• Regardless of creators being presented with the option to choose from the largest NFT marketplaces including OpenSea, Magic Eden, and LooksRare which all honor creators’ royalties, some artists cannot wrap their heads around the fact that some rival upstarts do not enforce it. 
• Creators and collectors have taken to Twitter to express their concerns.

Creators and collectors have been raising the issue of non-royalties for artists in secondary sales as observed in several NFT marketplaces. Regardless of creators presented with the option to choose from the largest NFT marketplaces including OpenSea, Magic Eden, and LooksRare which all honor royalties, some artists cannot wrap their heads around the fact that some rival upstarts do not enforce it. 

One of such platforms is SudoAMM, an Ethereum NFT marketplace. Also, Yawww, a Solana NFT marketplace launched this summer has no place for artists’ royalties. On Solanart, another Solana NFT marketplace, sellers have the freedom to choose whether to pay royalties or not. Interestingly, they can choose the amount they want to pay. This simply means sellers can sell NFTs without the requirement to pay an additional 5 percent or 10 percent as royalties to creators. 

Many artists are upset with this decision, and several of them have made their feelings clear on various social media platforms.

It’s not about feelings. We’re building the first blocks of what will become a digital civilization. Royalties are a broader statement that we value creatives. Web2 and the [traditional]world are being forced to adjust based on that statement. We aren’t here to recreate old systems.

Also, Matt Medved, the founder and CEO of “NFT Now” tweeted that “0% royalties are a non-starter”. 

NFT marketplaces must be ready for rug-pulls for denying royalties – User

Many collectors are also in agreement with the concerns of creators as they believe that denying royalties is seen as a rejection of “the Web3 ethos.” It is believed that many photographers, painters, musicians, and other creators across different industries moved away from the traditional means of producing and selling to these emerging digital platforms. These were found to be equitable markets where their works would be fairly rewarded on an ongoing basis. 

Other users joined the debate with little concern about 0 percent royalties for creators, however, they believe that such platforms must be ready for some unpleasant changes.

Frank, the pseudonymous creator of Solana NFT project DeGods tweeted:

NFT royalties shouldn’t exist because it’s ‘the right thing to do.’ It is simply the best alignment of incentives between founders and holders (right now). If you want to remove royalties, that’s fine. Just don’t be mad when mints become more expensive and more projects rug, lol.

Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann, the artist with the record most expensive single NFT sale joined the conversation. According to him, royalties cannot be enforced on-chain. For this reason, creators must build a collector base that wants to honor them. 

Others also advised artists and collectors to keep several numbers of their NFT supply at launch. In this case, they can sell them when the project is popular.