Grimes’ big bet on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2021 turned out to be one of her biggest sources of income.
In a recent interview with technology magazine Wired, the musician and producer was asked if she made more money from NFTs than in her entire music career. She replied with a simple “yes”.
During the 2021 hype cycle, Grimes sold her “War Nymph” NFTs on platform Nifty Gateway, earning approximately $6 million in revenue. The collection included a series of digital artworks on her music, as well as a one-of-a-kind music video that sold for nearly $400,000.
NFTs have taken a backseat in pop culture as their trading volume has dropped nearly 50% since the start of the year. However, Grimes told Wired that she hopes they can return to help artists make a profit from their work.
“I’m sad about what happened to NFTs and crypto because it quickly became polluted with people trying to make as much money as possible,” Grimes told Wired. “But I do want to think about remunerating artists, especially digital artists. And I hope when the aggro niche dies, we can come back.
Beyond just NFTs, Grimes is optimistic about 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 and explained 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 support the development of the network to stimulate.
She is also optimistic about AI in general and invited fans to use an AI version of her voice to create new music, offering a 50/50 split on any royalties and was impressed with the work that resulted from the experiment.