Guangming Daily Reporter Fang Quyun
Editor's note
With only a dozen or dozens of yuan, you can have a digital collection with a unique serial number. The price is relatively cheap, the concept is novel, and it meets the consumption habits, social needs and value aesthetics of young people. Digital collections have begun to enter the public eye from niche circles. Behind the popularity of digital collections, what are the innovative values of this emerging industry that deserve attention, what risks are hidden, and how can guidance and supervision be further strengthened? Guangming Daily reporters conducted an in-depth investigation into this.
At present, the matter of "collection" is being changed by the Internet.
"The first batch of digital collections were all sold out as soon as they were launched online!" On the evening of April 16, Hong Zhangbo, a young artist born in the 1990s, updated a message on his social media account, and his words were filled with excitement. Just that afternoon, two digital collections created by him and issued in total of 60 copies were officially launched online. "In one minute, everything was sold out. I really felt everyone's great enthusiasm!"
In the eyes of insiders, Hong Zhangbo, who graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts with both bachelor's and master's degrees, is a typical Academic young artist. Now, in addition to the "visible and tangible" oil paintings, his works also have a "visible but not tangible" presentation form - digital collections.
Behind the story of Hong Zhangbo, it reflects a new trend: digital collections are becoming a cultural phenomenon that is sweeping the world, attracting players from all walks of life to join the game. Relevant statistics show that in 2021, a total of approximately 4.56 million digital collections will be sold in my country, with a total issuance value of approximately 150 million yuan. According to calculations by the Toubao Research Institute, a research platform in the data field, the size of my country's digital collection market will reach 30 billion yuan in 2026. Why are
digital collections so popular? What impact will it have on culture and consumption? What opportunities and challenges lie behind rapid growth?
"Twelve Zodiac Signs of Ice and Snow" digital collection. Picture provided by interviewee
New collection experience, empowering cultural consumption
As early as early 2021, digital artist Beeple used collage to form a digital art work "Every Day" using thousands of paintings he had previously created. ": The First 5,000 Days", this work was eventually auctioned for $69.34 million. This is also the first artwork to be auctioned in the form of NFT by Christie's auction house. The incident of
has aroused the attention and curiosity of many people - what is NFT?
generally believes that NFT refers to a non-fungible token (Non-FungibleToken) based on blockchain technology , and can also be understood as a digital asset ownership certificate using blockchain technology. Unlike equivalent tokens such as Bitcoin, NFT is indivisible and irreplaceable. Each NFT represents a unique digital material that serves as an electronic certification or certificate of ownership of the virtual commodity. Simply put, NFT is like the ID card of digital assets. It can point to any content such as digital art, games, domain names, tickets, etc., making it a digital asset that can be permanently owned, saved, and traced.
"Twelve Zodiac Signs of Ice and Snow" digital collection. Picture provided by the interviewee
In China, NFT is more known in the form of digital collections. Industry insiders generally believe that the technical principles of digital collections currently issued in China are basically the same as NFTs, but there are differences in distribution channels and transaction methods. Most NFTs in overseas markets are issued and confirmed based on public chains such as Ethereum, and are directly or indirectly linked to the virtual currency . Our country’s regulatory authorities have always strictly prohibited virtual currency trading and speculation. Against this background, digital collections in the domestic market currently mainly rely on the issuance of alliance chains under various platforms, and most mainstream platforms prohibit secondary transactions of digital collections, weakening the financial attributes, reducing the risk of speculation.
reporters found that since 2021, the new blue ocean of digital collections is attracting more entities to join, and the industry ecosystem has begun to emerge.
"Twelve Zodiac Signs of Ice and Snow" digital collection. Picture provided by interviewee
Leading Internet companies that master blockchain and other related technologies are becoming platform builders of digital collections.In June 2021, Alipay teamed up with the Dunhuang Fine Arts Research Institute to release two payment code skins, "Dunhuang Feitian" and "Nine-Colored Deer", in limited quantities on the " Ant Chain Vermicelli" Alipay applet; in August of the same year, Tencent launched the " Magic Core " application software, and released the first limited edition "Audio "Thirteen Invitations" Digital Art Collection"; JD.com also followed suit and launched the Lingxi digital collection trading platform in December . There are leading Internet companies as credit endorsements, and most of the products released by these platforms are sold out as soon as they are launched.
