Aphex Twin sold a new unique piece of artwork in the form of an NFT (non-fungible token) for $128,000 (£91,000) over the weekend.
The piece, titled afx\/weirdcore\blockscanner, is a collaboration between Aphex and regular collaborator and visual artist Weirdcore.
The new NFT was sold on the cryptocurrency marketplace Foundation, and features music from the DJ and “additional technical input” from multidisciplinary artist Freeka Tet.
Announcing the 24-hour auction on Twitter, Aphex said he plans to offset the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency: “We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get.”
We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get .
— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) March 14, 2021
NFTs have quickly become a presence in the music industry and beyond in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Kings Of Leon released their new album ‘When You See Yourself’ as NFTs. The collection, made up of three tokens, boasts 25 unique pieces including a limited-edition ‘Golden Eye’ vinyl as well as the chance to win one of six ‘Golden Ticket’ live experiences for the band’s upcoming tour.
Last week, it was revealed that the band have generated $2million (£1.4million) from NFT sales of their new album, with more than $500,000 (£358,982) of that total being donated by the band to Live Nation’s Crew Nation fund to support live music crews during the coronavirus pandemic.
Other artists getting involved include Grimes, who recently auctioned off 10 exclusive pieces of NFT crypto art – dubbed WarNymph Collection Vol.1 – over a 48-hour period, and Halsey.
The latter is selling her own art through an NFT on marketplace Nifty Gateway this week (March 17), with part of the proceeds from the auction going to My Friends Place, a charity that supports homeless youth in LA, and Carbon 180, which aims to help the world remove more carbon than is emitted.
The late MF DOOM was also honoured recently with augmented reality NFT masks, sold on digital marketplace Illust Space.
Meanwhile, away from music, a group of cryptocurrency fans purchased an original Banksy artwork, only to burn the piece and sell a digitalised version in the form of an NFT for four times its original value.
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