Celebrities have flooded the NFT space over the past few months, with some dropping NFT collections and others embracing popular NFT projects. These include Snoop Dogg, also-known-as Cozomo de’ Medici, who has proved to be an ardent NFT collector for the better part of 2021. Another example is American football player Tom Brady who founded a sports NFT platform.
Artist Emily Yang, popularly known as Pplpleasr, Cooper Turley, a DAO developer, and crypto influencer, and Showtime social network CEO Alex Masmej, spoke about the importance of celebrities in the NFT sector during the GeckoCon streaming conference, which ran from November 17 to 19.
During the conference, the panelists agreed that the involvement of celebrities in the NFT industry has been beneficial. Turley pointed out that famous people play a significant role in the industry. However, he noted that celebrities should not lend their fame to crypto and the Web3 space and expect their projects to succeed.
While Celebrities joining the NFTs space has seen the sector grow immensely, Turley noted that having social capital in the old world does not translate directly one-to-one in the burgeoning collectibles space.
The NFT space is not ready to handle the massive followings of celebrities
According to Turley, Web3 technology is not yet ready to handle the demand that comes with the massive followings of renowned celebrities. He gave an example of Drake dropping an NFT project, saying it might get hyped. However, the conversion rate would not match the project’s reception because joining the crypto and NFT space is often challenging.
He added that platforms might also struggle to handle the sudden burst of demand. Turley further noted that the still-evolving Web3 space has a humanizing nature when it comes to outsized celebrities. To this end, he believes famous personalities have to invest time and engage with the community to get stable, consistent interest.
Turley further noted that,
When you come into the NFT space, you are starting from square one.
Pplpleasr echoed Turley’s sentiments, saying approximately 80% of celebrities’ fans have not yet joined web3 and might struggle to do so. She added that being famous in the traditional world does not guarantee success in the NFT space.
Celebrity NFTs don’t always succeed
Pplpleasr acknowledged that several famous people like Snoop Dogg, Kings of Leon, The Weeknd, Grimes, Tom Brady, and Rob Gronkowski have successful NFT experiences. However, not every celebrity has had a blissful experience with NFTs. Examples are wrestler John Cena and rapper ASAP Rocky, who had their NFTs sell for less than the original sale price.
Masmej, on the other hand, said he is delighted in how the NFT space creates its own celebrities. According to him, Pplpleasr and Turley are the web3 equivalents of Charli D’Amelio, who became a star through TikTok. He added that NFT stars are more interesting than celebrities that got famous through other avenues.
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