Associated Press NFTs – 175 Years of Iconic Photos Are Being Tokenized

Time and Fortune have set an example for media brands everywhere on how to integrate their IP with the NFT market. They proved that collectors value important magazine covers throughout history and both have found ways to collaborate with popular NFT creators on new digital-native covers – Fortune did it with pplpleasr and Time did it with Nyla.

So when the Associated Press announced they’d be launching an NFT marketplace at the end of January 2022, my mind began thinking about all of the history that AP has documented.

How they are going to handle tokenizing these pieces of history? What type of ownership rights are they going to give? How committed will they be to the decentralization movement?

The Associated Press holds a lot of weight when it comes to photojournalism. And regardless of their NFT rollout, they’re signaling to a multitude of legacy brands that this new technology is promising and worth looking into more.

In the video below, we discuss why we think AP entering the NFT market is important for history, as well as what it may signal to others that are sitting on historically significant IP.

It’ll be interesting to see how AP kicks off this new venture. Are they going to come out with a bang and tokenize some of their 32 Pulitzer Prize-winning photos? Are they going to augment their photojournalism assets with other artwork or collaborations?

While we know that the NFT market will continue creating its own digital-native culture, it’s important to have legacy culture adapt to the blockchain. I don’t always get excited about brands making NFT announcements, but this is a case where we need to pay attention.