How NFTs Enable Content Ownership and Automatic Royalties

NFT royalties are the closest thing we’ve ever had to digital feudalism-except the serfs get paid every time their lord resells the land! 🤯 The smart contract is basically a digital notary that never sleeps, never takes a break, and never forgets your 7% cut. It’s wild how blockchain turns art into a perpetually yielding asset-like planting a tree that grows money every time someone chops a branch off.

But let’s be real: if you’re minting on Blur, you’re basically handing your future income to the wolves. I’ve seen collectors brag about ‘avoiding royalties’ like it’s some kind of hack. Bro, you’re not a pirate-you’re just bad at math and worse at ethics.

And don’t even get me started on tax implications. Every time you get paid, it’s a taxable event-no grace period, no ‘oops, I forgot’. Australia’s ATO is already tracking wallet addresses like they’re GPS trackers. If you’re not keeping a spreadsheet, you’re already in trouble.

Also-EIP-2981? YES. If we can standardize royalty metadata across chains, we might finally stop this marketplace arms race where platforms compete to be the most exploitative. Imagine if every NFT carried its own royalty DNA-immutable, readable, enforceable-no matter where it went. That’s the dream.

And creators? Start at 5%. Seriously. I’ve seen 15% NFTs gather dust while 5% ones sell out in minutes. It’s not greed-it’s liquidity. People want to trade, not hoard. You want royalties? Make it easy to resell. That’s the real win.

Interesting read. I’ve never minted anything, but I’ve bought a few NFTs just because I liked the art. Didn’t even think about royalties until now. Kinda makes me feel like I’m supporting someone instead of just collecting pixels.

Let me break this down simple: NFT royalty = creator gets paid every time their work changes hands. That’s it. No lawyers. No middlemen. No waiting 18 months for a check. If you’re a digital artist, this is your first real shot at sustainable income. Stop overcomplicating it. Pick a platform that pays you. Set 5%. Mint. Walk away. Let the blockchain do the work.

And if you’re a collector? If you care about artists, don’t buy on Blur. Vote with your wallet. Simple as that.

While the concept of algorithmic remuneration via immutable smart contracts is theoretically elegant, one must interrogate the epistemological underpinnings of such a system. The very notion of ‘ownership’ in a decentralized, permissionless ledger system is a semantic oxymoron-ownership implies stewardship, and stewardship implies accountability, which blockchain, by design, deliberately obviates. Furthermore, the imposition of royalty mechanisms through non-standardized, platform-dependent implementations constitutes a form of techno-feudal coercion, wherein creators are coerced into participating in a speculative economy they neither fully understand nor control. The tax implications alone render this model unsustainable for any but the most financially sophisticated actors.

It’s appalling how casually people treat blockchain royalties as some kind of passive income miracle. Every royalty payment is taxable income-period. And yet, 90% of creators don’t even know they need to report it. This isn’t ‘free money’-it’s unregulated, volatile, and legally precarious. If you’re going to mint an NFT, you’re entering a complex financial ecosystem with international tax obligations, anti-money laundering compliance, and potential capital gains exposure. This isn’t a hobby. It’s a business. And if you’re not treating it like one, you’re setting yourself up for an audit nightmare.

Everyone’s talking about royalties like it’s magic, but no one’s talking about the fact that most NFTs are worthless after the first sale. The system rewards the early adopters and punishes the latecomers. If you’re a creator, your 5% on a $5,000 resale sounds great-but what if your NFT only sells once? Then your royalty is $0. And what if the buyer flips it on Blur? Then your royalty is $0 again. The system only works if the market keeps moving-and right now, it’s a sinking ship with a few lucky liferafts.

Also, gas fees are still a joke. $150 to mint a 10% royalty on a JPEG that might sell for $200? That’s not empowerment. That’s a tax on creativity.

Oh wow, look who finally figured out that blockchain can automate payments. 🙃 The 2017 version of this was ‘Bitcoin will replace banks!’ and now we’re at ‘NFTs will replace record labels!’-and yet, here we are, still using PayPal for merch sales. The irony is thick enough to spread on toast.

Let’s be honest: if your art needs a 7% royalty to be valuable, maybe it’s not worth owning in the first place. But hey, if you wanna sell a JPEG and call it ‘digital heritage’ while pretending you’re Van Gogh, go ahead. I’ll be over here, buying physical paintings with actual brushstrokes and zero gas fees.

Also, EIP-2981? Cute. But until every exchange, wallet, and marketplace actually implements it, it’s just a wishlist item with a fancy acronym.

It’s irresponsible to present NFT royalties as a ‘solution’ without addressing the environmental cost of Ethereum’s proof-of-work legacy-even though it’s moved to PoS, the damage to public perception remains. And let’s not pretend this isn’t a speculative bubble wrapped in a moral justification. ‘Support the artist’? Sure. But when 99% of NFTs are bought by bots and flipped within minutes, who’s really being supported? The artist? Or the whale who bought the first one and is now cashing out?

Also, ‘royalty-friendly’ platforms are just marketing terms. The truth? Most collectors don’t care. They just want the cheapest, fastest flip. And if that means ignoring royalties, they’ll do it. This isn’t a revolution-it’s a loophole.

Big Tech is using NFTs to track your every move. That ‘wallet address’? It’s your new social security number. Every resale is logged. Every transaction is monitored. The government already knows how much you made. The banks are watching. The AI is learning your habits. This isn’t freedom-it’s surveillance capitalism with blockchain glitter on it. They want you to think you’re in control. You’re not. You’re just another data point in a ledger that doesn’t care who you are.

Look, the royalty system isn’t perfect-but it’s the best thing that’s happened to digital creators since the internet. If you’re a musician, illustrator, or writer, this is your chance to get paid every time your work circulates. No more begging for licensing deals. No more waiting for a check that never comes. Just mint it, set 5%, and let the blockchain do the rest.

And if you’re a collector? If you want to support real creators, don’t buy on platforms that let people disable royalties. That’s not a feature-it’s a betrayal. Your wallet is your voice. Use it wisely.

Also, use Polygon. Gas fees on Ethereum are criminal for small creators. Don’t let cost kill your dream.

This made me cry a little 😭 I’m a mom who draws cartoons for my kids, and I just minted my first NFT with a 6% royalty. I didn’t think anyone would buy it… but someone did! And then someone else resold it and I got $42. I didn’t even have to do anything. I just… sat there. And got paid. For something I made for fun. I’m not rich. But I feel seen. Thank you for writing this. 💖

One thing missing from most discussions: the power of split royalties. If you collaborated with a writer, animator, or sound designer, you can allocate percentages to multiple wallets. That’s huge. It turns creative collaboration into a transparent, automated partnership. No more ‘I’ll pay you later’-the contract pays everyone at once, on-chain, instantly. This isn’t just about money-it’s about recognizing collective labor in a way traditional contracts never could.

And yes, start at 5%. But don’t be afraid to adjust. Watch your secondary market. If your NFTs are flipping like crazy, lower the royalty to keep the ecosystem alive. Sustainability > greed.

Also-use OpenSea on Polygon. Always. Gas fees are $0.02. You can mint 100 NFTs for less than a coffee. Why wouldn’t you?

You think you’re smart because you minted an NFT? Everyone is doing it. The real artists are painting in silence, not chasing crypto. Royalties? That’s just another way to sell your soul for a few dollars. The blockchain doesn’t care about your art. It only cares about transactions. You’re not a creator-you’re a data node.