This paper offers an overview of the African art scene, with a special focus on the Kenyan art scene. It will also examine non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a new marketing tool and platform for artists from Africa, exploring how this technology has diversified artistic practices through experimentation beyond traditional painting and sculpture to video, performance art, installations, photography, and digital media. The paper does not delve into the technicalities of creating NFTs but presents an overview and experiences based on conversations with artists and a gallery owner based in Kenya. It also highlights key marketplaces available for minting and marketing NFTs online, noting those most popularly used by artists from Africa.
Marina Ricci, Alessandra Scarcelli, Annalisa Di Roma
This paper presents the outcomes of the Moda 4.0 research projectâcarried out by the Design_Kind Lab at Politecnico di Bari in collaboration with Emme Evolution S.r.l.âshowing how digital transformation drives sustainability in the fashion retail sector. By developing and integrating digital systems and tools for multimedia content creation, distribution, and consumption, the study illustrates how emerging technologies inform new skill sets in product and service design while fostering novel cultural values. The research guides the partner fashion company's digital transition through a structured, multidisciplinary design approach, emphasizing sustainability across products and processes. The project delineates three digital strategies related to technologies: (I) metaverse and virtual worlds, (II) Virtual and Augmented Reality, and (III) Non-Fungible Tokens. Ultimately, the findings highlight that holistic, future-oriented digital strategies enhance creative expression and customer experiences and reinforce environmentally responsible and agile innovation in the fashion industry.
Wenjie Li, Graciela Corral de Zubielqui, Sally Rao Hill
This study explores the evolving intersection of branding and digital assets through the lens of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), focusing on their role in shaping dynamic brand experiences. We propose a typology framework that examines how NFTs contribute to brand experience design and provides their implications for brand-consumer relationships. The research analyses five distinct NFT functionsâstorytelling media, identity badges, product access pass, change medallion and gamification elementâand connects these roles to five types of brand experience design: brand heritage, community, product orientation, collaboration, and gamification. The findings contribute to digital branding literature by advancing the understanding of the function of digital assets within the brand experience design. This study offers a structured understanding of the value of NFTs in digital brand building by providing the roles NFTs play in brand experience. It explores the dynamic potential of brands to integrate NFTs into their strategies in the evolving Web3 environment. Finally, the industry pattern identified in this study provides insights for scholars and practitioners seeking to utilise NFTs effectively.
Open access
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
This paper examines the hesitancy of Australian musicians towards embracing the music non-fungible token (NFT) as a commodity. Drawing on the concepts of cultural autonomy and the digital disruptive sublime, the study argues that the overtly economic nature of NFTs challenges the ideology of creative independence in the hegemonic âindieâ music scene. Through interviews with nine Australian musicians who participated in our project, the research finds a cautious curiosity towards the technology, with technical barriers and a perceived cultural disconnect between the NFT âcommunityâ and traditional music scenes contributing to hesitation. The paper concludes that attempts to engineer disruption in the music industry through web3/blockchain technology have thus far failed to attract sustained interest from musicians, as the cultural norms and practices associated with NFTs do not align with the values of the existing indie music ecosystem. The findings highlight the difficulties in planning and engineering cultural change within the music industry.
