Creator royalties: Love them or hate them, there’s no denying that they provide a core draw for artists looking to make a living from their blockchain-based craft. Through royalties, creators receive recurring income every time their works change hands through the various NFT marketplaces that populate the blockchain. This makes it possible for many in Web3, regardless of their status, to stick around from project to project.
However, in 2022, creator royalties came under fire. Emerging as a major point of contention within the NFT space, the decisions by major markets effectively shook up Web3’s established royalty dynamic, making it clear that not everyone was on the same page. And as more prominent players joined the debate, the question arose: where do the major NFT marketplaces, those who make NFT trading possible in the first place, stand on this issue?
To answer the question and alleviate some of the frustration users often feel when trying to find information about market minting policies and fee structures, we’ve created this guide as a quick reference for where the major exchanges stand. NFT regarding creator royalties.
platforms that do honor creator royalties
Open sea
Open sea it is widely considered to be the largest and most comprehensive NFT marketplace. Founded in 2017, the platform has grown by leaps and bounds over the years to encompass a wide variety of photography, digital art, music, and more. It also houses a variety of tools for NFT collectors and creators.
When it comes to royalties, OpenSea caused quite a stir in November 2022 when the platform began considering removing royalties entirely from existing collections. The move caused a significant backlash throughout the NFT community, prompting the company to back off your commitmentupdating the original blog post to reflect their continued support for creator royalties.
Creator royalties are honored at OpenSea. Not only are they still offered at the platform level, as they always have been, but the royalties established by the creators in the network are also respected and applied in the market.
nifty gateway
nifty gateway, founded in 2018 by Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, bills itself as an “online digital art auction platform” for NFTs. Owned by cryptocurrency exchange giant Gemini, the platform is now led by Eddie Ma (technical lead) and Tara Harris (non-tech lead) after the Cock-Foster brothers stepped down in early 2023.
Although Nifty Gateway has some of the highest fees on the market, creator royalties are honored on the platform. As the Nifty Gateway Help Section dictates, the company believes that “secondary market fees are part of what makes NFTs special.” Offers enforceable platform-level royalties while respecting the chain royalties set by creators.
atomic center
atomic center is a one-stop solution for creating, trading, buying and selling NFTs on the Wax blockchain. Released in June 2020, AtomicHub is a frontend for the NFT standard atomic assetswhat blockchain technology company rosa.gg developed.
Currently, creator royalties are honored on the platform and applied at the contract level (similar to other WAX marketplaces), thanks to the Atomic Asset standard.
queer
queer is a Los Angeles-based NFT marketplace founded in November 2019. Possibly due to its longevity in the space, Rarible is seen as one of the top NFT marketplaces (especially when it comes to Ethereum-based collectibles) and hosts a wide variety of different types of NFTs.
The platform is managed through the Rarible DAO and is backed by the $RARI governance token. Currently, creator royalties are honored on the platform. Like other Ethereum-based marketplaces, Rarible respects on-chain royalties and allows users to set royalties. platform level.
Super rare
Super rare It is one of the oldest and most prominent markets within the NFT ecosystem. Launched in the spring of 2018, the marketplace bills itself as “Instagram meets Christie’s” and lives on as the most popular curated NFT platform. Currently, creator royalties are honored on the platform.
Although the platform is invite-only and charges a hefty commission of 15 percent of the final sale price for everyone. primary sales, for secondary sales, a 10 percent royalty is automatically reserved and paid to the creators. In addition to creator royalties, SuperRare stands out among its peers by offering collectors one shot in royalty-based benefits.
Base
Base is a marketplace that aims to help build a new creative economy through NFTs. Released in February 2021, Foundation is invite-only for creators and, like SuperRare, runs in a 1/1 auction format.
Foundation gets a five percent discount on each final sale price for primary and secondary sales, which is significantly higher than most other marketplaces. But even so, currently, creator royalties are honored on the platform, as creators receive a 10 percent royalties of all secondary sales.