As a cultural institution with important resources, museums have become one of the major IP parties for digital collections. Many precious cultural relics hidden deep in museums are being understood and collected by the public in a virtual way. Henan Museum released the cultural and creative digital collection " Fu Hao Owl Zun", priced at 19.9 yuan, limited to 10,000 copies, and sold out within one second; Hubei Provincial Museum released one of the 10,000 copies of the museum. The digital collection " Yue Wang Goujian Sword " was also sold out immediately after it went online; the 60,000 digital cultural creations launched by Jinsha Heritage Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan based on Sun God Bird , Dajin Mask and other cultural relics were also sold out within 50 seconds. .
Digital collection launched by Jinsha Site Museum. Picture provided by interviewee
Since digital collections have their own “traffic”, this craze has inevitably spread to the field of consumer goods. Sports brand Anta has released several Winter Olympics commemorative digital collections around the theme of ice and snow; national fashion cosmetics brand Mao Geping has launched national style digital collections "Phoenix Totem" and "Double Phoenix Fan", which can be given as gifts when purchasing the corresponding products. The relevant person in charge of Intime Department Store said that the novel and fashionable concept of digital collections, new digital experience and cool display methods are natural and effective ways for consumer brands to stick to the younger generation. It can not only provide new touch points for brand marketing, but also It can convey brand value on a deeper level from the spiritual and experiential levels.
Digital collection launched by Jinsha Site Museum. Picture provided by interviewee
What is the value of innovation in digital collections that are accelerating the process of “breaking the circle”
In the past, collectibles could be a painting, a stamp, or a bottle of famous wine, etc., and they usually had certain practical value. . Nowadays, most digital collections only exist on the Internet, so many people are wondering, what is the value of digital collections?
In interviews, many art workers said that digital collections have updated the way people view and collect art, making art more accessible to the public through technology. "Affected by the epidemic, traditional offline exhibitions have been subject to various restrictions, but digital art can break the boundaries of time and space and quickly establish connections between audiences, artworks, and artists." Hong Zhangbo introduced that many institutions currently serve individual artists. Works "on the chain" provide cooperation and services. "Personally, the creation of digital collections has allowed me to make a bold breakthrough in my artistic style, and also allowed my works to be seen and loved by more people."
China Lunar Exploration Digital Collection. Picture provided by the interviewee
"Digital collections also provide the possibility of redistributing the right to speak about art." Zhao Longkai, director of the Center for Business and Art Research at Peking University said that in the past, the right to speak about art evaluation was mainly held by universities. In the hands of galleries, it is difficult for artists to turn their works into works of art by relying solely on individual strength. With digital collections, artists have the possibility to have some say in the art to a certain extent.
Many art workers also talked about the positive significance of digital collections for copyright protection in interviews. They believe that digital collections are equivalent to providing an "ID card" for artistic creation, which will help solve the embarrassing problem of "popular works but unknown authors" on the Internet. In addition, the works after being "uplinked" will be subject to all-round supervision, which can avoid plagiarism problems to a certain extent and help promote the healthy development of the cultural industry in the long run.
For target users, digital collections often represent a kind of circle recognition.On some platforms, the digital collections collected by users will be displayed in a prominent position on the personal homepage. Some players said that this is actually a kind of "identity mark."
digital collection "Bird in Love", the picture shows the collector taking a photo with the digital collection. The picture is provided by the interviewee
00 player Zhou Lei, who is currently active on multiple digital collection platforms. He painted a "user profile" for people who are keen on buying digital collections: "Some people are out of curiosity. Since most digital collections are currently issued at very cheap prices, many people participate in snap-up purchases with the mentality of 'early adopters'; Some people do it to socialize and make friends with common interests; others do it because they like certain IPs. "Zhou Lei said that for the "Generation Z" consumer group, they prefer consumption and consumption in the digital world. Social sharing, and the pursuit of unique personality expression and aesthetic experience, digital collections exactly meet their consumption preferences.
“Each era has its own aesthetic preferences.” Zhao Longkai believes that collectors’ preference for digital collections in the Internet era is not just a new trend on social media. This is about how the new generation of art collectors and art lovers establish their own art world, value system and aesthetic concepts.
For traditional industries, digital collections provide new development ideas and opportunities. Due to their own "offline" genes and scenes, once traditional industries collide with digital collections, wonderful chemical reactions often occur.
