Trends with Benefits #70: Democratizing Art with Scott Lynn

The art market is a $1.7 trillion¹ asset class that has traditionally been the domain of the very wealthy, people who could afford to spend millions on a single piece of art. While everyone may debate the aesthetic merits of a piece of art it is the very wealthy that have traditionally benefited from the investment merits of art. In this episode, I speak with Scott Lynn, founder, and CEO of Masterworks, about how Masterworks is democratizing access to art, and helping all types of investors access an asset class that has provided higher returns and lower correlations than traditional asset classes.

Democratizing Art

I was personally very interested to speak with Scott about Masterworks. I simply wanted to know how it all worked. In an environment where equity assets prices generally seem inflated and bonds yield nothing but greater duration risk, many investors are on the hunt for alternative investments. Often that means going into hedge funds or private funds. The type of offerings Masterworks makes touches on important themes today, alternative investments and fractional ownership, and securitization of physical assets.

In my discussion with Scott, we chat about Masterworks generally, the platform, capabilities, and the main demographic of investors utilizing the platform. We cover the investment case for art as an investment and how Masterworks goes about identifying an acquiring pieces to offer and what investors should expect in terms of hold time, liquidity, and fees.

I ask Scott about how he first got involved in art, his thoughts on digital art and NFTs, and about the trends he’s watching.

Trend or Fad

Listen for Scott’s take on collectibles, interest in lesser-known Surrealism artists, inflation and meatless burgers.

Follow Ed Lopez @thatEdLopez on Twitter.

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