Object
Object is the largest and most popular marketplace on the Tezos blockchain. Launched in early 2021, the platform is widely heralded as the OpenSea of Tezos NFTs and hosts everything from JPEG files to videos and songs. creator royalties they are honored On the platform, and similar to other marketplaces, Objkt allows artists to set their fee percentages.
Blur
Blur is an NFT marketplace created by an enigmatic Web3 developer, pac man. Launched in October 2022, Blur initially received extensive support and investment from big names in the NFT space. It was listed as one of the fastest NFT aggregators and trading platforms on Ethereum.
Currently, creator royalties are honored on the platform through the filter log. Also, in early 2023, Blur began to apply a minimum 0.5 percent royalty on immutable collections that cannot use the filter registry. The percentage is also set to increase by 0.5 percent over time, to be modified according to how the Blur developers observe the effects of each increase.
Jewel
Jewel is an NFT aggregator (not exactly a marketplace), launched in January 2022, that enables NFT batching, allowing users to save on gas fees. OpenSea acquired the platform after allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against its co-founder. The functionality of the platform remains the same, and creator royalties are still honored on the platform even after becoming part of the OpenSea NFT ecosystem.
X2Y2
X2Y2 is an NFT marketplace that was launched in January 2022 with the goal of building a truly decentralized NFT marketplace and bringing it back to the larger NFT community. Having been one of the first marketplaces to remove royalties from creators, the platform emerged as a prominent voice in the anti-royalty debate before change direction a few months later to begin honoring and enforcing royalties on all collections.
platforms that No honor creator royalties
AppearanceWeird
AppearanceWeird, launched in early 2022, was initially heralded as the most direct potential competitor to OpenSea. Marketed as a “community-first NFT marketplace that actively rewards traders, collectors, and creators for participating,” LooksRare quickly became a favorite within the Ethereum ecosystem and remains a popular choice for NFT enthusiasts.
However, creator royalties are not honored at LooksRare. As of October 20022, LooksRare opted to remove standard creator royaltiesinstead, it directs 25 percent of the protocol fees to creators and allows buyers to opt-in to pay optional royalties at checkout if they choose.
magical eden
Magic Eden is an NFT marketplace that was initially built on the Solana blockchain and later expanded to other blockchains such as Ethereum. Billed as community-focused, it was founded in late 2021 and created by members of the NFT community as a market competitor and as a solution to problems with other existing NFT markets.
Magic Eden has stayed at the forefront of the creator royalties debate, first implementing a controversial royalty protection tool for creators, before backtracking weeks later, following the example of others and making royalties optional. . Currently, creator royalties are No honored on the platform. Instead, buyers come to decide what percentage of royalties they pay instead of creators setting an automatic threshold themselves.
solanarte
like the magical eden, solanarte is a Solana-based NFT marketplace that launched in 2021 and quickly gained popularity as one of the go-to platforms within the Solana NFT ecosystem. Although anyone can become a collector at Solanart, artists must request a creator account before being enabled to mint on the platform. Despite its curatorial hurdles, Solanart is home to a growing number of metaverse-leaning PFP, gaming, and NFT projects.
While Solanart once employed a three percent sales fee and allowed NFT creators to set their royalty percentages, in response to the growing debate, the platform opted to drop all fee. Currently, creator royalties are No honored on the platform.
sudoswap
sudoswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol (not exactly a marketplace) that allows for royalty-free trading of NFTs. Creator royalties are not honored on the platform. Launched in May 2022, the platform gained significant traction over the summer and fall as an alternative to traditional NFT markets. It has become a prominent place where collectors can circumvent creator royalties.
Yawww
Originally launched as a peer-to-peer NFT lending platform, Yawww hit the headlines in July 2022 by transforming into a community-owned NFT marketplace. Billed as the “first democratized NFT marketplace,” Yawww put the power to dictate royalty percentages in the hands of the buyer instead of the creator, essentially launching a marketplace that doesn’t honor creator royalties, since the default value for royalties on the platform is zero percent.
