Pixelord - Music NFTs and being an NFT artist in Russia

Floor is Rising

15-03-2022 • 30 mins

https://www.floorisrising.com/pixelord/

On today’s episode, SabreTooth and Kizu welcome guest Pixelord, whose decade-long music career has in the past year expanded into work with NFTs. Pixelord considers himself an audiovisual artist, bringing together music and images, and has been both collaborating on NFT ventures with fellow artists and developing his own NFT collection. He joins the podcast today to share about his background and art, his entrance into and thoughts on the NFT space, and how his identity as a Russian individual shapes his experience.

As the conversation begins, Pixelord overviews his recent move into the NFT space before diving more deeply into the dynamics of the transition through the lens of his nationality. He appeals to both Russian and more international, English-speaking audiences, but he found his audience shifted when he entered the world of NFTs. After all, the world of his music and that of NFTs naturally draw different crowds. Pixelord's music has long drawn audiences - many of them Russian - who resonate with his "vaporwave" aesthetic. The aesthetic is rooted in Pixelord's Russian heritage, and carries darker, dystopian, and melancholic vibes. The music incorporates a fusion of styles, but they are generally united by a sense of surreal nostalgia.

NFTs, on the other hand, catch the attention of artists, collectors, and people looking to make a profit. Conversations surrounding NFTs tend to take place on Twitter, and are international in nature (and so carried out in English). NFT buyers are mostly American and European, with Asian buyers also gaining a prominent place in recent days. The big collectors are not Russian, and the Russian art scene has simply not been very well penetrated by NFTs (or even use of Twitter!) at this point. Russians looking to access art have their own ways of doing so, and often would not have the money to spend on NFTs even if they were interested in doing so.

Moving forward, SabreTooth, Kizu, and Pixelord discuss the current NFT market. At this point, music NFTs have not been given as much attention as visual NFTs. While Pixelord notes that there is mixing of visual and musical components within NFTs, he also explains why he expects the presence of music in NFTs to grow and how he anticipates it will be incentivized. In the visual space, many collectors have collected NFTs for the appreciation of value, but for music, this has not been the case. Already, Pixelord sees other incentive systems in place and expects them to develop further; these systems, he says, include the ability to buy a music copy to sell later when a musician gains prominence, the option to buy a component of the rights to music, and the chance to work in musical collections (as Pixelord is doing now with his small collection of handmade NFTs). As the conversation wraps up, Pixelord shares a few of his favorite artists to spark listeners' interest in and exploration of NFTs.

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Timestamps:

0:31 - Introduction to this episode and today's guest, Pixelord

2:42 - Pixelord offers thoughts on how his audience has changed.

5:48 - His "vaporwave" aesthetic

11:36 - His work has different receptions across Russian and other audiences.

14:14 - Why has the NFT market not penetrated Russia more?

19:04 - The conversation shifts to the topic of music NFTs.

21:58 - Many collectors collect visual NFTs for the appreciation of value.

26:43 - Pixelord's small collection of NFTs and his favorite artists


Tags:

NFT, music, collaboration, Russia, visual, audiovisual, audience, English-speaking, artist, collector, profit,...

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