Emerging Technologies in Creative Industries – Are They Sustainable and Ethical?

Digital technologies to empower artists by decentralising commercial operations and reducing dependence on intermediaries

Introduction

Emerging technologies used in relation to creative industries include blockchain systems, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse platforms. They are having effects on how art is produced, distributed and experienced, and how copyrights are utilised. In particular, artists now have additional opportunities for their monetisation, while potentially reaching large audiences around the world. However, these technologies raise questions about sustainable and ethical operations and practices, particularly regarding environmental impact, market operations and equitable access to the technologies.

Definitions

In the context of creative technologies, sustainability includes operating in a manner that preserves environmental resources, supports long-term economic viability for artists, and enhances inclusion of diverse artists, while not being exploitative (Zhang & Kennedy, 2025, p. 1). Thus, it encompasses environmental, economic and social sustainability, including fair compensation for artists. This is important because use of digital platforms can scale rapidly and at the same time could concentrate market power, without fair distribution of benefits. Digital platforms and transactions also have environmental costs.

All this falls within broader ethical considerations. For emerging technologies in creative industries, ethics can be taken to refer to the practical application of moral notions about right and wrong to guide the design, deployment and use of the technologies, particularly in regard to inputs and outputs produced for subsequent sale and distribution. In creative industries, ethics includes not only fair compensation to artists for the creative works they produce, but also respecting authorship (Jaokar et al, 2025, p. 2) and preventing exploitation or harms that can arise from the technologies when used in commercialisation of creative works. As commercial transactions generally take place in markets, how those markets operate is also an ethical concern.

Certainly, it would be ethical to use digital technologies to empower artists by decentralising commercial operations and reducing dependence on intermediaries, thereby strengthening artists’ economic independence, where feasible. However, commercialisation of creative works through digital systems could also introduce speculative market behaviours, environmental costs associated with energy‑intensive digital infrastructures, and increased technological dependency that may disadvantage other creators who lack access to resources or technical expertise. This reflects current concerns about sustainability and ethical legitimacy, including in relation to blockchains, NFTs and metaverse platforms, which require some examination.

Blockchains

Blockchain technology is commonly understood as a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions securely and transparently across multiple computers or nodes. Though lesser forms of decentralisation and distribution of ledgers also exist for blockchains. Its significance for creative industries lies in its ability to establish authentic ownership or transfer of works and provide immutable transaction records (Palos, 2025), without requiring centralized trustworthy intermediaries (or gatekeepers) such as galleries, record labels or publishing companies to manage such records and associated transactions for a fee or share of revenue. If artists can distribute and sell their works directly to audiences, they may benefit financially through cost savings.

Audius (Qi & Salcedo, 2024, p. 36), for example, leverages blockchain to allow musicians to distribute their works directly to fans while retaining control of copyright uses and revenue. Blockchain also enhances transparency in royalty payments because in conjunctions with smart contracts this can automate compensation, ensuring artists receive fair payment without delays or disputes. This contributes to their economic sustainability by providing reliable income streams. In turn, this assists local cultural sustainability.

However, blockchain systems also face environmental and efficiency challenges. For example, storing an entire digital work directly on-chain is rarely done because blockchain storage is expensive and slow for large files, and every node in the network must permanently store a copy of the data. This makes blockchain storage far less efficient than conventional centralised off-chain databases. In decentralised blockchains that rely on proof-of-work consensus mechanisms, energy consumption can also be significant, as large amounts of computational power are required to validate and secure the ledger (EU, 2021, p. 10). While this process helps ensure that records, including those referencing an actual digital work, cannot easily be altered or removed, it raises environmental concerns regarding energy consumption and economically would not be sustainable for most artists (or even necessary).

Furthermore, blockchain systems can be complex and inaccessible to artists without technical expertise, creating new forms of digital inequality. This is an ethical concern as it creates another digital divide, which has to be remedied through capacity building across the creative/artistic population. Otherwise, those with technological literacy and financial resources are more likely to benefit, potentially excluding marginalized artists, which does not result in an inclusive system for diverse artists.

Non-Fungible Tokens

NFTs are unique digital assets stored on a blockchain that represent ownership or authenticity of a specific item, such as digital artwork, video or music. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which are fungible and interchangeable, NFTs are unique and cannot be replaced by another identical token (Fairfield, 2022, p. 1272). They are a token, not a currency. Each NFT contains metadata that links it to a particular digital file, allowing artists or transferees to establish conclusive provenance and holding of copyright in a work in a way that was previously difficult in digital environments.

NFTs are a response to how digital artists have struggled to monetize their work due to ease of copying and distribution. So, from an ethical perspective and also in regard to economic sustainability of artists, NFTs are a mechanism for verifiable ownership, enabling an artist to sell a digital work as a scarce, collectible asset. In particular, an artist can effectively elevate a digital artwork to the same economic status as a traditional physical artwork, depending on demand for it. The artist can also derive future resale royalties resulting from further transfers of the unique token related to the work. This is programmed into the NFT as a smart contract. This ethically addresses a longstanding inequity in art markets, where artists often receive no compensation from secondary sales of their work.

Again, because environmental concerns persist regarding energy demands for blockchain systems, those concerns apply to NFTs as well. Plus, NFTs can be associated with speculative markets, price volatility, and uneven returns to artists (White & Wilkoff, 2022. p. 5). These matters raise questions about whether there is an open and fair market, which requires sufficient information, when artists mint their works with an NFT.

