Beeple: So I've always been sort of slow rolling this thing. He's got millions of followers, concerts, this or that. Starting in November 2020, memes about the question, the process of finding out one's time of birth and those who ask about it gained popularity online. Beeple: So there's all these market dynamics that I'm super interested in. So, it was like, oh, shit. You got to be paid in Ethereum. But that was before he made $3.5 million in a single weekend from selling his artworks. But yeah. I think as it becomes more mainstream, nobody's really going to give a shit about that piece of it. Think of it as like a foreign currency, but it's a foreign currency that goes up and down real often, and it can go way up and way down. It's very hard for it to just be part of your everyday life, that you don't choose to do it, and it's just something you walk past. and then reached out to different artists in this space, reached out to collectors in this space, just trying to understand anybody who would hop on a Zoom call with me and chat for 30 minutes, "What the hell is going on here? Beeple: I don't think it's just magically going to happen until a celebrity starts explaining what this is. We go back to that fear, hatred of this thing that we don't know. So trying to sort of like maintain that, you know, those are kind of the things that I'm not used to and nobody in our industry was used to before this, because those are fine art sort of like concepts. Like I've gotten really into the whole, the ethos behind cryptocurrency in light of the craziness that's been going on and learning more about it. On Abduzeedo, we totally dig the work of Beeple aka Mike Winkelmann where we've featured him several times in the past. This is just money. Thank you. EJ: But the gas fees are basically the fees to sort of add things to the giant blockchain spreadsheet, so if you want to tokenize a piece of artwork, there's gas fees associated with that, and depending on... Those gas fees can vary wildly, depending on what's going on at that time on the Ethereum network. So there is that speculation part of it. How are you kind of looking at your career now in light of this? And I want to put some of that money into collecting art. It's like "That's kind of cool," and just make sure the room you're in, your desk you're sitting at or whatever, more vibrant, more-. And so that's the other thing is people who have things on the blockchain, they have wallets and a wallet could have money in it, like Ethereum, it could have Bitcoins or it could have these NFTs. Does that make sense? Is any of that in your head? So to me, it has combined all of the things that I'm interested. Magic beans? Joey: So I'll take the Justin, what's his name? A graphic designer from Charleston, SC, USA who does a variety of digital artwork including short films, Creative Commons VJ loops, everydays and VR / AR work. India.com Viral Desk | March 2, 2021 2:03 PM IST It's funny because if someone's going to pay you for a sponsored post, maybe that kind of turns them off when you do stuff like that, but as a crypto artist it's like... Do you now feel like, "Huh, maybe I should go even crazier, or maybe I should tone it back?" And I think there's some of that too. EJ: This big celebrity is going to be selling, like Dead Mouse is selling songs on there and stuff like that. And you're signing them, and I hope I get a really good, nice message on mine when you send me mine. It's almost like the case that you're making is, that should be backed by Cryptoart because that can't be forged. Yeah. He doesn't give a fuck. So, they're like, "Oh, yeah. I guess everybody has a different copy or the same copy of the same thing. I mean, I saw this stuff and I was like, "Okay. You can create something that is truly unique. What is crypto art? It didn't seem like that like crazy novel of an idea or something like, "Whoa, nobody's ever thought of this." It just makes the fuck on your desk look sweeter. It would take a lot of social posts and a lot of explaining to explain to his fan base what this is. A new picture made from start to finish by Mike every single day. Beeple: Sometimes incredibly valuable, as the infamous, Mike Winkelmann, a motion designer/madman from Charleston, SC, already had a successful career in digital artwork including short films, Creative Commons VJ loops, and VR / AR work. So that's where the Beeple collect site came in, and tying the two together with the QR codes, and trying to build a community around these things, and really trying to make it like an experience. And so I don't know what the tax situation looks like. Like they could have speculated on anything. I think so, and he's like, "I could go around and sell it for a grand right now." Beeple: So it's just opened up so many different, exciting, new ways to create that. ", Beeple: Digital artist Mike Winkelmann — better known by his online alias, Beeple — made headlines recently for selling the NFT of the 10-second video he created, shown below, to an investor for $67,000 US last fall. That's it. You've already made your thousand, which now is probably worth 2000 because you're still in Ethereum, but I know you had some questions about how Beeple got the hype machine gun. Beeple: I'm not going to tell you what those markers are, but I know if it's real or not. Beeple: So, this was a limited edition of one of 100, the exact same video file, and so when you do something like that, obviously, it's worth less than a one of one. Like you could just right click and save the file. Summary: Ralph Winkelmann is 87 years old today because Ralph's birthday is on 07/01/1933. You don't really need to understand the crypto piece of it. So, on Nifty, or on all these places, these platforms take a cut. It's just something you have siting there. I mean, to be honest, my favorite stuff that you make is the stuff that it's almost hard to look at. And some people bought it and I was like, "Wow, that was cool." Yeah. If you do something that's a single edition, it's the only one, only one person can own it, and so it's worth more. and I thought people would be able to flip it for maybe 100 bucks or something like that, eventually. And there are certain aspects of this that could really put a kink in the role. Yeah, I mean really, it's like stocks, right? I tried to make it feel like, again, looking at it, like this is going to be something that is around for the rest of my life. And it's really cool. And I'm in a unique position that I have a shit-load of art that I