Time Magazine’s president recently disclosed plans of fully digitalizing future subscriptions for the magazine, migrating these into NFT subscriptions through the TIMEPieces collection.
In a recent interview, Time Magazine’s President Keith Grossman disclosed his plans to digitalize the magazine’s future subscriptions fully. The plans include migrating subscriptions into NFTs of TIMEPieces, giving holders exclusive subscription rights and the capability to own their data.
According to Grossman, consumers who purchase magazine subscriptions are currently viewed as “renters” with data ready to be exploited. However, with NFT subscriptions entering the picture, consumers ultimately become “owners” set to benefit from their subscriptions. What’s more, they get to control their data.
TIMEPieces and NFT Subscriptions
In the same interview, Grossman said, “Forget Bored Apes for a second. When you move out of the collectible space and focus on the community [of creators and artists] … the tokens not only allow you to verify ownership, but it allows them to affix a royalty on future sales.”
Of course, Grossman was referring to his plans to migrate Time Magazine’s subscription plans to full-on digital subscriptions. It means that from limited edition collections of the TIMEPieces NFTs, all future issues of the magazine will be available as NFTs.
There are four TIMEPieces NFT collections—Genesis Inspiration, Long Neckie Women of the Year, Slices of Time, and Beatclub—at the moment. These NFTs feature artworks inspired by actual pictures from Time Magazine. Time also released the world’s first fully decentralized magazine issue as an NFT a few months back. The said issue featured Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin on the cover.
Holders of the TIMEPieces NFTs automatically have subscription rights and receive exclusive invites to specific events. These users connect their wallets through Time Magazine’s website to authenticate their identities and log in to their accounts.
Since the first of the TIMEPieces NFT collections was launched in September 2021, Time Magazine has already airdropped over 20,000 NFTs. As per Grossman, more or less 12,000 wallets currently hold a TIMEPieces NFT and are connected to Time Magazine’s website.
On average, a Time Magazine digital subscription is around $24. On the other hand, the average price for a TIMEPieces NFT is about $1,000.
Grossman disclosed the reason behind his plans to switch to NFT subscriptions, saying that Time Magazine was able to build a stronger relationship with holders of the TIMEPieces NFTs than the community it has been making through the regular $24 subscriptions. According to Grossman:
“Outside of the [Time’s] name and outside of a tiny logo in the corner, the hero is always the creator. They have a huge following and are uplifted by their community […] TIMEPieces comes in and says ‘we want you to be a part of this,’ we’re validating the creator and their community […] with the heft of our nearly 100 years of legacy and trust.”
Since the TIMEPieces NFTs were launched, more than $10 million in profit have been generated. The collection has likewise generated an additional $600,000 that went to several charities. Time Magazine also bought a land plot in The Sandbox called “TIME Square,” which will be used to enhance the TIMEPieces NFT community’s bond through virtual art and commerce events.
Reimagining Magazine Subscriptions
The concept of digital subscriptions is not new to Time Magazine, having already resorted to it in early 2021. The magazine even started accepting payments in cryptocurrency beginning in March 2021.
Grossman has been following the developments in the cryptocurrency/digital sector since September 2020 and based on his observations, NFT-based ownership of subscriptions is the future. Nevertheless, Grossman quickly notes that NFT-based ownership has merely begun taking baby steps.
Grossman foresees a future where NFTs will entirely disappear from the user experience, and all forms of online verification processes will be seamless. He says that forging ahead to a future where users will not need to connect their wallets to validate NFT ownership should be the whole community’s goal.
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