Building communities and ensuring NFT success: Insights for artists

The importance of building communities cannot be underestimated in the rapidly changing art world, driven by technology and the explosion of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the last two years. An audience is a social media following, but a community is a group of people working toward a common goal.

Art market economist and academic Magnus Resch has extensively researched the importance of communities and networks for artists.

Resch holds a Ph.D. in economics and has studied at the University of St. Gallen, the London School of Economics and Harvard. In addition to lecturing at Yale, he has produced several publications about the economics of the art world. He has appeared in academic journals and major publications like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Vanity Fair.

Resch recently spoke to Cointelegraph about his latest book, How to Create and Sell NFTs — A Guide for All Artists, which explores the importance of building meaningful communities for artists, and how to create and sell NFTs compatible with their artwork.

Cointelegraph: Dr. Resch, how important is community building for artists in today’s rapidly changing art world?

Magnus Resch: Community in the art world matters for the success of any artist, but being in the right one is even more important. In one of my most recent studies, I looked at thousands of communities in the art world to evaluate their impact on the success of any artist. The results were surprising: 99.9% of artists’ communities don’t have any positive effect on the career of an artist.

These communities — I call them “island networks” — consist of museums, galleries, fellow artists of the same level and fans or supporters. These groups mean well but will never make a real impact at the higher end of the market. Instead, there is only one network that leads to success. For an artist who strives to be successful, the goal must be to become part of it. I call it the “holy land.”

CT: Can you share some key strategies for artists to successfully tap into this one community you call the “Holy Land?”

MR: My study shows the art world is a people business. Who you know matters more than what you make. In the absence of objective criteria that define what “good art” is, the network steps in to decide what good art is and what is not. That is why networking is so vital.

For artists, this means don’t spend all your time in the studio. Go out and meet the right people, at best, those that are part…