Steve Aoki, Todd McFarlane to Launch NFT Marketplace

key takeaways

McFarlane will be auctioning off some of his original work for the first time this century, starting with Spawn NFTs
The marketplace, dubbed “OddKey,” will run off Metaplex, an on-chain protocol for buying and auctioning digital collectibles on Solana’s blockchain

Grammy-nominated DJ Steve Aoki and comic book creator Todd McFarlane announced the launch of a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Tuesday. Dubbed “OddKey,” the marketplace is “designed to empower creators to showcase and sell authenticated digital art,” Aoki told Blockworks in an interview.

“Something a lot of people ask [me] is, ‘Hey, what advice can you give to a young musician or artist to get their music to stand out? There’s so much music out here, like how do I get to stand out?’” Aoki said. “[And] that’s the whole point of building this marketplace. [That] artist can now fit in Todd McFarlane and Steve Aoki’s world. Here’s a place for you to actually communicate with other artists and creators [on the same playing field].”

McFarlane, who created one of the highest-selling comic books in history, will be auctioning off original art from Spawn as NFTs on the marketplace in the near future.

“This isn’t about Steve and Todd [though],” McFarlane said to Blockworks. “The big victory here is us opening up that opportunity to other creators and giving them the exact same opportunity that we are giving ourselves.”

“Steve and I are in total agreement that we know we will have succeeded when we become irrelevant to our [marketplace.] There’s going to be so much talent [in OddKey.] There will be so many other [great] artists they’ll go ‘Yeah, Steve had a nice run. Todd had a nice run, but they’re the old guys, right?’” McFarlane said. “That’s a victory.”

The Amazing Spider-Man artist added that if fans “ever have any hope of owning any Spawn artwork or any [of his] artwork [after] 1992, you’re going to have to go here.”

Aside from OddKey, Aoki has been a heavy investor in NFTs for over a year, first selling his debut NFT collection “Dream Catcher” for $4.25 million on Nifty Gateway.

Aoki predicts that “there’s no doubt that we are moving towards a digital economy. We are going from cash to cashless. Less and less people want [the] physical.”

“When you look at future generations, kids from [ages] 10 to 20, are living in their own metaverse [now]. They’re playing Fortnite and Call of Duty. It’s already normal for them to spend money in those places,” he said. “That’s essentially [what happens] when they buy a skin for a game. They’d rather spend that 20 bucks buying something like an outfit they’re wearing in Fortnight, than spend 20 bucks for a t-shirt that they’re going to wear to school.”

OddKey will be powered by Metaplex, an on-chain protocol for buying and auctioning digital collectibles on the Solana blockchain.

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