Print Is Dead? Why the NFT platform Zora is launching a magazine
Zine, the digital culture magazine from the NFT coin platform Zoragoes where few Web3 media offerings have gone before: back into the physical realm.
Today, Zora Zine will publish its first ever print edition – although getting hold of a copy won’t be quite as easy as going to the nearest newsstand or grocery store checkout.
A total of 2,500 collectible Ethereum NFTs representing copies of Zora Zine Print Issue 001 are on sale now; these NFTs can then be redeemed by holders to acquire a physical magazine. Public sale price for the NFTs is 0.0777 ETH, or just over $150.
Why would a magazine dedicated to chronicling the developers of the decentralized internet, published by a company “on a mission to bring creativity on-chain,” move not only off-chain, but also offline?
For Zora Zine’s head of editorial, Yana Sosnovskaya, Web3 is more a set of values and goals than a pure technology stack. And print is one tool that can help promote these goals.
“Success is not just about the medium – it’s about creating value for the users, in our case culturally and curatorially,” said Sosnovskaya Decrypt. “It’s refreshing to have a tangible, collectible that you can visit at any time.”
“We aimed to capture the zeitgeist of Web3 which we think will be fascinating to visit as time passes, players rotate, rules change, ideas swirl and waves of hype come and go,” she added.
Like Zora Zine’s digital issues, Print Issue 001 will continue to experiment with blockchain-based solutions designed to decentralize and democratize the media industry. For example, the issue will feature a project entitled “Fake Ads”, where 22 artists have created print ads for fictitious Web3 products and services.
Each of these artists, in addition to receiving an honorarium, will be able to participate in an income split from an open edition of the artwork in the chain that will be published online.
In that sense, the Web3 ethos of the Zora Zine will live on alongside its print incarnations. The zine has previously experimented with using blockchain tools to give journalists, artists and photographers a cut of the magazine’s revenue, for crowdfunding, and to give its audience a say in what stories they want to see published.
The first printed edition of the Zine, which runs to 250 pages, will focus on the theme of “Intergenerational Dynamics”.
Inserting the early bull run incarnation of Web3 as a rebellious teenager critical of his parents (Web2) and nostalgic for his grandparents’ idyllic world (Web1), the issue will examine what it will mean for Web3 to grow up and move beyond his idealistic youth into a more mature and nuanced framework and mentality.
The edition contains works from over 60 contributors, incl The cable founding executive editor Kevin Kelly, computer philosopher and futurist Jaron Lanier, composer Holly Herndon, art curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, generative artist Tyler Hobbs, and the late Herbert W. Franke, one of the world’s first computer artists. The physical issue will also feature special inserts and an as-yet-undisclosed portion of “custom hardware.”
