The alpha:
- Starting March 21, 2023, Getty Images will release The ’70s Music & Culture Collection, a compilation of images from musicians and cultural icons, including Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, The Rolling Stones and many more.
- To launch its first NFT release, Getty partnered with Candy Digital, a platform and marketplace for digital collectibles that has previously helped Major League Baseball, Netflix, The WWE and more get into Web3.
- Fans will be able to purchase the images, which will be minted on the Palm blockchain, at Candy.com with credit cards or USDC. The price of the photographs in the collection will vary between $25 and $200. Candy is also offering fans the ability to create an intro image for free for a limited time.
dive deeper
Getty Images is one of the world’s leading imaging platforms. With several popular platforms under its umbrella, including iStock, Unsplash, and Photos.com, the Getty Images Archive contains more than 80 million photographs. That archive presented Getty Print Sales and Exhibitions Curator Shawn Waldron with the daunting task of assembling a collection for the company’s first release of digital collectibles.
“We knew we really wanted to present the depth and breadth of the Getty Images archives,” Waldron explained while speaking to nft now. “In many ways, we really only scratched the surface. We discussed different ideas on how to approach the 70s. When we started digging [through the archives]we were finding different threads, and you let the content guide you.”
Getty’s upcoming release includes images by six well-known photographers: Don Paulsen, David Redfern, Fin Costello, Richard Creamer, Steve Morley, and Peter Keegan. Finding a hotline to capture certain aspects of these photographers’ work presented Waldron with his own challenge.
“This first collection for Candy is interesting because we are exploring different photographers [and] each had their own specialty.”
shawn waldron
“The images stand alone, but they are also part of a larger and broader body of work,” Waldron explained. “So you have to understand where things fit into the narrative and that timeline. This first collection for Candy is interesting because we are exploring different photographers. [and] each had their own specialty. They were all working within the larger idea of ’70s music, which was an incredibly dynamic period: you’ve got the birth of punk, the birth of disco, Laurel Canyon, glam rock in the UK, reggae, outlaw country. And you had this boom in music media, a real need for photographers to be out there, covering these growing scenes.”
Of the thousands of photographs that the Getty team classified, Waldron helped narrow the collection down to just 120 images. The first 100 photographs focus on the various music scenes of the ’70s, and the remaining 20 are dedicated to Peter Keegan’s body of work on New York street scenes during the same time period.
“There was so much going on in New York that it really was kind of a nexus to a lot of the broader cultural changes that were going on,” Waldron emphasized. “Everything really came to life on the streets of New York, so [those 20 photos] pay a very nice compliment to others.”
Candy Digital’s partnership on this launch was a natural, and the two have been in close contact since the platform’s inception. In creating digital collectible releases with Major League Baseball, for example, Getty has served as the licensing partner for the images used in those collections. And while Getty is very much a B2B business, The ’70s Music & Culture Collection represents one of its strongest pushes into the world of engaging with fanbases in a more direct way.
“With Getty as a partner, we will be connecting with some of our existing customers, people who are generally fans of NFTs and the digital future,” Candy Digital CEO and co-founder Scott Lawin told nft now. “But we’re also talking more directly to the traditional art market and to the traditional culture collectors’ market.”
Lawin explained that people who purchase the images will retain limited usage rights, being able to print the photographs on T-shirts and the like. However, Candy is working with Getty on potential future products that include different types of commercial rights for collectibles holders to “empower the next generation of creators,” Lawin noted.
Regarding potential utility, Lawin made it clear that The ’70s Music & Culture Collection will focus more on the historical significance and artistic and personal value of the photographs that make up the collection, while hinting at possible experimentation for future utility. in future collection releases.
“[These drops] they are not just an opportunity to create a digital product, make some money and move on.”
scott lawin
“Along with different types of products, there may be physical twins, physical utility, there may be experiences to collect or unlock a certain set that people have,” Lawin offered as a glimpse into future collection utility.
Whats Next?
Candy Digital has been able to win over partners like Netflix and MLB through a consistent and transparent introduction to the opportunities that Web3 can offer its fan bases. Another strategy they have employed has been to put the emphasis on their product rather than the format it comes in, hence the company’s lack of affection for using the term “NFT”. And partnering with Getty Images is a natural next step for the platform as it prepares to significantly accelerate its growth in the Web3 realm in 2023.
“[These drops] they are not just an opportunity to create a digital product, make some money and move on,” Lawin stressed of the platform’s approach to digital releases. “We enter into long-term agreements and long-term partnerships to really explore what this technology can do and how you can engage your customers in a different way.”
The collection of music and culture from the 70s arrives at Candy.com on March 21.