This brings up ethical concerns about market dynamics and parameters, and whether NFTs can consistently provide sustainable income for artists or whether they primarily benefit early adopters and investors (Zalan & Toufaily, 2024, p. 5). While this can be typical of new market development, there comes a point where a more mature, even market, akin to a level playing field, has to arise for the sake of fairness. Else, there will be continuing ethical concerns about market dynamics. Nor is market development helped by unethical practices such as unauthorised minting of artwork without the artist’s consent. This undermines artistic autonomy.

Metaverse Platforms

Artistic integrity is also relevant to the metaverse. A metaverse is an immersive virtual environment where users interact through digital avatars, engaging in virtual social and economic activities (Dionisio et al, 2023), but also in actual creative activities. Artists are able to create designs in their metaverse, as well as artworks, performances, and other digital works. These are used as part of the immersive, interactive experiences that take place in a metaverse. Artists can build virtual galleries, host concerts, and create digital fashions for avatars. These can attract numerous participants to that metaverse, which shows that a metaverse has potential to expand audience reach beyond physical limitations.

In terms of resource consumption, personal enjoyment in a metaverse can reduce physical consumption of goods, as virtual exhibitions, shows and the like do not require physical materials, transportation or infrastructure, which reduces environmental impact, while expanding creative expressions for artists in metaverse environments. Additionally, artists can reach global audiences without geographical constraints, supporting an artist economically and sustainably. All this contributes to a lower-carbon form of cultural participation.

However, many metaverse platforms are controlled by large corporations, with their power centralised in Western economies, and this again raises concerns about digital divides which present barriers for artists in economically disadvantage regions of the world. Economic power is also derived from collecting user data, which helps in nudging participants towards making monetary purchases aimed specifically at them. This raises ethical concerns about privacy, consumer protection and emotional exploitation. In addition, there are concerns about surveillance of users (Yasuda, 2025, p. 1642) and where does corporate social responsibility come into play.

Conclusion

From this brief survey, the three emerging technologies can expand economic possibilities for artists. While concerns of environmental and economic sustainability arise, solutions seem to rest primarily in responsible use decisions by artists in regard to blockchain and NFTs, and in corporate social responsibility practices for metaverse platforms taking into account their users. All parties need to consider ethical safeguards, particularly in respect of markets and sale of works and products that arise through use of these technologies. They have a self interest in ensuring that emerging technologies do not risk exploiting artists and undermining creative autonomy and diversity, because if they do there can be a backlash against artists and platforms.

Furthermore, sustainable and ethical practices help ensure that artists are not displaced by automated systems, that cultural expression is not homogenised or exploited, and that the environmental footprint of digital infrastructures, such as data centres and energy use, do not grow unchecked. Without such frameworks these technologies risk reinforcing inequalities among artists and exploiting creative labour. However, when implemented responsibly, they offer good opportunities for artistic empowerment, which then aids further creative innovation. It is worth noting that emerging technologies are not inherently ethical or unethical, but their uses are shaped by human decisions, especially regarding fairness and sustainability.

References

Dionisio, J.D.N., Burns, W.G. and Gilbert, R. (2013) ‘3D Virtual Worlds and the Metaverse: Current Status and Future Possibilities’, ACM Computing Surveys, 45(3), 1–38. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/2480741.2480751

EU Blockchain. (2021) Energy Efficiency of Blockchain Technologies, European Union Blockchain Observatory & Forum. Available at: https://blockchain-observatory.ec.europa.eu/document/download/4e612a85-eac1-44fd-b7b6-bf97e51abaea_en

Fairfield, J.A.T. (2022) ‘Tokenized: The Law of Non-Fungible Tokens and Unique Digital Property’, Indiana Law Journal, 97(4), Article 4. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11464&context=ilj

Jaokar, A., Arenal, A. and Feijóo, C. (2025) Ethical challenges of AI in the creative industries from a cultural ownership perspective. ITS 33rd European Conference on Digital innovation and transformation in uncertain times”, Edinburgh. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/331281

Palos, B. (2025) How Blockchain is Revolutionizing Intellectual Property Ownership in Creative Industries. The Palos Publishing Company. Available at: https://palospublishing.com/how-blockchain-is-revolutionizing-intellectual-property-ownership-in-creative-industries/

Qi, Q. and Salcedo, L.G.B. (2024) ‘Blockchain Technology and Digital Copyright: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges in the New Digital Era’, International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications, 13(11), 35-39. Available at: https://ijsea.com/archive/volume13/issue11/IJSEA13111008.pdf

White, J.T. and Wilkoff, S. (2022) The role of the media in speculative markets: Evidence from non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Available at: https://acfr.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/688279/Media-and-NFTs.pdf

Yasuda, A. (2025) ‘Metaverse Ethics: Exploring the social implications of the metaverse’, AI and Ethics, 5, 1639-1650. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00507-5

Zalan, T. and Toufaily, E. (2024) ‘A nascent market for digital assets: Exploration of consumer value of NFTs’, Digital Business, 4(2), 100084 Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666954424000127

Zhang, F. and Kennedy, H. (2025) ‘Sustainability challenges for social enterprises in cultural and creative sectors – A case study of IMPACD CIC’. City, Culture and Society, 43, 100676, 1-8. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877916625000542