CNFT Monthly

Dear NMKR community,

We know that quite a lot of you love art, and we are happy to feature CNFT Monthly, a magazine dedicated entirely to documenting independent artists who make it happen on Cardano. We have seen some absolutely amazing work created by independent artists on Cardano and are excited to see that they are able to share it with the community through this new magazine.

We believe that this is a great way to promote and support the independent artist community on Cardano. We caught up with Don, the man behind CNFT Monthly, to ask him a few questions about the new magazine.

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NMKR: What inspired you to start developing CNFT Monthly? Please tell us what makes it so special.

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Don: Everything starts with an Idea. The Idea I had with this magazine was to shine the brightest light possible on the ignored and undervalued artists releasing their work in the Cardano ecosystem. Why do I say undervalued? Let me be blunt: It is simply because it was frustrating to me, as an artist, looking at my peers struggling to make a single sale while the dullest and “ruggish” 10k profile picture projects were having the wildest success stories one could possibly imagine. It was obvious to me and the people I work with in regards to art that the community was giving value to the wrong hands. 

So the idea was and still is to change this by exposing the meaning behind what these independent artists are creating. I carry the firm belief that if one wishes to appreciate art truly, one must first understand its story. By knowing and understanding the story, the meaning behind the art produced by an artist starts to become very clear. We want to be the ones who deliver these stories and by doing so, we hope to shift people’s attention toward Cardano’s independent art scene.

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NMKR: What are the major challenges you're facing right now? We would like to know about your team's plans to overcome them.

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Don: The real question is: Do people still read? The way Web2 has shaped the mind of the youth through an endless stream of short-form videos and quick dopamine hits to the brain is deeply concerning. It is clear that there is less and less curiosity for the younger generations to read, let alone buy a book or a magazine. 

So why do magazines still exist? I believe it is simply because they give pictures alongside content that a targeted audience is curious about and wants to be aware of. Our major challenge is thus to create this spark of curiosity inside the minds entering or currently in Cardano’s ecosystem. To cultivate this curiosity, there must first be strength, unity, and opportunity in this community of independent artists. Artano is a key player in this first step. 

That being said, we believe that bringing some of the finest artists in the scene together and sharing their stories in a monthly issue of a magazine can be the spark plug that ignites artists and collectors. This would create the explosion needed to generate curiosity and interest in the minds of the people who already have a certain knowledge about Cardano. In order to create this spark, the ultimate challenge is not only to make these stories enticing, accessible, and easily digestible but to also draw the community’s attention toward fine art.

We plan on overcoming this challenge by digging into stories and writing articles on artists that excel at their craft. Alongside these articles, we seek to stimulate curiosity by showcasing some of the best works of the artists we feature. By executing these two actions simultaneously, we are putting an emphasis on the fact that when someone purchases a piece of art from an independent artist, they are also diving into his story. 

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NMKR: What are you doing to get people to use or invest in your project? Please share some thoughts about your growth strategy. 

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Don: There is no exact plan, but we do have a few ideas in mind to stimulate growth and build a sense of “belonging”. The first idea that came to mind was to give back to our readers what they have given us in the form of art.

We’d like to acquire art from the artists we feature, and give it back to members of the community through a raffle in which only owners of the magazine can enter. We’d also like to incorporate a system of meritocracy in this raffle, in which readers who are also highly active in the community have a higher chance of winning.

In the near future, we’d also like to incorporate a subscription-based model, where a reader would be able to purchase an annual subscription in the form of an NFT with a burning endpoint - meaning the NFT will burn automatically 12 months after it is minted. One who possesses such an NFT would have every Issue airdropped to his wallet every month one day before the public release. Annual subscribers would also have a higher chance of winning the raffles. 

We can never be sure of what will happen tomorrow, so we won’t create any plans for the distant future. Our primary focus is to take pleasure in creating these monthly issues and connecting with artists, collectors, writers, and art enthusiasts around the globe, which allows the project to be sustainable for everyone in the long term.  

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NMKR: What do you think about NMKR? Tell us what we can do for you in the long run so we both win!

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Don: All of this wouldn’t be possible without NMKR. Their minting platform offers everything we need to succeed in regard to the minting of the magazine: payment gateways, split profit addresses, airdrop functionalities, creating an X amount of duplicates of an NFT, and possibilities of minting NFTs with burning endpoints. All of this through an incredibly slick interface. Not sure what else one can ask for, it’s almost a dream come true when a brand desires to make massive amounts of NFTs available for its audience to acquire.

Nevertheless, It is currently impossible to read the magazine as you would read a physical copy when viewing the NFT on a blockchain explorer such as Pool.pm. Not too long ago I discovered an example that says otherwise, although this method requires embedding some Javascript code inside of the NFT. This might be an unrealistic fantasy, but if this method of displaying an NFT that contains a PDF file can be a minting feature on NMKR, it would likely take a thorn out of publishers' and readers’ feet when they step into Cardano’s ecosystem.   

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NMKR: What's your vision for the future of blockchain/decentralized technologies like Cardano? Please tell us what you're doing to make that future a reality.

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Don: I am by far no expert on the topic of decentralization and everything I say about it must likely be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, I believe decentralized technologies will give back users ownership of their data and the possibility to monetize this data however they wish without any centralized or third parties.

That being said, I see Cardano as a tool that can empower small businesses and the self-employed by eliminating the need for middlemen and giving them eco-friendly solutions to most of their problems. For example, if you’re an independent artist with a keen sense in marketing you can thrive on your own without the need for gallery representation. That is because most of these decentralized technologies like Cardano have brought solutions for the ownership of digital assets through NFTs. In the future, I see this kind of technology being massively adopted by artists around the globe because it not only gives them ownership of their data but also has the potential to let them do what they do best, which is creating beautiful works of art and developing a community interested in what they do.

In many ways, I believe Cardano is similar to an always-open library of transactions and digital assets. I see it in the more distant future becoming a storehouse of knowledge accessible to anyone. For example, if someone wanted to learn what kind of art independent artists were minting in August 2022, they could look up CNFT Monthly and read Issue #02. Problem is that it’s not that simple to look up because there is no text-based search engine. Thus I believe it would be great to create a user-friendly indexation around NFTs carrying written-based content. This way someone interested in a particular topic can be directed to a policy ID under which NFTs carrying information on that topic were minted. This might be just another one of my unrealistic fantasies, but who knows what will happen in the future with this open-source technology? This will depend on people who are highly skilled in arithmetics and know how to code, who I consider being artists as well. 

In short, I see Cardano as a powerful tool that can help artists and small businesses to level the playing field and compete with bigger companies.

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NMKR: If our readers want to get in touch with you, where can they find you? 

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Don: Please feel free to stay up to date with our news on the following channels:

Twitter: @cnftmonthly

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/6BPGQgxncA

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NMKR: Thank you for inspiring us with your vision, Don. It was great to have you with us and feature CNFT Monthly on NMKR Blog. Your project is definitely one to watch out for as it matures and grows. We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors!