How “Digital Twins” Protect the Artist

The expansion of the digital world has introduced endless beneficial tools for artists of all types and magnitudes, but it has also animated an existing issue among creators: piracy and infringement.

The indirect nature of copyright laws are especially hard to grasp when it comes to digital works of art, as they’re non-linear. According to the Berne Convention, which has been ratified by about 180 countries, artwork is copyrighted as soon as it becomes a fixed copy, which traditionally implies a tangible medium. Granted that the treaty was created in 1886, long before the digital age, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation for artists of today.

This is especially clear for social media. These platforms have allowed creators to engage with their audiences in a new fashion, by allowing them to step into their lives and genuinely connect with their work. While gaining thousands of followers isn’t necessarily an easy feat, artists now have the ability to share their work while growing their fan base right from their home. As beneficial as that open stage is, it also invites anyone to save, alter and repurpose any image they come across. Artists have had to weigh the pros and cons prior to posting their artwork, knowing that sharing anything online means it’s now eternally public.

For such reasons, ownership rights surrounding digital art are a bit perplexing, but the influx of Digital Twins has simplified this notion by offering a transparency that doesn’t exist outside of the blockchain art world. For example, a public provenance makes it easier to spot any disparities in ownership that allude to a stolen piece of artwork.

Traceability also becomes more clear with the help of Digital Twins, providing a line of sight into a digital work’s history of ownership, as well as when it was minted and how much it was sold for each trade. Prior to this technology, creators had no consistent way to monetize their digital art, and their work couldn’t serve as a collector’s item in the same way fine art could. Now, a whole new world has opened up for such artists.

The benefits of Digital Twins extend to physical art as well, enabling better avenues for documenting titles that can be bought and sold individually to serve as proof of co-ownership, as well as to prove authenticity and provenance through guaranteed certificates of authenticity.

Collectively, Digital Twins provide new ways to buy, sell, trade and protect art of all kinds, while also aligning with artists to share and ensure the legacy of their artwork for years to come.

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