NFT+ :: It’s Video … and Beyond!
With the rush of NFTs into the mainstream, we at Vivid Labs wonder if something is being left behind. If NFTs really are the revolutionary new media container that they are said to be, shouldn’t they have the technical capability to do more? When we look way back to the original adoption of media formats into the Internet, the industry was hampered by numerous technological limitations such as slow dial-up speeds, low storage capacities, and slow processing times, just to name a few. So why is it then, in a world with seemingly endless storage and compute power, all piped through high-speed networks, that the functionality NFTs are reminiscent of the limited abilities of media in the beginning stage of web 1.0?
Shouldn’t we be asking more of NFTs?
Art is credited with its ability to be unique, with endless permutations, mediums, and modes of expression. Pictures, video, and audio are the main mediums of art you see in the digital sphere. Despite the prevalence of all three of these mediums in the world of art however, only images seem to be the main focus of today’s NFTs. Is that representative of the creative industry as a whole? Could video become the player it is today in traditional media using NFTs as a format?
In the current world of NFTs, basic images (JPEGs, PNGs, etc) and very short-form videos can only go so far to serve the potential total market demand of NFTs, not to mention the creativity of artists. The capability and addressable market demand that NFTs can serve would be wildly different if there weren’t the significant technical restrictions we see today. If the goal is NFTs taking over the mainstream, we need to shed those restrictions. That’s why for NFTs to break further into the mainstream they need to have robust, native compatibility for video.
Limited file sizes, the need for external download links, and compatibility issues, just to name a few, hinder the growth of video as a major demand source for NFTs. Video has the potential to dramatically expand the addressable market for NFTs, and this can be foretold by looking at video’s role in society as the technical landscape around it matures.
Individual Video Emerges as a Powerhouse
Video is central to the core of so many internet experiences. As a medium, it is arguably the most influential format in the world, affecting everything from purchasing behaviors to overall cultures. What we need is an NFT platform that can leverage the power of video, giving feature-packed NFT solutions to truly expand the limits of creativity.
The progression of video throughout its existence in society has ebbed and flowed between large centralized production and control and small individual creation and influence. While the equipment was once only predominantly available to newscasters and the entertainment industry in the mid-to-late-20th century, the first consumer video cameras began to create a market for personal use. Despite the ability for the average person to record their own home movies, mass distribution remained a challenge until the emergence of smaller, cheaper digital cameras, along with the Internet, gave more power over creation and distribution to the individual than had ever existed before.
In the early 2000s, sites like Youtube exploded as powerhouses in the space. Other video platforms such as Netflix also have grown to generate enormous worldwide demand for content. But as these media behemoths get larger, the power of their users and their right to monetization have actually shrunk.
Centralized Video Platforms Limit Creativity, Control, and Earning Potential
While expanded access to many artists and creators now allows them to sell their content, there are still conflicts with the centralized nature of these incumbent platforms. In 2012, Apple was found guilty of antitrust charges stemming from taking advantage of its dominant position as an e-book provider for Apple devices to raise and fix prices. Similarly, today only a minority of content creators are able to actually make a living from YouTube revenue. Artists in the music industry have long complained about lack of transparency and control — and dollar amount — of the payout of their songs per stream.
Enter Vivid Labs’ NFT+
By giving everyone fair and equal access to content distribution solutions, content creators can take full advantage of their media stack, from creation to publication and distribution, all while setting the monetary value of their content on their own terms, and strengthening the direct relationship with their fans and audiences.
With our NFT+ advanced feature set, creators can generate NFTs containing multiple assets in each NFT, of any file type: images, video, audio, text, and so on. This blows wide open the door to creativity and gives artists a powerful palette with which to create engaging mult-media experiences, not just one-off digital collectibles. With video as one of our main priorities and our extensive technology experience behind it, NFT+ is the most video ready NFT solution on the market. Whether it be short clips or long multi-gigabyte HD movies, NFT+ is ready to meet the demand.
Vivid Labs’ partnership with Filecoin ensures the availability on the VIVID platform of massive amounts of decentralized storage that can host all types of content, with over 2.5 billion gigabytes of capacity (2.5 exabytes) This opens vast potential for creators of longer form, higher resolution video-based content, included VR, while remaining competitive with legacy cloud providers. When NFTs are able to shed some of the file size and type restrictions we face today and can rely less on centralized cloud providers like AWS, the true potential for creativity appears limitless — all the while maintaining the independent-minded spirit of Web 3.0.
We at Vivid Labs believe in a world where NFTs can become the best option for creators and artists in every industry to take greater control of their work, and we believe that the key to unlocking that potential is to provide an NFT solution with the functionality and capabilities that meet or exceed anyone’s needs. We call our solution “NFT+”, and we believe it will be the vibrant next chapter for NFTs. It is one that we are at the forefront of building, and we hope you will come along for the ride.
Join the Evolution. Make it VIVID.
