The Getty Images agency will market its 465 million photographs in NFT format

Source: Observatorioblockchain / Jennifer Maldonado

The American photography agency Getty Images has just partnered with the digital collectibles company Candy Digital to launch its first NFTs. Its chief executive, Craig Peters, said in a statement that the company will use its more than 465 million images to mint its own NFTs in the coming months. Peters noted that many of the photographs the company owns have not been seen by the general public. Getty Images says it wants to democratize access to the worlds of art and culture through NFTs.

Getty Images y los NFT

The American photography agency and market has compiled the most iconic and defining moments of the last 170 years of history. Together with several photographers who pioneered the industry, Getty Images has amassed a collection of exceptionally rare images that have never been shown to the public. Peters noted that these iconic moments in world history are contained in an unparalleled repository of photography, spanning multiple sectors. Like art, culture, music, world events, among others. Thus, to display part of its collection of unique photographs, the company has chosen to adopt the innovation of NFTs. 

Through these digital assets and the blockchain, the agency wants to make images of great historical value available to collectors. To do this, it will open a marketplace through the Candy Digital platform, where people will be able to buy, sell and trade their digital collectibles as NFT tokens.

The new platform will help Getty Images connect people with exclusive, high-quality visual content, Peters said. The agency’s executive director noted that NFTs bring to life the most iconic and rare photographs of the last two centuries.

Getty Images will accept cryptocurrencies and fiat money, via credit cards, as payment methods in its new marketplace. Your NFTs will be minted using the Palm Network blockchain. 

What is the Palm blockchain?

Palm Network is a blockchain built on top of the Ethereum blockchain to support the next generation of NFTs. In its web portal, it is defined as a scalable and sustainable network where a new digital ecosystem for culture and creativity is being built. Currently, this blockchain network has important collections of NFTs, such as that of Warner. It has the support of large technology companies, such as Microsoft. The IT multinational led a $27 million financing round for Palm Studios in December 2021. 

Behind the development of the Palm Network are the founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum, Joseph Lubin, and David Heyman, owner of the production company Heyday Films.

Art, photography and non-fungible tokens

Since their arrival on the market, NFTs have revolutionized the cultural and creative industries. NFTs offer artists, creators and companies in the sector a way to prove digital property, while maintaining their copyright. The certificates of authenticity offered by NFTs, based on blockchain technology, grew their market exponentially in 2021. According to data compiled by the Reuters news agency, sales of NFT tokens reached 25 billion dollars last year. 

The boom experienced by this market in the crypto industry prompted the entry of many traditional sectors. Among them, the one in photography. As Blockchain Observatory already explained, NFTs are breaking into the photographic industry with force. Through the blockchain, photographers, in addition to immortalizing their works, can generate income directly. Photographers Lyle Owerko and Bryan Minear managed to sell digital photography collections for several thousand dollars last year.

Instagram, the largest photo and video sharing social network, also envisions NFT integration, as a way to help content creators engage with their audiences and become one of the largest NFT marketplaces in the world. The US news agency Associated Press (AP) was the first to adopt NFTs to tokenize their photos. At the beginning of the year, it launched an NFT market for photos, becoming the first communication medium to open a new line of business with NFT technology.