Korean Academic Society of Taxation, Hyung Jong Na, Ji Young Kwak, Chung Hyu Shin
This study examines the current challenges within the taxation system of the Korean art market and proposes introducing an art registration system as a solution. The art market holds cultural and economic significance, and ensuring transaction transparency and a fair taxation framework is critical for building trust in the market and fostering sustainable growth. However, the existing taxation system in Korea faces various limitations, including irrational capital gains tax thresholds, excessive expense deductions, transaction opacity, and inconsistencies with international standards. Particularly, the reliance on selfïŒreporting and the prevalence of informal transactions have perpetuated issues such as tax evasion and money laundering. To address these problems, this study suggests implementing an art registration system that systematically records transaction histories and clarifies ownership transfers, thereby enhancing transaction transparency and taxation effectiveness. The proposed system involves establishing stateïŒled art registration offices to manage transaction records and developing a userïŒfriendly online registration platform to ensure practical implementation. This system aims to prevent tax evasion, achieve tax fairness, and restore trust in the art market by recording ownership changes and transaction data. The key findings of this study are as follows. First, the art registration system can significantly enhance transaction transparency and tax fairness. Systematic management of transaction histories will establish a solid tax base, preventing tax evasion and illegal trades. Second, the system can contribute to revenue generation and strengthen national finances while reallocating collected taxes to support cultural arts and protect artists. Third, by restoring market trust and encouraging active transactions, the system can drive the sustainable development of the art market. Fourth, it will effectively combat money laundering and illicit fund transfers while laying the foundation for taxing emerging digital artworks such as NFTs (NonïŒFungible Tokens). This study proposes several practical measures for successful implementation, including enacting legal frameworks, establishing art registration offices, and adopting a phased introduction. Initially, the system should focus on highïŒvalue artworks to test its feasibility and effectiveness through a pilot program, followed by gradual expansion. Furthermore, this study emphasizes measures to alleviate artists' financial burdens, such as fee exemptions or reductions for the initial registration of their works, to encourage participation and ensure the systemâs stabilization. In conclusion, the art registration system presents an effective solution for enhancing transaction transparency, achieving tax fairness, and restoring trust in the art market. It also provides a robust taxation framework suitable for the digital era, particularly for emerging markets like NFTs and digital artworks. By addressing the structural challenges of the current taxation system, this system is expected to improve the international competitiveness of the Korean art market and serve as a foundation for its sustainable growth.
Andrian Purwanto, Yudi Sumayadi, Tri Karyono, Enry Johan Jaohari
The rapid development of digital technology has significantly transformed the music industry, influencing various aspects from production and distribution to audience engagement. This article explores the implications of technological advancements, particularly the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the Metaverse in the music sector. Using a qualitative approach with a literature study method, this research analyzes various sources and case studies to examine the impact of these technologies. The findings reveal that AI has revolutionized music creation by enabling automation in composition and production, enhancing efficiency and creative possibilities. However, this innovation also raises ethical debates regarding originality and copyright ownership. In parallel, blockchain and NFTs introduce a transparent and decentralized distribution model, allowing musicians to control their intellectual property and earnings without relying on intermediaries such as record labels. Despite these advantages, challenges remain, including limited public understanding of blockchain and market instability due to cryptocurrency fluctuations. urthermore, Metaverse-based virtual concerts and music experiences using VR technology present new opportunities for immersive and inclusive entertainment. However, replicating the emotional depth of live performances and ensuring accessibility to VR devices remain significant challenges. Overall, while these technologies offer promising innovations in the music industry, concerns related to regulation, ethics, and accessibility must be addressed. A balanced approach is necessary to fully harness the benefits of digital transformation while mitigating its potential drawbacks.
This chapter explores the opportunities and challenges presented by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for the museum sector. Faced with unprecedented financial difficulties during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, NFTs offered to museums and galleries not only potential new income streams but also innovative ways of engaging with audiences and a fresh approach to collections. The grounding of NFT technology in decentralisation, democratisation, and direct trading relationships offered the possibility of a form of economic mobility for those who participated and had the potential to disrupt traditional art market structures. NFTs represented a new tool to explore creative responses to challenges faced by 21st-century museums, including accessibility, digitisation, and restitution. This chapter considers both the financial promise of NFTs for museums and the broader questions they have raised for the cultural sector. Important ethical and legal issues have arisen, and solutions are being sought by stakeholders from a multitude of disciplines. Given the pace of technological development, the rapid emergence of new use cases for NFTs and the complexities of the questions they raise, the search for answers will no doubt be an ongoing and iterative process, developing over time in response to the ever-changing landscape.
