Creators Take Control

<p><strong>A leading legal scholar offers a compelling new theory to explain the meteoric rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their impact on art business entertainment and society and explains how they are revolutionizing our understanding of ownership.</strong></p><p>If you buy an NFT do you own anything? Critics say no. Then why are people spending so much money to own them--to the tune of $27 billion in 2021? And why are big businesses and venture capital firms investing hundreds of millions to develop NFTs for people's use in the metaverse a purely imaginary world? </p><p>In <em>Creators Take Control</em> Edward Lee offers a compelling new theory he calls Tokenism that answers these perplexing questions. Using vivid examples Lee lucidly explains how NFTs operate--and how they fundamentally change our understanding of ownership. Tokenism is an artistic cultural and technological movement that creates value in a new kind of ownership of a new type of property--symbolized by a virtual token--through a process of technological abstraction and artificial scarcity effectuated by NFTs. Ownership becomes virtual. What Cubism did in radically changing the twentieth-century perspective of creating and viewing art through cubes Tokenism does today in altering our perspective of <em>owning</em> art and other things through tokens. Both movements radically reimagine what's possible. </p><p>Creators and businesses have seized upon this profound transformation. In a short time they have developed a new market for digital art important new rights for creators innovative business models based on decentralized collaboration and a new type of interactive ownership that enables identity community and patronage through NFTs. These innovations are just the start of revolutionary changes to society. Lee shows how NFTs create a new form of decentralized intellectual property or De-IP. Comparable to the movement to decentralized finance (DeFi) De-IP empowers creators to take control of their artistic productions and livelihood. </p><p>Lee's intellectual tour de force is filled with practical insights--and hope--for fostering creativity and a Virtual Renaissance for the ages.</p>