Artist Royalties and Artistic Sovereignty

cryptoArt’s foundation is based on Artist Royalties and Artistic Sovereignty. Recently, centralized organizations have been forcing a choice on artists: Royalties or Sovereignty- but not both. Artists are being told they can have Royalties, but only if they cede Sovereignty by allowing outside entities such as OpenSea to control their contract. Artists not willing to cede Sovereignty are told it’s their option, but since they aren’t, Royalties will not be enforced. Any attempt to give an option that allows for only one or the other is a deterioration of Artist Rights. 

As a group of united cryptoArtists, we would like to clarify the definition of Royalties and Sovereignty below- both of which are already established norms that should be maintained at all costs to ensure the future of the movement:

• Artist Royalty: Percentage of secondary sale paid to original artist. (Typically 10% as established by the landmark “Minimum 10% NFT Royalties – Letter to Platforms” lead by Sparrow)

• Artistic Sovereignty: Ability of artists to have 100% control over their own artwork on their own contracts- where no one except the artist has the ability to make any changes to the behavior of the contract.

Recent discussions within the ecosystem have left out artists and focused on marketplaces and platforms. As artists, and partners creating this art movement, we hope that our opinion is of central importance. As such we are calling on all platforms to uphold both Royalties and Sovereignty, without sacrificing one for the other. These are two of the foundational ideas behind this movement, and neither should be compromised.


Thank you,

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