ABSTRACT While nonâfungible tokens (NFTs) have emerged as a significant blockchain application, research has largely focused on market dynamics rather than consumer behavior. Through inâdepth interviews with 21 NFT consumers and a netnographic analysis of Discord interactions (109,517 words), this study develops a comprehensive framework explaining the evolution from initial purchase to sustained or discontinued interest in NFTs. The findings reveal that while profit expectations drive initial purchases, strong community bonds and social identity formation are crucial for maintaining engagement. Specifically, active community participation, both before and after purchases, creates a selfâreinforcing cycle where engagement directly influences NFT valuation. However, unfulfilled profit expectations and perceived community abandonment by project leaders often lead to disillusionment. The study extends the NeedâtoâBelong and Social Identity Theory to the digital asset context, demonstrating how NFT communities serve as platforms for identity expression and emotional support, transcending purely financial motivations. For practitioners, the findings suggest that sustainable NFT projects should prioritize community building and transparent leadership over shortâterm speculation. This research provides the first longitudinal analysis of NFT consumer behavior, offering insights into how digital assets can create enduring value through social engagement rather than merely speculative trading.
Until recently, digital art was perceived as something of secondary value compared to the physical artistic artifacts. One of the reasons for that being its predisposition for duplication and hence the inability to assign âoriginal artworkâ label to the digital file and represent it as a unique object on artistic market. But the rapid pace of popularization of blockchain technologies in creative communities through the use of Non-Fungible Tokens has a seeming potential to change the perception of digital art. The ERC721 standard sets a precedent for authentication and traceability of digital artworks suggesting that the old paradigm might shift, and digital art will gain value and attention comparable with traditional fine art. In this article we discuss the problematics of digital art representation on art market and the issue of digital creationsâ pricing. We use photo stocks and print-on-demand platforms as an example for pre-NFTs digital art monetization. We then discuss the changes caused by Non-Fungible Token blockchain technology in the digital art market in recent years and the implications that come with the change. We then illustrate theoretical tenets with expert interview that suggest that while successful NFT projects offers publicity and profit to the creators, the level of complexity and unpredictability of results sets a high bar for entering the market.
We live in an era of unprecedented transformation, driven by digital platforms that are redefining the creation, distribution, and consumption of creative content. The emergence of new digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Patreon has led to new forms of social inequality in the economy, AI ethics, and environmental sustainability. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) enhance content personalization and production efficiency, yet algorithmic opacity and revenue concentration create disparities that favor established creators. This study investigates the impact of digital platforms on creative industries through a qualitative methodology, integrating secondary data from global reports (e.g., UNCTAD, 2022) and case studies of TikTok, Patreon, and emerging Web3 alternatives. Findings highlight both opportunitiesâsuch as decentralized revenue models, AI-driven innovation, and regional creative growthâand challenges, including the monopolization of content distribution, ethical dilemmas in AI-generated creativity, and the environmental burden of data centers and blockchain transactions. This study focuses on the impact of Web3 technologies on the reliance of intermediaries while covering contemporary regulations on AI governance and platform responsibility. The study highlights the gap in policy efforts that ensure economic equity, transparency, and platform sustainability that need to be addressed. Suggested policy targets include more humane monetization of smaller creator's content, more responsible AI regulation, and the creation of less environmentally harmful digital systems. This study is situated within the larger discussion of the intersection of innovation, equity, and sustainability in the context of a developing digital creative economy.
Open access
Cultural Industries and Urban Development
University-Industry-Government Innovation Models
Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development
Priyanka Kaushik, Faris Thazhethoolayil Abdul Kadar, Rachna Rathore, Saurabh Pratap Singh Rathore · 6 authors
The rise of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has transformed the landscape of digital asset ownership, introducing new platforms for content creation and consumption. This research delves into the changing content dynamics within NFT marketplaces, focusing on the evolution of digital asset characteristics and consumer behavior. By studying established categories such as visual arts, music, and collectibles, we analyze shifts in demand patterns over time. Furthermore, we explore the significant impact of celebrities and social media influencers on specific NFT projects and broader market trends. While their involvement can generate interest, we critically assess potential drawbacks, including the susceptibility of hype-driven markets to fraudulent activities. Through data analysis, our goal is to shed light on the dynamic nature of NFT content, offering insights into its status and future direction.
