MakersPlace

Discover and Collect Truly Rare Digital Artworks

4 followers

Discover and Collect Truly Rare Digital Artworks

4 followers

MakersPlace is an online marketplace to discover, collect and invest in truly unique and authentic digital creations, by the world's leading artists and creators. Creators on MakersPlace are able to protect and sell their works to a rapidly growing community

Launch tags:Art•Web3

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Vento

I may be missing something, I love the design, illustrations, UX and everything about this - but why would I need a digital version of a piece of artwork? strikes me that it's less valuable than a physical one?

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

Hi @christopher_lee4 . The creations available on MakersPlace aren’t digital versions of physical artwork. They are digital artworks that were created digitally with the intention to be consumed digitally. That being said, today, digital creations are valued less than physical creations. Scarcity, tangibility, ownership, authenticity, resell value, all play into the perceived value of a creation — things that digital creations lack. This is what we’re solving.

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7yr ago

Vento

@dannieb Very cool, really unique model I like it. Hope I'm not being intrusive, but seeing as you just launched I have a market research service where for $12 you can ask 100 people a question then follow-up based on how they answered and even interview them! https://scoops.io/ You could ask e.g. "Would you pay for digital artwork/creations made by other people if they were as scarce, authentic, and tangible as physical ones?" <- and then follow-up with people who said yes. Anyway If you want to give it a shot feel free to sign up and let me know which email you used over Intercom and I'll pass you $12 in free credits. Best of luck otherwise!

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

@christopher_lee4 Interesting, will take a look!

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

Hi everyone. Dannie here from the MakersPlace team. The team and I are super excited to introduce our marketplace and platform that's aimed at enabling a vibrant future for digital creativity. On our marketplace you can discover, collect and invest in truly unique digital creations by the world’s leading artists and creators. What’s unique about MakersPlace is that everything available is an authentic and unique creation that’s been digitally signed and issued by the creator -- all made possible by blockchain technology. That means, when you purchase a digital creation on MakersPlace, you’re getting a uniquely issued digital print -- even if someone copies the digital creation, it won’t be the authentic version that’s in your possession. You can even trade or re-sell your creation on any public marketplace. Behind our marketplace is a super easy-to-use platform for digital creators to protect and sell their unique digital creations, directly through our marketplace or any public exchange. Creators can easily establish a permanent proof of ownership for each creation, and issue unique editions which can be sold to collectors worldwide. We support both cryptocurrency and fiat for purchases. MakersPlace was founded by Yash, Ryoma and I to solve a real issue plaguing digital creators worldwide. In an online world, the value of a digital creation has been greatly diminished by the simple fact that anything digital can easily be copied. This is no longer the case with platforms like MakersPlace and blockchain technology. We're most excited that, finally, digital creators can capture the full value of their work, which will undoubtedly lead to a brighter and sustainable future for digital creativity. If you’d like to chat with us directly, join our community at: https://invite.gg/makersplace. If you’re interested in joining our mission, we’re hiring! https://angel.co/makersplace/jobs/

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7yr ago

Product Hunt

Awesome to see this live, @dannieb and team. It's come a long way since we met last year. What's been the biggest surprise so far?

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

Hey @rrhoover , great question! One big surprise I can think of is seeing creators adopt and interact with blockchain technology. The interfaces and general understanding of blockchain technology has certainly improved in the ecosystem over the last year, and we’ve definitely made it easy to interact with the technology. However, we weren’t sure how creators would actually respond to having to understand some of the concepts that are unavoidable. e.g long transaction times, gas fees, setting up digital wallets for payouts, navigating coinbase, etc. There’s still a learning curve but with proper education, clean user experiences and being honest with creators about why things in the blockchain world take a little longer than they’re used to (e.g mining transactions), they’ve been very receptive to the technology. It’s also nice that we’re working with digital creators, who are comfortable using and adopting new technologies.

