Can anyone explain with the recently sold Beeple NFT in particular, what exactly was being sold? Is the artwork itself stored in the ether ecosystem on the blockchain, or is the token a hash of the artwork, or is the name of the artwork in the metadata of the token? I have not found any articles that explain it.
Also where do I find what rights are conveyed with the token? What would allow the buyer to re-sell it?
As I understand it, Beeple is the copyright holder of this picture, and even after the sale, he is also the owner of this picture. This is how I understand the contract
https://www.christies.com/pdf/onlineonly/ECOMMERCE%20CONDITIONS%20OF%20SALE%20-%20NEW%20YORK-8Mar21.pdfThx, found the relevant passage in the contract:
NFT: a unique non-fungible token encrypted with an artist’s signature that confers to the holder of the NFT an
ownership right to the corresponding lot, which is a work of digital art that may be identified on the blockchain
effectively verifying the rightful owner and authenticity of an original digital artwork.
From the other language in the contract you are right, the NFT is simply the title to the digital artwork, much like a real estate title proves ownership of a parcel of real estate. What makes this bizarre is that the digital art can be duplicated, unlike real estate and the land on which it sits.
The last part,
a work of digital art that may be identified on the blockchain
effectively verifying the rightful owner and authenticity of an original digital artwork.
is done by including a link to the actual online artwork in the token meta-data, which is unalterable.
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-digital-art-nft-servers-shut-down-2021-3In case that site stops hosting it, the owner can always create a new NFT with new meta-data.
Presumably they also included a hash of the digital artwork in the token.