Despite widespread cross-country support for the arts, artists have increasingly had to bear the burden of higher costs and face lower real wages in the labor market. However, the emergence of distributed ledger technologies has the potential to serve as a catalyst for revitalizing the arts by empowering artists with new tools for ensuring the protection of their intellectual property and receiving remuneration for their creative content. After beginning with institutional details about funding and the labor market in different parts of the arts, this chapter explores the use of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse as tools for empowering artists and expanding their ability to reach audiences directly without as much reliance on centralized intermediaries who have traditionally extracted rents in the value chain. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the use of NFTs in the arts and their potential as a catalyst for providing greater financial sustainability to artists with proper context on the current challenges and limitations.
This dissertation examines the evolving landscape of non-fungible token (NFT) markets, primarily in the arts, focusing on the experiences of artists and the role of intermediaries in shaping market dynamics. Through three interconnected research papers, it challenges the techno-utopian narratives of decentralization and democratization associated with blockchain technology. The first paper presents an analysis of how NFT marketplaces have become decisive arbiters of value, particularly in royalty enforcement, which reveals the paradoxical coexistence of technological decentralization and organizational recentralization. The second paper presents a novel typology that demonstrates how NFT marketplaces actively construct value and shape participant behaviour through governance mechanisms and curatorial strategies. The third paper foregrounds artistsâ lived experiences and unveils how the digital nature of NFT markets intensifies competitive pressure and necessitates constant âvisibility labourâ on social media platforms. Collectively, the findings unveil how NFT markets, despite the decentralization rhetoric, often reproduce and amplify traditional art market hierarchies while introducing the challenges of cryptocurrency volatility, algorithmic visibility, limited legal and social protections and other forms of digital vulnerability. This dissertation highlights the complexities of an evolving ecosystem in which technological innovation intersects with established power structures and market practices and thereby contributes to the Information Systems literature. It also offers critical insights into the intricate interplay between technological innovation, market configurations, and creative labour in the digital age, which not only advance our understanding of NFT markets but also provide a framework for analysing future developments in digital creative economies.
Companies continue to explore the marketing potential of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). To succeed, they must understand the core motivations of NFT buyers. This explanatory study provides descriptive insights about NFT buyers and identifies key operational principles within the NFT market. It addresses the critical questions: What NFT buyer segments exist? Which segments should companies target, and how? Surveying 703 NFT buyers, the study identifies five distinct NFT buyer segments: curious speculators (18%), cautious investors (5%), utility-driven buyers (35%), tech-savvy investors (29%), and status-seeking socializers (13%). The first two segments are primarily motivated by investment, purchasing NFTs mainly for resale. In contrast, the remaining segments are driven by ownership motives, purchasing NFTs not only for financial potential but also for personal use, technological interest, and their social values. Drawing on customer engagement theory, the study highlights these three ownership-oriented segments as particularly attractive for companies. Beyond a high willingness to buy branded NFTs, these segments actively recommend NFTs to new buyers and show substantial engagement in NFT communities, a critical success factor for NFT markets. The study further shows that companies can enhance NFT buyer engagement through incentivized referrals and provide marketers with a strategic guide for effectively targeting these segments.
