The Associated Press Is Starting Its Own NFT Marketplace For Photojournalism

The Associated Press, or AP, has announced that it's starting a marketplace to sell NFTs of its photojournalists' work in collaboration with a company called Xooa. The Verge reports: It's billing its foray into NFTs as a way for collectors to 'purchase the news agency's award-winning contemporary and historic photojournalism' and says that the virtual tokens will be released at 'broad and inclusive price points' (though it's hard to tell what types of prices resellers will want on the AP marketplace). The news outlet says its system will be built on the 'environmentally friendly' Polygon blockchain and that the NFTs will 'include a rich set of original metadata' to tell buyers when, where, and how the photos were taken. It says its first collection, launching January 31st, will include NFTs featuring photos of 'space, climate, war and other images to spotlights on the work of specific AP photographers.'

Buyers will be able to pay for NFTs from the market using either credit cards or Ethereum -- AP says the MetaMask will be the first wallet supported but that there are plans to add support for others. There will be virtual queues to buy NFTs as they're released by AP, with 'Pulitzer Drops' containing more limited-edition NFTs happening every two weeks -- the FAQ says these particular images will 'have increased scarcity to preserve their status.' Buyers will be able to resell those NFTs on the site's secondary market. AP says that the proceeds from the NFTs' sale will be used to fund its journalistic endeavors. It'll also get revenue whenever they're resold on its marketplace -- the FAQ says there's a 10 percent fee associated with reselling, and Xooa spokesperson Lauren Easton told The Verge in an email that the two companies would share that fee. Easton also told us that the 'photographers will share in all revenue collected,' but didn't specify what their cut would be. The NFT marketplace is set to open on January 31st, but you can get on a waitlist now to get 'priority access' and a higher waitlist ranking if you refer others to sign up.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.