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Pix.T is a blockchain-backed technology to drive a new digital economy for professional photography and visual storytelling. Bringing together leading technologists with photojournalists, visual creatives, international media and art market leaders, Pix.T aims to maximize the value of photographic work, ensure control and ethical practices for creators and find new market opportunities for the industry.
Our 2022 launch in Paris as an independent company and affiliated non-profit foundation comes after more than two years of research and development — with financial support from Google’s Digital News Initiative — by a consortium of Amsterdam-based photo collective and foundation NOOR Images, Paris-based digital media Worldcrunch and Rome-based weekly magazine Internazionale.
With the support of the European Commission, Pix.T will be expanding over the coming two years with the creation of a Europe-wide consortium managed by Worldcrunch, bringing together four leading photo entities: NOOR and Contrasto, internationally renowned documentary photography agencies; and the photo departments of PAP and CTK, two national news agencies.
When the amateurs rule, what happens to the pros?
– The public is capturing and consuming images in digital formats by the billions.
– Maximizing the value of photography requires the emergence of a new digital economy for professional photographers and their clients.
– The faster our world moves, the greater the importance of capturing those images that have the power to document events, tell stories and give meaning to nearly any message.
Pix.T is the innovative photography marketplace built on trust: a secure, easy-to-use technical protocol designed in the interest of photographers.
– Our unique blockchain solution guarantees transparency and security and reestablishes scarcity, restoring true value in top photography for our digital future.
– Pix.T prevents digital image theft through blockchain-backed image streaming players.
– Pix.T gives photographers exclusive print sales via news partnerships, managing digital licensing, logistics and revenue shares.
Blockchain to certify and track all authentic images and identify the distribution of illegal copies.
Directly linking photographers to agencies, media and the users consuming their images..
Pix.T images are run through our powerful machine-learning-based search engine, combining metadata and computer vision to help journalists, editors or users find the image they are looking for in just a few clicks.
The protocol’s airtight control of image authenticity and ownership means value can be created with everything from unique NFT auctions of digital photo assets to micropayments from those caught illegally sharing images without permission. NFTs bring major revenue for select images and related content. Micropayments educate consumers about image copyrights, alerting them to the professionals’ work and the need for public support.
Pix.T partners with leading global news media and print specialists, assuring that photographs are authenticated, circulated and printed with the finest quality materials and printing processes.
With original images no longer in circulation due to the streaming player embedding feature, illegal image use and fraudulent / edited images will greatly decrease.
Others may measure that power in pixels or data or Instagram likes, we see it instead in the photographs that document injustice, the defining image that captures history, in stories told by photojournalists and visions captured by artists that can give meaning to a moment fixed in time and space. We’ve seen the medium travel from early Daguerretypes and Anna Atkins’ very first photo book to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s instant décisif, and Eddie Adams’ too; from the sad poignancy of the Migrant Mother in 1936 to the cruel truth of a young refugee boy washed up on the shore in 2015.
There is of course more history to come, and more changes on the way, particularly as the digital revolution continues to accelerate. The advent of the internet and smartphones poses an unprecedented challenge to the professional photography industry: with some 1 billion images produced and consumed each day, it can sometimes appear that the amateurs are in charge. Yet we believe that the faster our world moves and the more of it is captured in images, the greater the importance of having the tools to support the professionals who can do it right.
Our mission is to help build a future where professionally produced photographs and visual stories will be both open and profitable, accessible and secure, authenticated, traceable. They are pillars of a whole new paradigm for photography that will change how we consume stories and sustain storytellers in the quest for a more fruitful and equitable digital future.
Pix.T is an airtight-secure, easy-to-use technical protocol designed in the interest of photographers.
Our unique blockchain solution guarantees transparency and reestablishes scarcity, restoring true value in top photography in both the digital and physical space. Without pretending to know how the market or practices will evolve, we are committed to pursuing and creating new opportunities for visual storytellers to pursue their craft both in the interest of the public and their own professional standing. Currently, these opportunities include but are not limited to:
– Exclusive access to NFT and limited edition print sales managed on the blockchain
– Licensing management, logistics and revenue sharing with full transparency and augmented automation across the entire media and social media ecosystem
– Micropayments
– Preventing digital image theft through blockchain-backed image embeds. (It’s time to kill the JPG!)
– Visual literacy advocacy in the digital age
We believe that professional photography will continue to be a uniquely powerful means to document truth, tell important stories and create singular works of art. We believe digital technology is an opportunity to improve security, traceability and creativity for photographers, visual storytellers and the public. We are committed to using the blockchain to build a new paradigm for photography that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. Alongside our technological and commercial pursuits, we are creating the Pix.T Foundation to help ensure these values for decades to come.
We imagine a future where photographs, illustrations, infographics, video content and more will be both secure and flexible, open and profitable, widely seen and always traceable. They are pillars of a whole new economy that will change how we consume stories (and sustain storytellers) in the quest for a more fruitful and equitable digital ecosystem. Will you join us?