LooksRare Switches NFT Marketplace To Optional Royalties Model.

Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace LooksRare is revising its royalty model. Users will no longer be required to pay royalties to creators when purchasing digital art collectibles. Instead of charging royalties by default, the company will now distribute 25% of its Protocol Fee to creators and collection owners. Buyers can choose to pay royalties during checkout.

 

🧵 Starting today, #LooksRare will no longer support creator royalties by default, and instead, share 25% of the LooksRare Protocol fee with creators/collection owners.https://t.co/roNvv1q30R

— LooksRare (@LooksRare) October 27, 2022

 

LooksRare charges a 2% protocol fee from every trade made on the platform, except now 1.5% from each sale will go to LOOKS token stakers, while 0.5% goes to creators and owners as royalties. The NFT marketplace also made changes to its ‘Trading Rewards’ program, which will now give 95% of the rewards to sellers and 5% to buyers.

 

“The growth of zero-royalty marketplaces has eroded the general willingness to pay royalties throughout the NFT space. Good news for traders, but with a big downside: the move away from royalties has removed an important source of passive income for most creators. That’s why we’re choosing to lead the charge in this new landscape, by creating a competitive solution that still benefits creators: diverting protocol fees directly to creators,” the company explained about its Optional Royalties model.

 

LooksRare is following suit of other marketplaces that have recently slashed charging extra fees from buyers. In August, NFT marketplace X2Y2 removed royalty fees from all digital collectibles listed on its protocol and made it optional for users. Earlier this month, Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden also shifted to the model, going one step further by removing its 2% platform fee.

 

“The industry is trending towards zero-royalties, but it’s still our responsibility to support creators in the new landscape,” added the company.

 

LookRare’s stance on royalties is a change from its previous sentiments, when the company said that royalties were needed for creators and artists to benefit off of their artworks. At the time of writing, LOOKS token was trading $0.21, down 2.6% from the previous day.