NFT Royalties: How Creators Earn Forever and Why Most Miss Out

When you buy an NFT royalty, a percentage of future sales automatically paid to the original creator via blockchain smart contracts. Also known as secondary sale commissions, it’s the closest thing crypto has to a lifelong income stream for digital artists. Unlike traditional art, where the painter gets paid once and never sees another cent, NFT royalties mean you keep earning every time your work changes hands—even years later.

But here’s the catch: NFT smart contracts, self-executing code on blockchains like Ethereum or Solana that enforce royalty payments only work if marketplaces choose to honor them. OpenSea used to pay royalties automatically. Now? Many buyers and platforms ignore them. That’s because there’s no law forcing exchanges to follow these rules—just code. And code can be bypassed. Some buyers even use third-party tools to swap NFTs without triggering the royalty payment. It’s not fraud—it’s a loophole.

Royalty distribution, how and where the money flows from buyer to creator after a resale isn’t just about tech—it’s about power. Big platforms control the rules. If you’re a creator, your royalty might be set at 10%, but if the exchange doesn’t enforce it, you get nothing. That’s why some artists now demand royalties be built into the NFT’s metadata and refuse to list on platforms that don’t support them. Others are moving to decentralized marketplaces like Genie or Blur, where the rules are harder to override.

And it’s not just artists who care. Collectors are starting to notice too. Some buyers avoid NFTs with royalties because they don’t want to pay extra on every flip. Others pay them willingly, knowing they’re supporting creators who might make the next big thing. It’s a tension between speculation and sustainability.

What’s clear? NFT royalties were supposed to fix the broken creator economy. But without enforcement, they’re just promises written in code. The real value isn’t in the percentage—it’s in the ecosystem that upholds it. If you’re a creator, don’t just set your royalty rate. Ask: Where will I list this? Will they pay? If you’re a buyer, understand that skipping royalties isn’t saving money—it’s starving the people who made the art you love.

The posts below show you exactly how this plays out in real projects—from artists who got burned by ignored royalties, to platforms that still honor them, to the technical tricks that let buyers sidestep payments entirely. You’ll see what works, what doesn’t, and how to protect your earnings in a world where the rules are still being written.