In December 2021, a digital collection platform cooperated with Huayuan Village, Zhongtou Town, Jiaxian County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province to launch the "Digital Villager" series of collections. The rights and interests of "digital villagers" include free accommodation for one night in a share-owned B&B every year, priority in obtaining the lease or operating rights of relevant operating assets , etc. Thanks to this new gameplay, the "Digital Villager" series of collections were sold out as soon as they were launched, with sales revenue reaching 300,000 yuan. According to the platform, the net proceeds will be invested in the rural construction of Huayuan Village.
In March this year, a consumer brand announced that it plans to release three bubble gun digital collections, which will be launched at music festivals. Players can use this digital collection to interact at the music festival. According to the relevant person in charge, this digital collection is designed in the shape of an Internet celebrity toy that is loved by young people. It is also in line with the fashionable and cool style of the music festival. It will enrich the IP value of the brand and is an ideal product for consumption, fashion, art, cultural tourism, etc. A new attempt at element fusion.
For the platform, digital collections are far more than a new type of cultural and creative product. They are also one of the ways for technology companies to lay out and explore the metaverse. The reporter found that my country has not yet formed a large-scale and influential public blockchain chain, but the leading Internet platform with a large number of users, IP, and technical resources has given birth to several alliance chains, including Alibaba Its subsidiaries include Ant Chain, Tencent Zhixin Chain, Baidu Super Chain, Bilibili High Energy Chain, Jingdong Zhizhen Chain, etc. Take Tencent Zhixin Chain as an example. Tencent relies on this chain to integrate its resources in the entertainment field. Currently, there are digital collections from platforms such as Huanhe, QQ Music , Qidian Reading, Xiaohongshu , etc., all of which are on Zhixin The chain provides on-chain certificates.
Industry insiders said that blockchain technology is considered to be an important infrastructure for the future metaverse, and digital collections are one of the implementation methods of blockchain technology. The release of a digital collection trading platform will help enterprises to prepare for blockchain technology. Find the right application scenario.
The "Blockchain Technology Activating Digital Cultural Heritage" report released by of the Central University of Finance and Economics summarizes several aspects of the significance of China's digital collections: first, they are compliant and controllable, creating a new type of cultural consumption with confirmable and traceable rights; The second is that the company has sufficient independent research and development technology support, and the relevant blockchain authorized invention patents rank among the best in the world; the third is the advantage of user scale; the fourth is win-win cooperation, making the protection, inheritance and dissemination of traditional culture more efficient; the fifth is Extremely low energy consumption, low carbon and environmentally friendly.
Popularity and controversy coexist, and there are worries amid the "hot" development of the industry
Some people ridicule digital collections: "If it sells, it is NFT, if it cannot be sold, it is JPG (common picture format)", thinking that its popularity is a "false fire" "; Some people boldly predict that digital collections will become works of art and trendy toys in the metaverse world, and the future prospects are promising. These views illustrate the current hot and controversial situation of digital collections. The quality of
content varies, and the value of the works is difficult to measure. Many players said that the current development of digital collections is still in the early exploratory stage, and some digital collections have problems such as homogeneous design, shoddy content, single application scenarios, and low artistic value.
"The specific value of a digital collection is actually difficult to judge, because the cost of production, dissemination, and circulation of digital collections is relatively low, and it is difficult to guarantee its absolute scarcity." Zhou Lei introduced that there are currently three main forms of digital collections. The first is the mapping of real works in the digital world. Some digital collections "copy" artists' calligraphy and paintings online; the second is original works in the digital world, mostly trendy art; the third is works that interact with reality and virtuality. , many joint-branded and equity-based digital collections fall into this category. "I personally prefer the third one because it is relatively 'useful'. If I want to purchase the first two works, I will only consider works by artists or IPs that have a certain influence."
Private transactions occur frequently. Fund security is difficult to guarantee. Recently, WeChat has banned several public accounts of digital collection platforms suspected of illegal speculation or secondary trading. The reporter learned that although most mainstream platforms currently prohibit secondary resale and only have the function of giving away, many people still see opportunities for speculation. Group chats and second-hand trading platforms are becoming a gray area for digital collection trading.
In addition, the risk of platform "runaway" still exists. According to many industry insiders, the current domestic chain types are mainly private chains and alliance chains, and their authority is in the hands of one platform. This means that once the company goes bankrupt or the platform is shut down, the digital collections on the "chain" will face the risk of being lost.
