Artists can sell or rent the ownership of their creations thanks to the use of smart contracts and blockchain technology to support the origin
ERC-1190 is the name of the new non-fungible token of Ethereum that allows the commercialization of a single asset property to maintain or sell its license, being able to receive up to 10% of royalties for the commercial use of these pieces.
The token, created by the developers Shaan Ray and Aalim Khan, is designed to be used in the art world because in this field there are many artworks that are sold daily and weekly.
The main objective is to allow artists to share their creations of art and keep a record of the passives income that they can generate as a profit. “It will allow selling the creative license of the art, selling property license or renting it to a third person for a fixed period of time”, explained Ray.
In this way, another benefit for artists is allowing them to concentrate on producing more artworks, because they can trust that their economic interests are protected, since they can have access to the income generated by their artworks on the Ethereum’s application.
Thanks to blockchain, technology transactions in different fields are possible based on the use of smart contracts. In the case of the ERC-1190 token, the collection objects, both virtual and physical, will have representation within smart contracts which will make possible the exchange.
And it is right in the Ethereum’s blockchain where artists can see the historical sales movements, income, property exchanges and everything related to their arts. This could help to preserve the works of art legacy, remember their provenance, and archive the names of their first owners.
Understanding the process
ERC-1190 will allow selling the property of a token that will represent a work of art in the Ethereum’s blockchain. But those who, instead of selling, prefer to preserve their creative license with a 10% royalty, or another agreed percentage, will get income from the commercialization that the token’s new owner makes.
“By using an ERC-1190 token, an artist can bequeath his piece of art to future generations, even if he has sold the property license and no longer owns the underlying work of art. If someone in the family or in the town of Van Gogh had the creative license of one of his paintings, today that person would receive significant income each time the paintings were sold or rented”, added Ray.
Sony, Microsoft, Ernst & Young and International Business Machines (IBM) are some of the world companies that have been investigating possible uses of blockchain technology as a tool for the respect and commercialization of copyrights.
The startup Snark Art had another similar initiative, through a project with which collectors can acquire the ownership of fragments of a film by purchasing ERC-721 tokens from Ethereum, which differ from the tokens ERC-1190 in that the latter is non-expendable, that is, that it will not be consumed while using it properly.
By María Rodríguez
