Music Legend Brian Eno on NFTs: ‘Right Now, I Mainly See Hustlers Looking for Suckers’

Brian Eno singing at Roxy Music concert
Fin Costello /Getty

Legendary musician Brian Eno, known for his contributions to electronic music and collaborations with David Bowie, recently discussed the concept of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs), expressing his skepticism over them and cryptocurrency in general. Speaking to an interviewer, Eno said: “People I like and trust are convinced they’re the best thing since sliced bread, so I wish I could have a more positive view, but right now, I mainly see hustlers looking for suckers.”

In a recent interview with Crypto Syllabus conducted by tech critic Evgeny Morozov, British musician Brian Eno discussed the concept of NFTs and his skepticism over cryptocurrency.

NFT band "Kingship" (UMG)

NFT band “Kingship” (UMG)

BERLIN – 1977: Robert Fripp, Brian Eno and David Bowie pose for a portrait in the studio where they recorded “Heroes” in 1977 in Berlin, Germany. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“NFTs seem to me just a way for artists to get a little piece of the action from global capitalism, our own cute little version of financialization,” Eno told Morozov. “How sweet — now artists can become little capitalist assholes as well.”

Eno is known best for his ambient music, collaborations with David Bowie, and producer credits, creating art with a focus on technology and its social implications. Eno’s work has previously been made available via software or limited-edition product drops, which would lead many to believe he’d be a fan of a concept like NFTs.

Eno even promoted algorithmically generated art, a process that has been used by many NFT artists to create variations of the same design, like the Bored Ape crew NFT series. But Eno sees the idea of pivoting to create NFTs as pointless in terms of artistic creativity and morally reprehensible as a financial move.

“I am not sure what is being brought into the world that makes any difference to anything other than some strings of numbers moving about in some bank accounts,” Eno said. “People I like and trust are convinced they’re the best thing since sliced bread, so I wish I could have a more positive view, but right now, I mainly see hustlers looking for suckers.”

Read the full interview at Crypto Syllabus here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com

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