Of all the celebrity moments over the year, it took until the end of 2021 for perhaps the weirdest one to arrive. Tom Brady, the Buccaneers' star quarterback, has come together with pop star The Weeknd through Brady's, uh, NFT platform to launch some "Blinding Lights"-inspired digital collectibles.
Sound crazy? It is!
In August, Brady launched his own NFT platform, Autograph, with a selection of "autographed" NFTs from famous folks like Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, Tony Hawk, and Wayne Gretzky.
The Weeknd was an early supporter, quickly joining Autograph's Board of Directors in Fall 2021.
The idea, apparently, is that each limited edition NFT includes a unique signature from the celeb whose name is attached to each. It's a novel, if rather sterile , approach to reframing the potentially profitable celebrity autograph market, if nothing else.
Prior to The Weeknd, Autograph primarily issued collectibles from sports stars, though it did drop some Saw NFTs. These Weeknd NFTs — launching in partnership with Billboard via an Opensea auction that ends on December 23 — will kick off Autographs music vertical.
Inspired by The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights," 2020's best-performing single, the NFTs are ranked by rarity and all begin at 0.1 ETH, about $382 at current exchange rates.
Fans can choose between a rendering of The Weeknd's recent Billboard Magazine cover and "three digital trading cards" of varying desirability.
"Having The Weeknd join our Board of Directors and launch our music vertical with such a groundbreaking cultural moment speaks to our shared vision of communicating culture’s most engaging stories and celebrating its most important moments as they happen through new digital formats,” says Dillon Rosenblatt, co-founder and CEO of Autograph in a statement.
Like with adidas' recent NFT debut, I'm not entirely sold on the concept, though Autograph's angle does make more sense to me than the usual celebrity NFT (no thanks, Melania)
In fact, NFTs actually have a lot in common with autograph collecting: both imbue arbitrary sums of money into inscrutable collectibles and obtaining a unique Weeknd signature is a far better prize than simply purchasing a .JPG of a bong-smoking ape.
