Not every digital artwork needs to be an NFT. After all, NFTs can already do so much more. 

In 2008, at age 71, David Hockney (one of the most influential living modern British artist) got his first iPhone. 

By the following year he had made over a thousand digital paintings using his thumbs, and he now is a prolific digital artist. His exhibition "A Paradise Found," featured a yet-unseen series of iPad flower paintings.

Wandering around the exhibit I was struck by the following realization: The exhibit made no mention of NFTs.

I’m so used to equating NFTs with digital art that I was almost shocked to not see a mention of NFTs. A missed opportunity for Hockney? Maybe, although it’s doubtful the artist needs the extra income from selling these images as non-fungible tokens. In fact, Hockney has publicly criticized NFTs, calling them "silly little things.

An important reminder: NFTs and digital art are not synonymous. In fact, it’s time we start separating NFTs from digital art.

While digital art can certainly be made into an NFT, NFTs are ultimately a much wider category than that which is restricted to art, and I believe that associating the two too closely does a disservice to each.

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Artists have long relied on royalty payments from secondary sales of their work to earn their livelihoods. In industries dominated by studios and publishers and agents and talent managers, that’s been a struggle. Stories are legion of artists forced to seek redress through lawsuits.

The advent of non-fungible tokens promised to provide artists with a handy digital tool for collecting their due with little fuss. Thanks to smart contracts, creators could now expect to receive regular and reliable payments for their handiwork far more seamlessly than in the past. After all, that’s the primary purpose of blockchain technology to do away with intermediaries and friction and make transactions more efficient.

But now that business model may be in jeopardy, casting doubt on one of the core themes of web3 creative freedom empowered by crypto.

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A months-long standoff ends. Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and studio Miramax have settled a lawsuit over non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, based on Pulp Fiction. A new court filing indicates the sides will request to dismiss the suit in the coming weeks, and they offered a joint statement, as reported by Deadline. “The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs,” they said. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

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