could put up for sale, but what is the way to do that in a way that long-term will make the whole collection the most valued, that I'll be able to get the most value out of it. So, that produces interesting... That's, again, something you're not used to. Again, after the first job, I got a bunch of questions. I guess I imagined that prior to this, a higher percentage of your income was coming from things like... You became an influencer, sort of, and sponsorships. I own the file, I own the token. So how can I give you something that is not the same sort of experience as Instagram, where you look at it and it's like, "Oh, that's kind of cool," and then that's it. Source knowing full well that it's like, okay, well, this is probably worth more than a dollar, but not really knowing how much it's worth. ... not just you sold it once, and now that's all you're going to get. And what does Mike do now that he is a crypto millionaire? EJ: There are the eBays of NFTs that anybody can instantly start selling stuff on. [crosstalk 01:11:16] I would love to see that too, because if that happened... That's the other thing, people worry about. So, the time of the drop came. They're similar to the stuff I post in Instagram. I believe a big part of that is he's being paid equity in the site itself. There's still definitely more that I can't help, but think, when I sit down, it's like, "Okay, could I potentially sell this for a fucking hundred thousand dollars? So, they were like, "Oh, this is going to sell out right away," and so it was like, when they said right away, I thought five minutes, 10 minutes, whatever. I would look up the artist KAWS, K-A-W-S, and he is a vinyl toy maker, and he's who I was talking about before. [inaudible 00:51:11] fucking crashes. Because everyone's like, wait, you can make a million dollars on this. And they're like, okay, we'll compute that onto the blockchain. It's just, basically, it's more like digital gold. So my strategy was a little bit of posting, posting on Instagram, and hoping people like it, hoping people buy it. So yeah, it's a very different, very different world like auctions and these open editions and limited editions. So it's changed quite a bit. And so that's sort of like a unique concept with computers because we're used to just like, you have a file, you can copy it, you can send it to people and dadadadada. And there's a really awesome article that Justin Cone wrote recently that tried to kind of break down what crypto art is. And the person who actually has the token will be like, no, you don't. I made 95% of my money as a designer prior to this, and so it's a very different sort of paradigm, client versus collector, and it's actually way, way better, because to be honest, when you have somebody who is collecting your artwork, they're kind of on your team because you are both working towards the same goal, because it benefits them to see you succeed as an artist because then the value of what they've already spent will go up, and it benefits you to see their artwork go up because that means your artwork is worth more. What makes a Jackson Pollock painting where something? So, now people have these $1 of 100, and they could immediately resell them to somebody else who didn't get them, like we didn't, but wants them. "What the fuck is this? The following is a list of characters in the 1964 Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, his 1972 sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and the former's film adaptations, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). It's not a bit speculative. I don't know how the hell it can fall in a pile of piss. I would've transferred it to Coinbase, which Coinbase is like an exchange for exchanging cash and Ethereum and different cryptocurrencies, immediately converted it to cash, boom, it's cash. On Nifty, it's 20% that they take of the sale. Again, do I know where this is going? So could celebrities bring a bunch more people to this? And then it's on the blockchain and everybody sort of agrees, whatever you just made is part of the official blockchain. And so they're a little bit more changeable than people think. Because you're fucking human and you want people to like the things that you're doing, and I'm the same way. Beeple: Beeple: It's like, "Really?" If you don't do all those things, then I do not believe it will be a way that you just magically make a bunch more money is what I would guess will happen with the sort of like market dynamics over the long run. Beeple: It sounds like there's a fashion show coming, like what you've already done, by the way. And that's why you see the prices because of those things. I know all of these artists. Beeple: Assuming down the line, you could potentially sell your other artwork for a lot more. Again, it goes back to, in the beginning of this movement, there was very few artists and there was a high supply of demand. No. Do you think that, mentioning that Justin Roiland where it's like, we have these celebrity artists, like cartoonists, like the creator of Rick and Morty, he's going to sell some of his art. Yeah. Mike Winkelmann also runs by the name of Beeple, is a graphic designer from Appleton, Wisconsin in USA. Beeple: That it's like, you can do it and if you're very good at it and you stick with it for a long time and make your name, make a name for yourself, or do something different that nobody's ever done before, like a Jackson Pollock or something like that, then you will be able to make a lot of money at this or making a living or this or that. EJ: And I don't know, they always do that, but it's like, I don't know. I also think a big part of it, Mike, is that collectors there's so much more money out there than the average person realizes. I mean, you have it in the name of your website, just Beeple Crap, and I think everyone has that mindset, the imposter syndrome, like, "Who am I? Yeah, no. I thought you were going to say, "I think the same thing about your work.". So that's where it goes back to what I was saying. I sold two things so far. I think as more and more people come into the space, it's going to just be digital art. Joey: What emotions did you go through when... Was your first one that big drop where you sold a few pieces? Joey: Beeple: I don't have a shit load of other choices. I didn't know shit about crypto. And Mike Winkelmann, crypto art superstar. So yeah. Known Origin, I believe you need Ethereum to buy stuff. So Mike, I guess the last question is how is this changing your life?