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7yr ago

Interesting idea. I'll admit, my initial comment was a bit of a skeptical tirade on your marketing verbiage, but it sorted itself out as I read more. However, it sort of opened a Pandora's box of questions. What safeguards do you have against people gaming the system (eg. flooding the market with CC0 assets for profit)? What "real" license are these works actually under when purchased? I see non-commercially licensed work on your site, but how does that work with modification, etc? I'm assuming all works are non-commercial, do you think there will be enough demand without commercial licenses? How will you be able to pivot if visitors are content using unsigned versions of the images? How is unauthorized use enforced (I guess that goes back to the question of the "real" license these works are under)? I don't expect answers to everything, but these are what come to mind. I love real-world applications of blockchain technology, but I can't really see this meeting its potential without commercially licensed assets, market manipulation protection, and a way to prevent easy duplication and distribution of "unsigned" works. Really solid work so far, all things considered. I tried to keep my thoughts organized but apologies if it comes off as an old man rant

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

@chris_germano thanks for the question! Skepticism is healthy, especially in such a new and unchartered space, happy to share our thoughts. Here are the three questions I’ve been able to grok: 1. What licenses are buyers getting with these works? We’re currently working on defining clearer language around this that explains to buyers that purchasing a digital creation on MakersPlace is afforded the same property rights that you obtain when purchasing any tangible / physical creation today. What that means, in non-legalese, is that a buyer is given the rights to enjoy it and re-sell it in the future, but are not given the rights to create derivatives or misappropriate the creator’s identity and brand for commercial purposes. This is a decision that we’ve made at this point, but we’re discussing internally about providing more options for creators to sell their works for commercial purposes if they choose to. 2. What will it mean if people are content on using unsigned version of the images? So, this is where MakersPlace is different from say a Getty images or other digital asset marketplaces. What we’re enabling is the ability for collectors to truly own, collect and invest in digital creations, like they’re already doing for physical art and collectibles in general. These individuals actually care about owning something scare and authentic. If you’re looking to simply use or experience a digital creation, there are better options for that. We also believe that over time collectors will value a unique digital creation far more than one that they purchase for a specific on-time use. (i.e renting vs buying) 3. How do you enforce unauthorized use? We’re not directly tackling this issue, but what we are providing is the platform for a creator to establish a permanent proof of ownership at the point of creation so that they have the means to easily prove ownership and even file DMCA takedowns. That being said, with the nature of the internet, it’s very difficult to control the illegal use of a digital creation, but as long as creators are able to capture value from the good actors of the world, then that’s a giant step forward for digital creators.

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7yr ago

@dannieb Thank you for taking the time to sate my curiosity. I wish you all success :)

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7yr ago

What differentiates you from all the other digital art collectable blockchain projects that are around? I have been tabulating a list of blockchain art projects here: https://github.com/gianni-dalert... Who covers the cost of gas? The artist or the creator or your team? How will you overcome the obstacles of the typical user/collector not be well versed in blockchain. ie. Owning/buying crypto, installing something like metamask, and knowing how to interact.

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

@giannidalerta The biggest difference between MakersPlace and other blockchain art projects today, is that we’ve built a platform that makes it super easy to interact with the blockchain, both as a creator and customer. We create and manage a unique digital wallet for each creator. We’ve implemented both industry-standard and propriety security procedures so that creators don’t need to. That means we cover all the gas costs among other challenges that typically arise when interacting with the blockchain, allowing creators to just focus on creating. Also, as a brand new collector of blockchain art, we provide the option to purchase using a credit card and being issued your very own digital wallet, hosted by MakersPlace. You can always transfer these creations to your personally managed wallet if you like. If you’d like to learn more, we published an article that explains this in greater details: https://medium.com/makersplace/h...

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7yr ago

Juno

Hey @dannieb Love what you guys have built here. How was the reception from collectors on using Metamask? Have you guys tried http://portis.io for managed wallet experience?

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7yr ago

MakersPlace

Maker

@iamswam On our platform collectors have the option of using either MetaMask or a hosted wallet that we provide so they have the option of using a fully decentralized wallet if they're comfortable with it or rely on our platform if they need time to become more comfortable with blockchain tech. We'll take a look at Portis though, we're always looking to improve the overall experience for our users. Thanks for the recommendation.

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7yr ago