Digital art has been increasingly popular with the development of blockchain technology. Blockchain technology provides a form of protection for digital art sellers and buyers as it enables verifiable and tamper-proof records of ownership of digital artworks. In addition, it also records the information and transaction history of the artworks and allows public access to the information with exceptional transparency. Hence, it not only offers digital artists a new format to sell and promote their works but also allows researchers to observe the market activities. Thus, in this thesis, I focus on the subset of digital arts with information and transaction histories recorded on the blockchain. A digital artwork/collectible (e.g., image, video, music) recorded on the blockchain is also called a non-fungible token (NFT). NFTs are becoming an increasingly popular form of art investment, with rocketed market growth in 2021. However, both consumers and sellers face uncertainty in the market activities. Consumers encounter uncertainty when making purchase decisions as there are no established valuation guidelines for NFTs. Sellers confront uncertainty when creating artwork owing to the lack of knowledge about consumer demand. Thus, this thesis investigates two different topics that surround uncertainty in the NFT market. Chapter 1 examines herding behavior in NFT auctions and the moderating role of visual complexity and familiarity. Auction is one of the most popular selling formats in the NFT market. Given the valuation uncertainty for NFTs, consumersâ bidding tendencies would be influenced by other collectorsâ bidding decisions (herding behavior). I build a model on bid continuation probability to capture the herding behavior in the primary auctions. In addition, the visual cues are essential in evaluating the artwork. In this regard, I examine how visual complexity and familiarity affect herding behavior, as these two visual characteristics usually affect both the ease of understanding and recognizing the visual stimulus. I use a computer vision technique to quantify the visual complexity of an NFT, and apply transfer learning to measure its visual familiarity. The findings show that there is herding behavior in NFT auctions, and visual complexity and familiarity both exhibit a U-shape moderating effect on herding tendency. This research further tests the subsequent impact of herding behavior in the primary auctions on the auction winnersâ resale decisions. Results suggest that auction winners are more willing to resale the NFT and set a higher price premium when there is stronger herding behavior in the primary auctions. This research contributes to herding, NFT, and creative content production literature, and provides managerial implications for content creators and market platforms to promote sales. Chapter 2 investigates how sellers can enhance revenue and benefit from introducing consumer uncertainty in product assignment (i.e., probabilistic selling). Probabilistic selling has become an increasingly popular and relevant phenomenon across industries, from traditional online travel agencies (e.g., probabilistic hotel rooms), retailing (e.g., clothing, and cosmetics subscription boxes) to digital gaming (e.g., in-game products), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), etc. However, despite the market prevalence, there is no empirical investigation into the actual benefit of marketers employing probabilistic selling to the best of our knowledge. Leveraging a feature change in an NFT marketplace, this research quantifies the effect of adopting probabilistic selling on sellersâ monthly revenue using three estimators (i.e., two-way fixed effect DiD, staggered DiD, and aggregate synthetic DiD). Results consistently show that probabilistic selling increases adoptersâ monthly revenue within the range of $500.455 to $665.869. In addition, this research finds three underlying mechanisms that drive the revenue lift: protection provision on the transparent market, increased market thickness and matches, and enhanced market matching efficiency. At the same time, alternative mechanisms are discussed and ruled out. These findings add to the probabilistic selling, uncertain marketing and NFT literature. This research also provides managerial implications for sellers to increase sales and for market platforms to promote market participation and enhance market matching efficiency.
With the rapid advancement of technology, the transformation of images into digital codes has enabled computer technologies and their derivatives to be included in the art environment, production, and exhibition methods, as well as traditional tools used in artworks. Blockchain and NFT technology, which emerged because of these developments, merged with art to create a new digital art field. This new technology offers new perspectives on the preservation, exhibition and evaluation of art and plays an important role in the digital art economy. The main problematic of this study is to develop an in-depth understanding of the rise of NFT (Non-Fungible Token) technology in the art world and how this new digital art form is perceived by virtual communities. The effects of NFT on the production, distribution, appropriation, and evaluation of artworks have provoked different reactions among artists and art lovers. This study aims to reveal the value, acceptance, and criticism of NFT art in virtual communities through a netnographic analysis. In this study, the perspectives of virtual communities on NFT were examined using a netnographic analysis method. For this purpose, forum sites such as Donanım Haber, R10, Reddit, Shift Delete and Technopat, which have high traffic and active members, were selected and the content shared on these sites between January and October in 2021, when NFT was popular, was analyzed. Discussions, comments, and opinions about NFT on these sites were analyzed in depth. As a result of the study, it was determined that NFT has received various reactions in the art world, some users find this technology meaningless and speculative, while others see NFT as a revolutionary step in the digitalization of art. It is concluded that NFT offers new opportunities to artists and collectors by securing the ownership, authenticity, and trade of artworks in a digital environment.