The financialization tendency still exists. Some experts said that as an innovative application of blockchain technology, digital collections have shown certain innovative value in enriching the digital economy model and promoting the development of cultural and creative industries, but there are also risks and hidden dangers such as speculation and illegal financial activities. . In April this year, China Internet Finance Association , China Banking Association and China Securities Association jointly issued the "Initiative on Preventing NFT-related Financial Risks", which clearly requires resolutely curbing the tendency of NFT financialization and securitization, and strictly preventing illegal activities. Financial activity risks include not weakening the non-homogeneous characteristics of NFT by dividing ownership or creating batches, and conducting disguised token issuance and financing , etc. The legal risks of the
series require vigilance. One is the risk of copyright infringement or the sale of infringing copies. Recently, the Hangzhou Internet Court announced the judgment of an infringement case. This case is also known as the first domestic digital collection infringement case in the industry. In this case, a platform released a digital collection of "Fat Tiger Vaccination" created by users of the platform. However, the copyright of the cartoon image of "Fat Tiger" belonged to the plaintiff Qice Company. The court held that the platform infringed the copyright and required compensation. The plaintiff's economic losses and reasonable expenses totaled 4,000 yuan.
Judge Yiran of the Beijing Internet Court said that this case reflects a typical platform compliance risk in the issuance of digital collections. The judgment clarified the compliance obligations of digital collection platforms in terms of rights protection and infringement risk prevention.
In addition, there are risks of personal information protection. Digital collections need to rely on blockchain technology, which imposes more new data compliance requirements on digital collection development companies. Guangzhou Internet Court Judge Lin Beizheng explained that before processing players' personal information, development companies should follow the requirements of the " Personal Information Protection Law " and truly, accurately and completely inform individuals of the purpose of processing and the purpose of the processing in a conspicuous, clear and easy-to-understand language. Processing methods, types of personal information and storage period, etc.In addition, since blockchain data is difficult to tamper with and cannot be deleted, once there is an error in a player's identity or collection information, companies need to use reasonable technical methods to correct and delete it.
Growing pains, how to crack
As one of the first application scenarios in the metaverse concept, digital collections are still an evolving and developing concept, and different participants are still enriching its meaning. Experts interviewed believe that new technologies and concepts must be treated with tolerance but not condonation, and innovation must be encouraged but restrained to avoid going out of bounds.
insists on being content and value-oriented. "Compared with traditional collections, digital collections have only changed in media form. Whether they have collection value still depends on their essence, that is, the value of beauty, social value and the value of the times." Zhao Longkai believes that artists should use the values of the times As a guide, focus on your own creation, "This is the most fundamental guarantee for the healthy development of the digital collection industry."
Zhao Longkai also put forward his own suggestions for collectors: "In addition to learning how to use new media to explore more art forms, We should study art history and care about the nature of art. At the same time, we must maintain long-term patience with this new industry. What kind of art will be produced in our era needs to be promoted by those who really like art."
More diverse application scenarios. Trendy artist Yuan Yining believes that the true meaning of digital collections is to provide the public with a new interactive experience between art and life. "The collision between digital collections and real life may lead to more interesting events. In the future, digital art will coexist with traditional art and show more possibilities based on its own characteristics."
for cultural and museum units It is also a trend to create richer digital collection application scenarios. In April this year, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a symposium on digital collections. An important consensus was reached at the meeting, that is, cultural relics units should actively promote the open sharing of cultural relics information resources, but should not directly sell the original data of cultural relics as limited commodities. "This puts forward higher requirements for us. We must continue to innovate, use information technology to show the value of cultural relics, and enhance young people's sense of identity and belonging to traditional culture." said Song Hua, director of the Cultural and Creative Department of Henan Museum.
establishes an access system for the digital collection trading platform. "Digital collections inevitably have certain financial attributes." Zhao Longkai believes that although the market itself has the ability to correct deviations in the long run, the healthy development of any new technology needs to be based on a safe market environment and a sound legal order. superior.
Yiran suggested that laws and regulations related to digital collections should be improved and the essential attributes of related business activities should be clarified; relevant departments need to formulate an access system for digital collection trading platforms, increase the administrative approval threshold for the construction of trading platforms, and regulate the blockchain of trading platforms. Supervise and manage the data generated by algorithm applications and transactions to prevent some criminals from conducting illegal and illegal operations through the digital collection trading platform and infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
For ordinary consumers, what should they do when faced with the "growing pains" of digital collections? Zhihu respondent Huang Yanzhen gave this answer: "Disdain it as a scam and tout it as the future are both biased. A cautious and open mind is the best choice to embrace the future."
"Guangming Daily" ( Page 07, May 19, 2022)
Source: Guangming.com-"Guangming Daily"
