<p>Contemporary Indian folk-rock band Swarathma made its NFT (non-fungible token) debut by putting up a collection of creative works for auction.</p>.<p>On Saturday, the five-member band released its NFT collection on a platform called Fantico.</p>.<p>The collection includes seven NFTs, starting at Rs 3,700 (50 dollars) each, and the tokens are available for auction. The highest bid wins.</p>.<p>“NFTs don’t only mean digital art, they can include music, videos, curated experiences and even exclusive merchandise. Our NFTs are more like collectibles and exclusive experiences that are not available anywhere else,” says bassist and manager Jishnu Dasgupta.</p>.<p>The newly-launched collection includes animated artworks, early demo versions of the band’s most popular songs, and also personalised virtual experiences.</p>.<p>“One of the NFTs includes a live virtual performance of our latest single, a merchandise box set and an audio file of the song that can be used as a ringtone or alarm,” he tells <span class="italic">Metrolife</span>. </p>.<p>The band set foot into NFTs with little understanding of the blockchain model. “We started talking about the blockchain and NFTs five months ago in 2021. At that time we didn’t have much clue about the entire concept, and I still wouldn’t say I fully understand it, but the pandemic gave us time to explore it,” he says.</p>.<p>He believes the days are gone when artistes tried to grow a bigger audience with each passing year.</p>.<p>“Today, our focus is on building a close-knit community. The NFTs are for an audience that knows our music through and through,” he adds. </p>.<p>The auction ends next month, but the band still isn’t sure what the outcome might be. “The concept is still new and people are still grasping it. We’ll only know what we will yield from our NFT debut when the auction ends in 25 days,” adds Dasgupta.</p>.<p> This is a good opportunity for artists to try something new and give their audience something exciting amidst the pandemic, he says.</p>.<p>“In a city like Bengaluru, you might soon find more and more artists giving NFTs a try,” he adds. </p>.<p><strong>How it works</strong></p>.<p>An NFT is a piece of digital content linked to the blockchain, a digital database housing cryptocurrencies. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are fungible, meaning they can be replaced or exchanged with another item of the same value, NFTs are unique. </p>.<p>No two NFTs can be the same, as they are not interchangeable, with each having a unique signature, explains Jishnu Dasgupta, bassist and manager of Swarathma.</p>
<p>Contemporary Indian folk-rock band Swarathma made its NFT (non-fungible token) debut by putting up a collection of creative works for auction.</p>.<p>On Saturday, the five-member band released its NFT collection on a platform called Fantico.</p>.<p>The collection includes seven NFTs, starting at Rs 3,700 (50 dollars) each, and the tokens are available for auction. The highest bid wins.</p>.<p>“NFTs don’t only mean digital art, they can include music, videos, curated experiences and even exclusive merchandise. Our NFTs are more like collectibles and exclusive experiences that are not available anywhere else,” says bassist and manager Jishnu Dasgupta.</p>.<p>The newly-launched collection includes animated artworks, early demo versions of the band’s most popular songs, and also personalised virtual experiences.</p>.<p>“One of the NFTs includes a live virtual performance of our latest single, a merchandise box set and an audio file of the song that can be used as a ringtone or alarm,” he tells <span class="italic">Metrolife</span>. </p>.<p>The band set foot into NFTs with little understanding of the blockchain model. “We started talking about the blockchain and NFTs five months ago in 2021. At that time we didn’t have much clue about the entire concept, and I still wouldn’t say I fully understand it, but the pandemic gave us time to explore it,” he says.</p>.<p>He believes the days are gone when artistes tried to grow a bigger audience with each passing year.</p>.<p>“Today, our focus is on building a close-knit community. The NFTs are for an audience that knows our music through and through,” he adds. </p>.<p>The auction ends next month, but the band still isn’t sure what the outcome might be. “The concept is still new and people are still grasping it. We’ll only know what we will yield from our NFT debut when the auction ends in 25 days,” adds Dasgupta.</p>.<p> This is a good opportunity for artists to try something new and give their audience something exciting amidst the pandemic, he says.</p>.<p>“In a city like Bengaluru, you might soon find more and more artists giving NFTs a try,” he adds. </p>.<p><strong>How it works</strong></p>.<p>An NFT is a piece of digital content linked to the blockchain, a digital database housing cryptocurrencies. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are fungible, meaning they can be replaced or exchanged with another item of the same value, NFTs are unique. </p>.<p>No two NFTs can be the same, as they are not interchangeable, with each having a unique signature, explains Jishnu Dasgupta, bassist and manager of Swarathma.</p>