Bored Ape Supergroup Kingship launches first NFT collection – Billboard

Bored Apes has taken over the music culture. They revolt in the latest Eminem and Snoop Dogg video. They have chosen Timbaland’s record company. And they have swapped places with Kygo and Ryan Tedder in Bored Brothers’ side project. But perhaps their most ambitious Web3 crossover is about to be launched.

Kingship, Universal Music Group’s metaverse band consisting of four characters from the Bored Ape Yacht Club universe, will release their genesis NFT on Thursday. The collection of 5,000 NFT key cards will give fans access to the royal world and unlock a range of digital and real benefits.

“It’s more than music,” he explains Celine Joshua, UMG executive vip for commercial innovation and founder of Web3 imprint 22:22. “It’s being able to show the power of what you can do with Web3 … Kingship is a membership, a club and a brand.”

The key card is just the first step in Kingship history. It will unlock upcoming partnerships with major brands, as well as unique works of art and immersive digital experiences. For example, proprietors will have access to a virtual room in one of the four towers of the Kingship world where the band lives. It’s all posted on an elaborate cartoon map on the band’s website. “Everything on that map is a clue,” Joshua adds. Over time, it will be updated to reveal brand partnerships, rewards and more parts of Kingship history.

The Genesis collection will contain four different types of key cards, each with characteristics that reflect one of the four monkeys from the band. Collect all four key cards and you get exclusive access to all the towers in the royal world and exclusive benefits.

Newcomers unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies can purchase the NFTs with a credit card; Kingship has partnered with NFT Devz and Moonpay so anyone can pay in dollars. Ethereum and Apecoin – the original cryptocurrency of the Bored Ape Yacht Club – are also accepted.

As for the music behind the Kingship project, it remains to be seen, although Joshua said it involves Grammy Award-winning artists and musicians. They are also working with animator Jack Lanza to bring the band to life.

The monkeys themselves belong Jimmy McNeils – a leading NFT collector and founder in the crypto area. He signed four of his Bored Ape collection (or rather, three Bored Apes and a Mutant Ape) to Joshua’s record label at 10:22 pm and helped create the Kingship project. The band also has a manager named Noët All, another monkey owned by the label.

Perhaps the most ambitious entry into the music industry for NFTs, and the first fully integrated large label project, Kingship is only possible because Bored Monkey owners like McNeils have full commercial rights to NFTs, so owners can monetize the monkeys their in any way they want – a unique proposal that was not possible on a large scale before Web3.

Although the Web3 music space is still in its early stages, Joshua believes we will see a wave of virtual artists born on the blockchain. Comparing it to the music industry’s transition to TikTok after Little Nas X exploded on the platform, she said, “I think it will take an artist, whether an avatar or a virtual artist, to break and development will begin.”

Kingship’s early access coin opens July 14 at 09.00 PT. The public coin will follow on 15 July at 09.00 PT on the Kingship website.