A new digital goods store powered by NXT, the popular second-generation cryptocurrency, will allow independent musicians, game developers, writers and artists to reach new markets and keep 100 percent of their revenues.
The NXT Digital Goods Store (DGS) is set to launch in the second week of August, offering an exciting new platform for independent artists to sell their material.
DGS is built on NXT, a versatile and feature-rich cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are a suite of new technologies that allow users to send money directly between each other over the Internet, quickly, securely and almost for free. However, whilst most cryptocurrencies are restricted to money transfer alone, NXT has developed the concept to allow transfer and trading of any digital asset – including media files. The result is a platform that allows musicians and other content creators to deal directly with their customers, rather than relying on expensive middlemen.
No commissions
‘We’re really excited about this development,’ comments Dan Kindly, NXT marketing associate. ‘Most digital media stores take a big commission from their artists. If you’re struggling to get started, that can represent a real barrier to your career. NXT’s Digital Goods Store allows anyone to list their tracks for free. They get to keep 100 percent of the revenue. That’s money that can go back into marketing and development, or be returned to customers, rather than ending up in the pockets of a big corporation.’
Apple famously takes a 30 percent cut of iTunes subscription sales. By contrast, the only cost of using NXT’s DGS will be the 1 NXT transaction fee, currently worth around $0.04 – and this is likely to be reduced to 0.1 NXT in the future. (Everything within the NXT ecosystem is priced in its native currency, though customers can use another NXT service, the Multigateway, to convert other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin into NXT to spend.) One of the first artists to use the Digital Goods Store will be German musician SinanBoom, who is listing his new EP of 6 songs for 99 NXT. Further videos will be released at a later date.
Getting started
In the coming weeks, users will be able to access a range of digital media on the NXT Digital Goods Store, including games, apps, music, videos and ebooks.
You can download the NXT client, which includes the Digital Goods Store, for free at www.nxt.org. NXT can be purchased for US Dollars or Euros at CCEDK, or exchanged for Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies at the Multigateway or a number of other cryptocurrency exchanges.