--- title: "NFT Marketplaces Say Oops, Paying Royalties to Artists Is Optional Now" description: "NFT marketplaces are doing away with royalties, or creator fees, and creators are predictably concerned. Now, OpenSea has caused even more chaos." date: "2022-11-08" modified: "2022-11-08" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/nft-marketplaces-royalties-artists" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" - "NFTs" tags: - "crypto" - "nft" - "nfts" - "opensea" --- # NFT Marketplaces Say Oops, Paying Royalties to Artists Is Optional Now ![NFT marketplaces are doing away with royalties, or creator fees, and creators are predictably concerned. Now, OpenSea has caused even more chaos.]() *A burning dumpster fire, as part of a fire fighter's training exercise. Squamish BC, Canada. April 29, 2018. \Image: Getty Images\* It's no secret that the NFT industry has been struggling, meaning that marketplaces are being forced to find [new, creative ways]() to hold onto market share. One especially unpleasant — even by cryptosphere standards — new trend to do just that? Doing away with creator royalties. Well, the industry hasn't *totally* done away with royalties. As [*Decrypt* reports](), most — including Solana, X2Y2, and LooksRare — have just made them optional. Which might be a win for the sales-hungry trading platforms, but already isn't looking so great for creators who were led to believe that the digital assets would represent a long-term income stream. "A month ago, around 75 \[percent\] of NFT buyers opted-in to paying royalties on x2y2, when given the choice," tweeted @punk9059, the Director of Research at the well-known industry collective [Proof](). "Now that number is around 18 \[percent\]." "The idea of 'tip jar' royalties where buyers can opt-in or opt-out will likely prove to just be a 0-royalty policy over time," they continued. "Free riding is too easy." https://twitter.com/punk9059/status/1586085941390635008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1586085941390635008%7Ctwgr%5E2d3c8c78e79868c82d3d14ce88ec4f2cd18fb797%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdecrypt.co%2F113698%2Fopensea-breaks-silence-on-nft-royalties-but-creators-dont-like-what-they-hear To further complicate the issue, the world's largest NFT trading platform by volume OpenSea responded to its royalty-optional competitors by laying out its own extremely confusing new guidelines. Unlike Solana trading site Magic Eden, which moved to a tip jar system [just a few days after]() declaring its loyalty to royalties, it hasn't folded to the allure of the royalty-free system *yet.* Yet, however, is unfortunately the operative word. Leaning on its already-massive marketshare, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer announced in a Sunday blog post that it'll attempt to "enforce \[creator\] fees on-chain" for "some subsets of collections" if creators insist on royalties — a promise that OpenSea, as Proof's Angharad "Harri" Thomas [pointed out](), might not be technologically capable of keeping — while additionally "blacklisting" NFT resales on fee-optional platforms. Finzer, however, also wrote that OpenSea will decide once and for all if it'll switch to a tip jar policy in December — a seemingly convenient way to test whether they can honor fees and maintain market dominance, but leaving creators in limbo in the meantime. "It feels like there is no plan, and no clear answers were given in regards to existing collections and artist's royalties," one popular creator wrote [on Twitter]() after allegedly speaking with the OpenSea team. "Communication has been misleading and facts are not there." Of course, losing out on royalties sucks for creators, and the chaos of the situation — due in large part to OpenSea's wishy-washy take — certainly doesn't help. And as if there couldn't be an extra kick to to the creators while they're down, some have pointed out that the move away from royalties is even a betrayal of the control that Web3 once promised the artists behind these assets. "Philosophically, abandoning creator royalties throws the entire mission of Web3/NFTs off," Bobby Hundreds, another prominent NFT maker, wrote in [his own Twitter thread](). "Until now, the primary thesis for this remarkable technology has been ensuring that artists get paid for their work." **READ MORE:** *[OpenSea Breaks Silence on NFT Royalties, But Creators Don't Like What They Hear]()* **More on NFT desperation:** *[The Latest Idea to Make People Actually Buy NFTs: Throw in a House]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()