What is an NFT?
A Non-Fungible token (or NFT) is a digital asset that can be stored on the blockchain. What does this mean?
It means that any digital file, whether a song or piece of artwork, can be stored on the blockchain to make it a unique collectible item. It is impossible to copy, duplicate or delete NFTs.
Can someone not just take a screenshot of an NFT file and duplicate it? Yes. It’s not an NFT.
The NFT is the digital certificate that is associated with an asset. It proves who it belongs to. It’s also “non-fungible”, which means that it cannot be replaced and is secured by blockchain. There’s no way to duplicate the NFT. You can’t take an NFT away from you unless you sell it.
Are you still not clear on what an NFT is exactly? Time for a quick analogy.
Imagine that you would like to purchase a Van Gogh piece.
A cheap copy of the painting could be purchased for just a few dollars. You could also buy the original painting, which would be much more expensive due to its rarity and likely increase in price over time.
This is why buying an NFT can be compared to buying a painting. However, it takes place digitally.
How to purchase music NFTs
You now know what an NFT looks like. How can you get one? First, you need to be familiar with cryptocurrency.
Don’t let this put you off! Cryptocurrency is available to everyone, and more people are joining it every day. To get started, all you need is a computer or phone.
Here’s some information if you are ready to purchase but don’t know where to start.
Look for a platform that offers music NFTs.
Platforms like NiftyGateway and OpenSea are great places to start if you want to learn more about NFTs.
These sites sell mainly digital artwork NFTs. It is a bit harder to find music NFTs right now. Around 150 music NFTs have been sold, though that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next few years.
Opulent is the platform that you MUST know about Music NFTs.
Opulent allows artists to embed a real-world portion of future music royalty in Opulous music NFTs. This means that fans can make money by simply owning the music.
This use case is a great example of the true value of NFTs. We’ll discuss that more later.
Get a crypto wallet that can hold NFTs.
To access and keep NFTs, you will need to download an app known as a wallet. Download crypto wallets via browser extensions or apps.
We recommend MetaMask right now as the best wallet. It is easy to set up and use, even if you don’t have any prior knowledge of crypto.
Each wallet has its “address”. Your address is a bit like a bank account number. You have to provide a string of characters to anyone who sends you something on the blockchain.
To keep your NFTs safe, you will need to create a seed phrase and private key when setting up a cryptocurrency wallet.
Your private key acts as your password. It is a string of numbers and letters that allows you to access any information stored on the blockchain.
A seed phrase may be given to you. This is a list consisting of 12 words in a particular order. It can be used to retrieve your wallet if you lose it. Keep a list of these words, and keep them safe and secure. You should be extra cautious – your seed phrase cannot be recovered if lost!
You can exchange your cash for crypto.
It’s not surprising that NFTs can only be bought with cryptocurrency. You will need to exchange your dollars, pounds and euros before purchasing.
It is easy to buy crypto. There are many crypto exchanges where you can trade regular money for Bitcoin, Ether, and any other altcoin.
To purchase NFTs, you will need to buy Ether. Ether, the cryptocurrency used by the Ethereum blockchain to store most NFTs, is what you will need to buy an NFT. However, other blockchains such as Algorand are also moving quickly into NFTs.