Beatles’ Handwritten ‘Hey Jude’ NFT Sells for Over $75,000

Talk about a collector’s dream.

Key points

• Non-fungible tokens have gained popularity in the past couple years.
• While it’s easy to see their appeal, they may not be the best place to invest your money.

It’s common for rock and roll memorabilia to fetch a hefty sum of money. Original records, concert programs, and signed lyric sheets can easily command hundreds or thousands of dollars, and for music fans, they can be a reasonable thing to spend money on.

But up until recently, buying a piece of music memorabilia has usually meant getting to take home an item to put on display. Nowadays, more and more people are turning to digital memorabilia, and not just as a means of indulging in fandom, but as an investment, in the form of NFTs.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a byproduct of the cryptocurrency market. NFTs are digital tokens that represent actual objects. You’ll find them within the realm of not just music, but also movies, sports, and other categories.

Recently, a digital version of the handwritten notes for the Beatles’ hit single “Hey Jude” sold at auction for $75,000. It’s easy to see why that’s something a hard-core Beatles fan would want to own. But is it a good investment? Is any NFT a good investment?

A world of speculation

The upside of owning NFTs is getting a digital asset that no one else has access to, the same way a signed copy of sheet music or a signed guitar may be something only you possess. Once you buy NFTs, you have the option to hold them and see if their value increases, and then sell them later on.

NFTs have the potential to be a money-maker, the same way the value of digital currencies could rise over time. But NFTs also come with risk.

For one thing, NFTs are new — newer than crypto. And because of that, we don’t know how much long-term sustainability they have.

If the market for NFTs fizzles out, yours could end up becoming worth little to no money. Granted, the same risk exists with crypto, but it’s something you should be aware of.

Another thing to keep in mind is that owning NFTs could open the door to a world of legal headaches. Imagine you buy an NFT of a signed book cover, only the author of that book or original illustrator sues because their work was put into NFT form without their permission or knowledge. That could put you in quite a tough spot.

Are NFTs a good investment?

If you’re a huge Beatles fan, buying memorabilia — whether digital or otherwise — is something that might make you happy. If you can afford to buy NFTs that give you a piece of the band’s history, there’s nothing wrong with doing so.

But buying NFTs for the sole purpose of making money is another story. Since there’s so much risk and so many unknowns surrounding NFTs, you may want to put your money in a more proven investment, like stocks. In fact, it’s easy to argue digital coins are a more solid bet than NFTs, because they don’t open the door to the same potential legal hassles you might encounter with NFTs.

To be clear, there’s a strong chance the NFT market will grow over time, and the $75,000 “Hey Jude” NFT that just sold could end up being worth a lot more money. But it definitely pays to proceed with caution when buying NFTs, and if you’re going to go this route, make sure you really know what you’re getting into.