Teknologi Non-Fungible Token (NFT) telah membuka peluang baharu dalam pemasaran aset digital, terutamanya bagi penghasil seni visual. Walaupun NFT semakin popular, masih terdapat cabaran dalam kalangan penghasil seni visual di Malaysia, termasuk kesedaran yang rendah, pemahaman teknikal yang terhad dan strategi pemasaran yang tidak efektif. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk membangunkan rangka kerja pemasaran aset digital berasaskan NFT (PVArt-NFT) bagi membantu penghasil seni visual di Malaysia memahami, mencipta dan memasarkan karya seni visual dalam ekosistem NFT. Bagi mencapai objektif kajian, pendekatan Penyelidikan Sains Reka Bentuk (Design Science Research) digunakan sebagai metodologi utama. Rangka kerja PVArt-NFT dibangunkan melalui analisis kandungan dan temubual kepada 7 perunding pakar dan seterusnya disahkan oleh 10 pakar yang lain. Ujian pra dan pasca dilaksanakan melalui bengkel NFT melibatkan 23 peserta untuk menguji keberkesanan rangka kerja tersebut. Rangka kerja PVArt-NFT yang dibangunkan mengandungi empat fasa iaitu: Analisis Nilai, Penciptaan Nilai, Penyampaian Nilai, dan Hubungan Pelanggan & Komuniti. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat peningkatan dalam pemahaman peserta selepas intervensi bengkel, namun terdapat perbezaan kecil dalam penerimaan terhadap minat, yakin, dan mempelajari NFT. Secara keseluruhan hasil dapatan kajian membuktikan bahawa bengkel ini memberi kesan besar dalam meningkatkan pemahaman peserta terhadap NFT. Kesimpulannya, rangka kerja PVArt-NFT ini memberi sumbangan implikasi pratikal kepada strategi pemasaran digital untuk penghasil seni visual. Selain itu, kajian ini turut memberikan sumbangan teoretikal berdasarkan Teori Innovation Resistence (IRT), Model Pemasaran Digital 7Ps, Teori Actor-Network (ANT) dan peranan pemasaran (role of marketing) ke dalam konteks seni visual berasaskan NFT. Seterusnya menambah dimensi baharu kepada literatur pemasaran dan ekonomi kreatif digital.
Perkembangan NFT telah mengubah landskap seni visual kontemporari dengan menyediakan peluang pemilikan digital serta akses ke pasaran global, namun kajian tentang persepsi nilai pengguna masih terhad dalam memahami motivasi pembeli dari aspek teknikal dan ekonomi. Justeru, kajian ini membangunkan Model Faktor Pemilihan NFT (MP-NFT) bagi menjelaskan bagaimana pembeli menilai dan membuat Keputusan terhadap pemilihan NFT dalam seni visual kontemporari, menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif melalui temu bual separa berstruktur dengan tujuh artis seni visual kontemporari di Malaysia. Analisis tematik berpandukan teori persepsi nilai pengguna oleh Troilo, Holbrook, Sheth, dan Zeithaml mendedahkan lapan dimensi utama ekonomi, sosial, psikologi, teknologi, cabaran, pengalaman, nilai dan kesan, serta masa depan NFTâyang melahirkan 22 faktor penting membentuk Model MP-NFT. Kajian ini bukan Sahaja memperkaya perbahasan teori mengenai persepsi nilai pengguna NFT, malah berfungsi sebagai panduan praktikal kepada pembeli, artis, pemasar, dan pembuat dasar dalam memperkasakan ekonomi seni digital serta menegaskan peranan NFT sebagai pemangkin perkembangan seni visual kontemporari di Malaysia
Open access
Cultural Industries and Urban Development
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification