Cartoon apes have taken over the world of digital collectibles, and Universal Music Group has bought one of them in order to run a virtual music group. This way, the company can capitalize on NFTs.
Bored Ape #5537, a female figure now known as Manager Not All, was paid $360,817 by Universal’s 10:22PM label on Friday. She will be in charge of the Kingship group, which was formed in November.
When Kingship is done, it will have its own website and Discord account. It will also write new music and perform virtual shows in the metaverse, which is a place where the physical and digital worlds meet. There are three Bored Apes and a Mutant Ape on loan from Jim McNelis, who owns a lot of NFTs. All of the band members are NFTs, like Manager Not All.
“For it to become part of the culture, I think that would be an amazing thing,” McNelis said.
The idea of making virtual bands out of digital characters has been around for a long time. When Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett made Gorillaz in 1998, they made seven albums for the Parlophone label of Warner Music Group. Popstar Hatsune Miku, from Japan, is a hologram.
This is what Universal’s 10:22PM label looked for when they were looking for a well-known NFT collection on the blockchain, the Bored Ape Yacht Club. It has 10,000 anthropomorphic apes, each with their own clothes and fur, and each one has its own feelings.
Celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber, Steph Curry, and Mark Cuban have invested in Bored Apes, which has become a symbol of wealth and power.
Kingship gives Universal Music a chance to learn how to make characters and stories that make people want to read about them in the wider world.
Celine Joshua, the creator of 10:22PM, says it’s important to know how the room thinks. Her label is a place to try out new types of entertainment.
