SuperRare and The Mercury Phoenix Trust announce four new NFT artworks celebrating Freddie Mercury’s 75th birthday 17 Sep 2021
Live to collectors worldwide September 20, 2021
Proceeds will benefit the non-profit’s mission to fight AIDS worldwide
SuperRare, the leading digital art marketplace, and The Mercury Phoenix Trust announce the release of four new 1 of 1 NFT artworks inspired by the late frontman of the legendary band Queen to celebrate his 75th birthday. NFT works by artists Blake Kathryn, Chad Knight, Mat Maitland and MBSJQ will be offered beginning on September 20, 2021, with proceeds benefiting The Mercury Phoenix Trust, the non-profit founded in Freddie’s memory to help fight AIDS worldwide.
The collection has been curated by Six Agency. Georgio Constantinou, co-founder comments - “Six was honoured to curate an incredible collection of artists to celebrate the life and impact of Freddie Mercury. After meeting with the Mercury Phoenix Trust, we knew that if Freddie were alive today, he would be excited about the creative potential of the NFT space”
As well as inspiring countless generations through his flamboyant persona, four-octave vocal range and timeless song writing, Freddie Mercury was well known for his love of all forms of art. Before embarking on his musical career, he attained a degree in graphic art and design (in 1969) and later in life became an avid collector of classical and contemporary art and glass works. In addition, he was recognized as having what experts considered one of the finest collections of Japanese antique woodblock prints.
Freddie Mercury left a very simple creative brief to the world on his passing. “You can do whatever you want with my work, just never make me boring.” This simple brief was given to four digital artists as the inspiration for each to create NFT artworks inspired by different aspects of Freddie’s beloved persona. The resulting collection takes Freddie’s legacy to the cutting edge of artistic activity... and thus Never Boring.
The four NFTs will be available exclusively as a timed auction via SuperRare on 20thSeptember 2021 at 0800 hrs (PDT) for 75 hours.
Collection will be available to view here: https://superrare.com/freddiemercury
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THE HEADLINES
Coldplay, U2, Ed Sheeran named most popular touring artists of the millennium (see News)
King Gizzard, having pulled music from Spotify in protest, find genAI clones on the platform (see Digital)
UK parliamentarians join call to regulate most powerful AI systems (see News)
Martin Mills is trying to thwart a record industry takeover by Universal (see Features)
IMPF says members should reject AI deals that do not value songs properly (see News)
Which songs do we replay the most? (see Analysis)
Spotify Wrapped 2025 goes live (see Digital)
Daddy Yankee files lawsuit against former manager and third parties for alleged royalty scheme (see News)
EU touring: Impact of Brexit worsening, says UK Music report (see Reports)
ORCA released a report analysing the economic investments and social impact of nine leading independent record labels (see Reports)
Jorja Smith’s label requests share of royalties from ‘AI-cloned’ song (see News)
A creative nation is a thriving nation (see Opinion)
Australian report also highlights how other non-US English-speaking countries are hit by algorithms (see Reports)
AI slop: Spotify, Tunecore, and credibility (see Comment)
Warner Music signs deal with Suno, settles lawsuit (see News)