John Lennon’s son Julian has auctioned off his father’s and The Beatles memorabilia from his personal collection at an NFT auction. The buyers received a digital code and a personal message from Julian on the meaning of the objects. However, Julian himself remained the owner of the actual objects.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a real-time digital certificate. It is secured with the blockchain data chain and is therefore unique. A code of each item was available instead of the actual objects. Among other things, NFTS of John Lennon’s clothing, guitars and handwritten notes of other Beatles members were auctioned off. In addition, the buyers received a video or audio recording from Julian explaining the background of the respective object.
The NFTs raised large sums of money
The amounts that Julian bought were considerable. For example, an NFT including video of a handwritten note by Paul McCartney on the 1968 song “Hey Jude” brought in almost $77,000. Julian explained that McCartney wrote the song for him when he was a kid to comfort him. Because at that time his parents John and Cynthia Lennon divorced. At first the title was “Hey Jules” until a little later the song became the Beatles hit “Hey Jude”.
An NFT of a coat worn by John Lennon in the film Magical Mystery Tour, in turn, netted $22,000 – more than double the estimated price.
Another coat worn by John Lennon in the movie Help! fetched $13,000 at auction.
All of the @JulianLennon NFTs up for auction Monday, narrated by him:https://t.co/KRDjoqt71J#julianlennon #thebeatles #help #heyjude #paulmccartney #johnlennon #NFTs #Auction pic.twitter.com/nxVFyOHfKI
— Tassoula (@tassoula) February 5, 2022
The auction drew mixed reactions on social media platforms
While many fans were enthusiastic about Julian’s idea, the auction was also met with controversy by others. Because the fact that Julian remained the owner of the actual objects was misunderstood by some people.
For example, one Twitter user wrote: “Can someone explain to me what NFTs are all about? Suppose someone buys Julian Lennon’s NFT of John’s guitar. Then someone else buys the actual guitar. What is the value of the NFT and what prevents someone from sharing a copy of the NFT in a social media post, for example? What is the real value?”
Somebody explain NFTs to me. Say somebody buys Julian Lennon’s NFT of John’s guitar. Then someone down the road buys the actual guitar. What value does the NFT have, and what’s to keep anyone from sharing a copy the NFT in, say, a social media posting? Where’s the real value?
— Frances Farmer (@FarmerFrances1) February 7, 2022
Another Twitter user simply described the auction as a “rip-off”.
Julian Lennon is selling NFT of the mediocre capitalist pop decadent group of his father’s. Rip Off.
— Stephen W. Sweigart (@Swsmusic4W) February 7, 2022
While another Twitter user wrote, “Let’s just call NFTs bills and end the discussion with that.”
With NFTs you don’t get the object, you get a receipt. See Julian Lennon selling off NFTs of his father’s items. He still keeps the actual pieces.
Let’s just call NFTs receipts and be done with it.
— Ruairí O’Brien ISC (@obrien_ruairi) February 7, 2022