Grimes’ big bet on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2021 turned out to be one of her largest sources of income.
In a recent interview with technology magazine Wired, the musician and producer was asked if she made more money off of NFTs than she has across her entire music career. She responded with a simple “yeah.”
During the hype cycle of 2021, Grimes sold her “War Nymph” NFTs on platform Nifty Gateway, earning roughly $6 million in revenue. The collection featured a series of digital artworks set to her music, as well as a one-of-one music video that sold for almost $400,000.
NFTs have taken a backseat in pop culture, as their trading volume has fallen nearly 50% since the beginning of the year. However, Grimes told Wired that she’s hopeful they can return to help artists earn profits on their work.
“I’m sad about what happened to NFTs and crypto, because it got polluted fast with people trying to make as much money as possible,” Grimes told Wired. “But I do want to think about compensating artists, especially digital artists. And I hope when the aggro niche dies down, we can come back.”
Beyond just NFTs, Grimes is bullish on Web3. In October 2021, Grimes, artist Lil Nas X and influencer Bella Poarch contributed videos to social media platform TikTok’s “Top Moments” NFT collection. In March 2022, she spoke at the Avalanche Summit explaining her plans to create a metaverse children’s book with support from Web3 artificial intelligence (AI) platform OP3N and Avalanche’s $100 million fund to fuel development on the network.
She’s also bullish on AI generally, and invited fans to use an AI version of her voice to make new music, offering a 50/50 split on any royalties and was impressed by the work produced from the experiment.
