interview Victor Gry

Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art.

Oscar Wilde

One of the most interesting art forms is success in business.

Modern reality is impossible without the concept of “commerce” and “business”. Either way, money is the foundation of all life spheres, not excluding art. Moreover, multi-billion dollar turnover of the art market proves that art is a fantastically profitable business. People who are knowledgeable about financial investments are increasingly investing in promising authors, in order to gain fabulous sums for their work in a few years.

But no market is not so fundamentally uncertain about the value of what is being sold. Now, not masterpieces of ancient times occupy the first positions in the auction sales of auction houses, and modern artists. Here, there are records of leading auctions and the poverty of artists, skills and knowledge in the field of the artist’s art and a marketing approach to promoting him as an author. Throughout the centuries, society has struggled for the separation of art from feudal and ecclesiastical influence, while the contemporary situation, sometimes it represents art as a profitable investment, like gas, oil and real estate. Investments in art have long exceeded the billion-dollar mark, and every year we see an increase in demand. As Hippocrates said, ars longa, vita brevis. And many may not have time to get proper recognition from the society, often staying face to face with their thoughts, and this is not always due to the lack of a vocation of the society, often this is a banal lack of finance. Many funds around the world are trying to support talented young guys, in every possible way encouraging them with bonuses. Today we will talk about a project that is created to support all the art direction, in which you can find a financial response for your works, as well as, perhaps, the world calling. ArtByte.

Our interview with a man who combined IT technology and practicing photography, and also created the ArtByte platform, Mike Cabaniss.

– Hello Mike,

– Contemporary art is a multi-faceted and wide world in which a multi-million authorial audience. You, as an IT specialist decided to help all these people. How did the idea to create ArtByte originate?

– In 2013, I was semi-retired from the IT world and moved to NYC to pursue my interest in photography. I met so many extremely talented artists in all fields: visual artists, musicians, actors, dancers, etc. In addition to their artistic ability, almost all had another thing in common, the need to work one or more part-time jobs to support themselves, so they could give even a little time to their creativity.

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Peercoin and some of the other first coins were just beginning to gain a following among early crypto investors. But for the general public, the negative news coverage of Bitcoin turned opinion against the idea of cryptocurrencies. Artists in particular also viewed most capitalistic endeavors with much skepticism.

In my discussions with artists about crypto, I realized that for artists to accept support from a cryptocurrency, they had to trust it and be comfortable that the coin is really about supporting the arts and not some new twist on capitalism. That ruled out Bitcoin, and lead me to create ArtByte in 2014, a coin created and managed by a non-profit foundation that supports the arts.

– Your platform supports absolutely all creative people. Tell us what this platform is and how it works?

– Through the technology of digital currencies and our social platform, ArtByte enables any fan, anywhere in the world, to support any artist, instantly.

We support all types of artists: musicians, painters, sculptors, actors, film makers, directors, editors, producers, dancers, writers, photographers, designers, models, production team, etc.

ArtByte integrates the technology of digital currencies on our social platform to support artists via five channels:

1. Digital tips and donations from fans via ArtByte social media tipping applications, like Twitter & Reddit.

2. Promotion of artists’ works through ArtByte’s 140,000+ social media art community

3. Grants, awards, and showcases from the ArtByte Foundation

4. Income from mining ArtBytes

5. Sale of art for ArtBytes, such as our music download site, the ArtByte Music Store and the coming ArtByte Gallery

– The ArtByte platform uses the ArtByte (ABY) coin for rewards. How to earn it, and how to exchange it for fiat money?

– We have many ways for both artists and art fans to earn or buy artbyte:

1. Artists can receive tips and donations from fans via ArtByte social media tipping applications on Twitter & Reddit.

2. Musicians can sell their music for ArtBytes, and other types of artists will soon be able to sell their work in the ArtByte Gallery

3. Art fans can earn ArtByte in our seasonal events by tipping artists, like in our current Winter Artist Festival, that rewards fans who tip artists with double the ArtByte back

4. Grants, awards, and showcase prizes from the ArtByte Foundation

5. Rewards of ArtBytes for participating in the ArtByte forum, with posts & comments

6. Income from mining ArtBytes

7. Artbyte trades on Bittrex, LiteBit.eu, and Cryptopia, and can be converted to Euros directly on LiteBit or to Bitcoin on the other exchanges.

– In 2017 investments in ArtByte exceeded investments in the three most famous currencies of the world. Bitcoin $ 14.50, Litecoin $ 51.00, Ethereum $ 92.00. Investments in ArtByte amounted to $ 217.00 per one enclosed dollar. What is the reason for the popularity of the coin?

– I have always believed that the secret to long-term success as a cryptocurrency is by building a community of real users, not simply crypto speculators. From the beginning, we focused exclusively on engaging real users. Our website was unlike any other in the industry. Stripped of all techno-babble, we simply explained how a digital currency worked and how it benefits artists. By 2017, the size and activity of the ArtByte Community was recognized by investors in the blockchain space.

– It will soon be four years, as you are in the market. How many talented people have the ArtByte platform combined in this time?

– ArtByte has now supported over 25,000 artists, of all types, around the world through grants, awards, showcases, and tipping on social media, and art sales. Our social media community now totals over 140,000.

– In addition to the Internet platform, you conduct, what kind of festivals or competitions. Is ArtByte as a sponsor or media partner in supporting creative teams?

– We hold a weekly showcase where artists of all types can submit their work. The winner receives 5,000 ArtByte. We also sponsor art shows, like the Decentralized Art Show in Miami, which teaches artists how to sell their work for cryptocurrency. And we also sponsor artists who work in virtual worlds, like Second Life, the internet’s oldest and largest virtual world. We are continually looking for art venues for sponsorship.

– The beginning of 2018. Undoubtedly, this year will be interesting for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. What are the plans of the ArtByte platforms?

Here are the highlights of this year’s Roadmap:

Continuing to build the art world community on our social media and forums

User enhancements to simplify wallets/mining/trading

SegWit and 0.13.1 deployment – which completed in Nov 2017

Free profile pages for artists allowing them to receive tips and sell their work for ArtBytes

3D Virtual Reality ArtByte Gallery

Lightning network, payment channels, now that SegWit is enabled

Smart contracts (available with SegWit technology) to pay various music rights holders on the ArtByte Music Store

Blockchain tracking intellectual property rights for artists

Patron system for long term artist support

For more details, there are links to our Roadmap and our updated White Paper on the front page of our website: http://artbyte.me

– Your wishes to all creative people from the platform ArtByte in the person of the founder Mike Cabaniss.

– ArtByte was created to help artists around the world. Our mission is to support artists in the building of their careers. There are never any costs to artists or art lovers for our services. The services are paid for by the ArtByte Foundation.

I hope artists will take advantage of this new technology, and gain the exposure and financial support that allows them the freedom to put more time into their art.

Talked Victor and Mike