An NFT marketplace with a difference? Well, an offering from the Associated Press certainly is different in the content – the NFTs – it’s making available to casual collectors and market makers alike.

Launching on January 31, the AP NFT Marketplace will offer unique NFTs, including Pulitzer Prize-winning photos, from some of the most important moments in history and scenes from around the world, as captured through the lens of AP’s world-class photographers.

One such Pulitzer-winning photo might be the one above, the flag-raising at Iwo Jima in the Second World War – one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century. I assume the NFT of it on offer won’t have the AP’s copyright watermarks that you see.

Each NFT will include a rich set of original metadata offering collectors awareness of the time, date, location, equipment and technical settings used for the shot.

What I like about the information AP has disclosed so far, limited thought it is, is the focus on benefits for users, not just what’s in it for creators. The AP’s announcement a few days ago speaks of what the marketplace will enable collectors to do as well as supporting secondary marekts with payments by credits card and crypto wallets.

This move by the AP has the potential to show the way for other organizations and how they can participate in a tech-driven system that has exploded in development during 2021, attracting praise and criticism in equal measure. Try and see through the huge general hype about NFTs and consider the real possibilties for such a marketplace.

You can sign up for updates and learn more about the AP NFT Marketplace.

Shel and I discussed the AP’s move in the latest short-form episode of the For Immediate Release podcast on January 13. You can listen right here.