Universal Just Made a Big NFT Purchase

As the long list of big-name companies, brands, and celebrities involved with NFTs continues to increase, Universal Music Group has become the latest to capitalize on the tech world’s current NFT craze. In an announcement released on Friday, 18th March, the public was informed that Universal has purchased a Bored Ape NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. The purchase was noted to have cost $360,817 which currently converts to about 125 ether and was made by Universal’s Web3 music label, 10:22PM.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club or BAYC is an NFT collection consisting of 10,000 distinct NFTs, each with a unique appearance, expression, and clothing. The NFT collection is marketed as an exclusive social club and purchasing one of their NFTs secures your membership. Membership perks include access to the BAYC Discord server which is full of other members, some of which are celebrities.

The Metaverse Musical Band

Universal purchased Bored Ape #5537, a female character which was subsequently named Manager Nöet All. Manager All will be fronting 10:22PM’s new virtual band, Kingship. Kingship was founded in November 2021 as a fully digital band, existing in the metaverse and consisting of all NFT band members with Manager Nöet All making four members in total currently. The band will be having their own website and online presence, as well as producing and releasing music and holding virtual concerts all in the metaverse. As the metaverse grows in popularity and more acts continue to integrate into it, Kingship is perfectly placed to gain massive popularity and acclaim.

Kingship is not the first-ever virtual band to exist and they are not so unique in their NFT only membership or position as a digital music group in the metaverse. Other BAYC characters have been involved in musical ventures such as the ‘Ape Fest’ which was hosted by The Strokes, Lil Baby, Aziz Ansari, and Questlove in November. Music writer and producer Timberland also co-owns an entertainment brand with BAYC named ‘Ape-In Productions’. Nevertheless, the star-studded lineup of the band is sure to draw eyes and attention once they begin releasing music and establishing their online presence and narrative.

Universal Takes a Leap into Web 3 with Kingship

Besides Manager All, the members of the band include two other Bored Ape NFTs and one Mutant Ape NFT. All four of the band members were provided by NFT collector Jimmy McNelis. McNelis was stated to have said “For it to become part of the culture, I think that would be an amazing thing” when speaking on his NFTs.

The Bored Apes Yacht Club has grown past being a simple NFT collection and now represents a sort of status in celebrity culture with names such as Justin Bieber and Steph Curry as investors in the collective. Their membership also includes world-famous athletes, high-profile venture capitalists, and a broad range of celebrities. They are currently ranked third among the most valuable NFT collections with a times sale value of $1.5.

The founder of 10:22PM Celine Joshua has shown high hope and expectations for Kingship. She is stated to have started the label in a bid to “push the boundaries of innovation in the music industry”. That seems to be the general ethos of all industries that are getting involved with Web3 and NFTs. The label has stated that they desire to serve as a sort of laboratory for the music industry in order to experiment with the emerging forms In a statement on the digital group, Joshua said, “Just as we would with any artist or creator, my team and I will work with Kingship to sharpen their vision and develop their unique sound.

Each member of the group has their own story and personality that influences and contributes to Kingship’s overall narrative.”As Universal takes this leap into Web3, many more music labels, as well as names from other industries, are sure to follow. The music industry is not the only one that is starting to expand into Web3. The art world has already taken large strides with NFTs and film and motion picture production companies have also made moves with NFTs. As the craze continues, we will only continue to see more industries move digital.