With the rapid rise of NFTs in the music industry, it seems that everyone is hopping on the trend. Fans are able to purchase music and artwork from musicians like The Weeknd and Diplo as NFTs, but now, a handful of lucky (and loaded) Nirvana fans are able to become the owners of some valuable, never-before-seen photographs of Kurt Cobain.
According to Rolling Stone, photographer Jesse Frohman launched a website to auction off NFTs of over 100 pictures from Cobain’s final photo shoot, which Frohman aptly named “The Last Session.” The recognizable shoot features Cobain’s iconic white-rimmed sunglasses and leopard print jacket and took place just a few months prior to his death in 1994. Multiple contact sheets from the photo shoot were scanned for the first time prior to the NFT drop, meaning many of these images have never been made publicly available.
While most NFT drops make just one piece of artwork available for purchase, Frohman’s collection makes several images available with every NFT purchase. Explaining why he chose to bundle the photographs together, Frohman said: “Everyone was doing an individual picture here, an individual picture there, maybe a group of three here, but I wanted to do something that other people hadn’t done before. It’s something so special that won’t be offered again.”
Frohman continued that he thinks Cobain would be “very interested” in the world of NFTs. “I think of Kurt especially as an idol, and sort of a hero, for the crypto world. They love to buck the system,” he said. “To me, that’s what Kurt was. He was very anti-establishment — and he was outspoken about that. I think he would be very interested in the NFT art space.”
A portion of all proceeds will go to the JED Foundation, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and the promotion of mental wellbeing among teens in America.
The auction kicks off May 3 at 12 p.m. ET and ends May 7 at 6 p.m. ET. Find more information about the auction here and watch Frohman further explain his NFT project below.