Nifty Gateway’s “Publishers” storefront is now open for curators
The Alpha:
- On Friday, Nifty Gateway announced that it is launching the beta test version of Publishers, its Shopify-like platform that will allow curators to build NFT storefronts and present collections from artists they have collaborated with, according to an early release of a company blog post shared with nft now.
- Publishers give users registered on the platform access to the same tools Nifty Gateway has used to present its Curated Drops over the years. Instead of the marketplace serving as the primary curator for the Nifty Gateway community, Publishers storefronts provide a new space for interactions between artists and buyers.
- It also allows NFT collectors to collaborate with artists to promote projects and artworks that might otherwise remain under the radar while creating a new revenue stream in the Nifty Gateway ecosystem.
Why it matters
“When we relaunched the Nifty Gateway marketplace in 2020, we recruited a lot of artists to work with,” said Nifty Gateway co-founder Duncan Cock Foster in an interview with nft now. “And our brief was basically that the NFT space would grow as it developed more as a creative medium. So we created our own curated schedule where we helped these artists develop.”
Foster emphasized the importance of curators in the traditional art world and what the NFT space can learn from them. The existence of the curatorial team in that space, he believes, helps collectors understand what they want to collect while significantly increasing the size of the physical art ecosystem.
“That team plays such a crucial role,” Foster continued. “And when you look at the NFT world, that layer just doesn’t exist. There’s no equivalent. So we wanted to launch a product that helps create that equivalent.”
Foster and the Nifty Gateway team reached out to a group of 50 curators who will be the first to test the Publishers storefronts, which will expand to include more collectors in the coming months. The 50 beta curators the marketplace chose for the launch include 33 (who has guest-curated drops on the platform in the past), The crazy puppiesRX2, seed setting, AJ Vaynerchuckand several other native NFT ecosystem participants.
“The NFT art world has gotten so big at this point, it’s essentially impossible for one person or organization to know all the talent and artists out there,” Foster elaborated. “These collectors are going to be able to shine a spotlight on artists that we don’t even know exist.”
Publishers also bring more tools for curators and artists, like a no-code dashboard and the ability for artists to choose from a variety of drop types (first-come, first-served releases, 1/1 auctions, open releases, and more). The no-code dashboard is an encouraging inclusion. It is a well-accepted fact that lowering the technical barrier for non-Web3 natives will be critical to the widespread adoption of blockchain-based technologies such as NFTs.
As Nifty Gateway expands the Publishers platform beyond the beta stage, it will open up curation tools for artists to use independently, without having to work with curators. As for the review process for those looking to sign up with Publishers, Foster explained that it will evolve as they learn more about how they want it to work. Aside from the company’s basic requirements (for example, curators can’t release stolen art or commit fraud), their idea was to start with a group of trusted community members so they wouldn’t have to deal with a long and tedious vetting process from its inception.
“Curators are going to build their own reputations,” Foster stressed. “Over time, collectors will trust certain curators to do the right thing, and that trust will be rewarded.” Addressing concerns about potential future controversy over what artists as curators might choose to feature in publishers’ storefronts, Foster took an appropriate art-first approach.
“We’ve been in the arts ecosystem for a long time,” Foster said. “Art is meant to make you think. There are a number of artists who create work that would be considered shocking in any other context. Jordan Wolfson is one example. There are no red lines I would be willing to commit to right now. You have to let people be expressive on an art platform. Maybe we’ll get some backlash on Twitter. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Foster is also excited about the rules for buyers in Publisher’s storefronts, which is an extension of a concept the marketplace has used in the past. For example, a drop may be free to mint, but potential collectors may also need to own a certain number of previous works by that artist in order to purchase the new NFT. “Publishers are going to have a pretty powerful set of rules at their disposal,” Foster said. “Curators are going to be able to use that to create a very compelling ecosystem and all kinds of interesting and creative drops that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”
What will be next
Publishers is a promising development from one of the biggest names in the NFT area. It will be exciting to see how this approach, based on the traditional art world, can influence the space for the better, given that Web3 has gone to great lengths to avoid recreate some of the dynamics from the physical art sphere.
Those who are curious about becoming a curator at Nifty Gateway can register and register their interest from Friday.
