology. LaCollection does not guarantee any kind of remuneration to the Museum on the first sale, offering only 10% of 13% royalties on each sale involving the art pieces in the secondary market. However, due to the lack of uniqueness and an artificial scarcity system that offers very little differentiation, no relevant secondary market has been generated on Opensea, lowering possible museum revenues.
- 2.The second company is Cinello, an Italian company founded in the first half of 2021. Cinello uses NFT technology to create digital multiples of a masterpiece of art history. The digital work is reproduced in a limited edition, certified through a physical authentication signed by Cinello and the Museum. The painting is on a 1:1 scale exactly like the original and it’s placed inside a frame identical to the physical copy from which the NFT is reproduced. Cinello’s product is physical and purchased by individuals in private auctions organized by the same company. Sales are occasional since Cinello’s main purpose is to simplify the exchange of artwork between museums, also allowing them to exhibit works otherwise immovable due to their state of preservation.
- 3.The third company is ARTEM, a fungible cross-chain digital token that facilitates exclusive access to professionally curated programs and exhibitions by HOFA gallery and its affiliate brands.