Table of Contents
In my previous article, I introduced ArtByte and explained how it works and can be useful for Second Life® artists.
In this article, I will explain in detail the real possibilities for an SL® artist to have an economic help to promote his activity within the game and, why not, also in Real Life.
The first aspect to be clarified is this:
the ArtByte foundation finances artists, digital money is the tool through which they are financed.
Thus, each artist receives financial aid from the ArtByte Foundation, which pays them in artbyte money (ABY). The ABY coin is a digital currency just like lindens, the only difference is that lindens are expendable directly within the game, artbytes must be converted.
I hope Linden Lab takes an example from High Fidelity and gives the opportunity to spend the digital currency in the game. As long as this is not possible, it will be necessary to convert artbytes into euros or, directly into lindens.
In a subsequent article, I will explain how to proceed with this type of conversion, in this post I would like to illustrate what ArtByte can do for an SL® artist in the simplest way possible.
Ok, ArtByte is a foundation that helps artists, but why does it do it and how does it do it?
Mike Cabaniss, the founder of ArtByte, is an IT expert and passionate about photography. In 2013, on the occasion of a stay in New York, he discovered numerous valuable artists who, however, had little time available to enhance their creativity and, therefore, were forced to perform one or more part-time jobs to live. They were artists of various kinds, painters, dancers, photographers, writers, etc.
The admiration for valued artists pushed Mike to give life to the ArtByte Foundation which aims to finance the artists. Every service offered by ArtByte is, in fact, free for all artists and always will be.
Naturally, within the ArtByte community, there are both artists and people interested in creating digital money (the process called mining). In this article, I will not talk about mining.
The focus of this post is, in fact, on how artists can get donations and support through ArtByte. So, if someone is interested in how to earn through the digital currency, should read specific articles on the subject, here I deal exclusively with donations.
Having clarified this aspect, we can summarize how donation occurs with a simple statement like this:
Artbyte Foundation → pays artbytes (ABY) to the artist’s Artbyte account.
Subsequently, the artist converts the artbytes into Euro (if he wants to spend the donation in RL) or in Lindens (if he prefers to spend the liberality in SL®).
That’s all.
Simple? Yes, if the artist becomes familiar with these two steps. I think that having some extra money can be an excellent incentive to learn two little steps. 🙂
Open an ArtByte account and receive a donation from the Foundation
Ok, it’s not exactly that simple, in the sense that you have to be one of the artists chosen by the Foundation. 🙂
In case you are (congratulations), it is enough for you opening an account ArtByte (it’s like opening a PayPal account, just to understand).
Warning: opening an ArtByte account does not mean you have to do mining or connect your PC to the ArtByte Network to create digital currency! (many confuse these two aspects). It only means that you open an account to have a wallet on which to credit the donation. That’s all.
To know how to open the account and have your wallet, read my article here.
Congratulations, now you know enough to open your wallet and receive donations through ArtByte.
If this is all you wanted to know, you can end the reading here; if, however, you want to know more about ArtByte, read on.
Which artists does ArtByte support and how does it do it?
ArtByte supports different types of artists, inserting in this category an extensive series of people who make creativity their work: musicians, painters, sculptors, actors, filmmakers, directors, publishers, producers, dancers, writers, photographers, designers, models, etc.
The primary “goal” of ArtByte is that it integrates digital currency technology on its social platforms through 5 different channels:
• Ability to make donations in ArtByte through Social Media such as Twitter and Reddit;
• Support through the publication of its contents on more than 140,000 Social Media;
• Grants, awards, and showcases directly from the ArtByte Foundation;
• Earnings through the “mining” of ArtByte;
• Sale of their art through the ArtByte website: musicians already can sell their musical pieces, soon the possibility will be implemented for artists to sell their works (images, etc.);
In 2017 the investment in ABY has far exceeded that of the most famous digital coins, such as Bitcoin, LiteCoin, and Ethereum: what is the secret of this success?
Mike explains that one of the reasons may be that ArtByte aims to create a community of real users, people who interact with each other, participating in the various occasions sharing their opinions.
Personally, I think the tool of the Forum that I tried first is very valid: it is indeed a charming and very active community.
Besides, ArtByte currently supports more than 25,000 artists and promotes a weekly contest that allows the winner to pocket 5,000 artbytes.
What are the goals of ArtByte for 2018?
The primary objectives of ArtByte are summarized in this exhaustive interview with Mike that you can read here.
One of these and that, I think, is very interesting is the implementation of virtual reality in the 3D Gallery of ArtByte … Wow. I hope they will soon be able to do this project because it would be great to be able to visit the various 3D galleries.
Finally … the Forum
Mike has created a unique forum section for SL® artists. Being the community of ArtByte very active and engaging, my advice is to put your events, artworks, posts, etc. in this section dedicated to us! Go to the part of the Forum devoted to SL® artists.
Conclusion
ArtByte is an extraordinary tool for growing as an artist. The “craft” of the creative too often is not remunerated by forcing the artist himself to carry out different jobs to maintain himself.
Through ArtByte we have the opportunity to be helped both economically and in the dissemination of our content, being able to count on a broad and robust community … which is the “secret” of ArtByte’s success.
Photo Article: Mike Cabaniss
