In response to creators’ uproar, OpenSea non-fungible tokens marketplace has declared that it will continue to impose creator royalties across all NFT collections moving forward.
OpenSea announced on November 7 that they would be developing an on-chain tool that would allow producers to enforce royalties for new collections on the platform, but did not offer the same for current collections.
The marketplace stated at the time that it would investigate solutions such as enforcing off-chain fees for “certain subsets of collections,” permitting optional creator fees, and partnering with other on-chain enforcement methods for artists.
The statement was met with substantial opposition from the community, who demanded that OpenSea clarify its stance, pointing out that the language was confusing. In contrast, others took issue with the notion of an “optional creator charge.”
Some NFT creators, including Bobby Kim, co-founder of The Hundreds, announced on November 9 that they had canceled the distribution of their scheduled NFT collection on OpenSea while “waiting to see if OpenSea will take a stand to maintain creator payments for existing collections.”
“Unfortunately, this announcement is late,” he remarked.
In a blog post published on November 8, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) founders including Wylie Aronow, Greg Solano, and Kerem Atalay weighed in on the topic, stating that OpenSea’s decision to remove creator payments for heritage collections from its platform was “not ideal”
OpenSea appears to have heard the criticisms, as it affirmed in a tweet on November 9 that it will “continue to apply creator fees on all existing collections.”
OpenSea reported it was “We’re amazed by the passion we’ve witnessed from both makers and collectors this week. We were seeking your feedback, and we received it in a resounding manner.”
According to the marketplace, “in the next weeks, we will begin open-sourcing our data on creator fees for everyone to use.”
