NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, and Candy Digital, the next generation digital collectible company, today announced a new multi-year partnership agreement that makes Candy Digital the exclusive developer and marketplace for Getty Images NFTs. This is Candy Digital’s inaugural arts and culture partnership, marking an exciting expansion into digital collectibles and experiences beyond sports.
Through this partnership, Getty Images and Candy Digital will collaborate and develop a diverse portfolio of NFT products and collections derived from Getty Images’ extensive library of more than 465 million images, including over 135 million analog images from Getty Images’ photographic archive. Iconic and defining moments from the last 170 years of history are contained in this unmatched repository of photography, spanning the worlds of art, culture, music, world events, and more.
Many of Getty Images’ analog archival photographs have never been seen before by the general public and contained within this collection are exceptionally rare images from legendary photographers who first pioneered the field. As part of this new partnership, Getty Images and Candy Digital will unveil these works alongside contemporary images in a variety of different digital formats for people to view and collect for the very first time.
Photography and NFT collectors will be able to seamlessly purchase, sell and trade official digital collectibles through the Getty Images marketplace on Candy, which will support primary and secondary market transactions and purchases using credit card or crypto payments. The NFTs will be minted on the Palm blockchain, a scalable, environmentally friendly, Ethereum-compatible side-chain.
“With the very best content at our core, innovation is woven into the fabric of Getty Images and this partnership speaks to our mission to connect people with our high quality, exclusive visual content,” said Craig Peters, CEO, Getty Images. “We are proud to work with Candy Digital to expand our offering to the fast-growing global audience of NFT collectors, representing significant opportunities for the company and our global photographer community.”
“The introduction of photography represented a seismic shift in how we were able to document, store, and share our history. We’re thrilled to be working with Getty Images to develop NFT products that creatively bring these iconic and rare photographs from the last two centuries to life for people to experience and collect in a new digital format,” said Scott Lawin, CEO of Candy Digital. “This partnership represents an exciting step forward in Candy’s evolution as we expand and diversify beyond sports and establish Candy as a leader in the worlds of digital entertainment, culture, and art.”
The initial range of products that Candy Digital is creating will be derived from Getty Images’ owned content and will be made available in the coming months. Getty Images also adds more than 30 million new digital assets to its platform each year, which will present opportunities to develop additional, more contemporary collections with Candy Digital over the course of this partnership as well.
About Candy Digital
Candy Digital is a next generation technology company that designs and develops officially licensed, premium digital collectibles that connect people to their passions.
Candy Digital is an official NFT partner of Major League Baseball, the Race Team Alliance, and the WWE. Candy operates NFT ecosystems where fans and collectors are able to purchase, trade, and share authentic NFTs to deepen their love of the sports, media and culture.
Candy Digital was formed by three executive partners: Michael Rubin, CEO, Fanatics; Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO, Galaxy Digital; and Gary Vaynerchuk, Serial Entrepreneur and Investor, who, together with its team of world-class digital artists, designers, and technologists are developing a broad range of digital collectibles, across sports, art, entertainment, music, and more.
About Getty Images
Getty Images is a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace that offers a full range of content solutions to meet the needs of any customer around the globe, no matter their size. Through its Getty Images, iStock and Unsplash brands, websites and APIs, Getty Images serves over 1 million customers in almost every country in the world and is the first-place people turn to discover, purchase and share powerful visual content from the world’s best photographers and videographers. Getty Images works with over 450,000 contributors and more than 300 content partners to deliver this powerful and comprehensive content. Each year Getty Images covers more than 160,000 news, sport and entertainment events providing depth and breadth of coverage that is unmatched. Getty Images maintains one of the largest and best privately-owned photographic archives in the world with over 135 million images dating back to the beginning of photography.