Universal Music Group is bringing Justin Bieber, Rihanna and its other recording artists into the metaverse
Following the announcement of a ‘metaverse music group’ last month, Universal continues to make plays in the Web3 game.
Image: Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group (UMG) is set to bring its iconic artists into the metaverse, through a new collaboration with avatar technology firm Genies.
Announced on Thursday (9 December), the partnership aims to create avatars and digital wearables for UMG’s most influential and successful recording artists.
According to a UMG blog post, fans will be able to interact “in expressive and authentic ways” with these metaverse avatars and also collect exclusive wearables to dress up their own avatars.
Some of the artists named by the music company to have official avatars are Justin Bieber, J Balvin, Rihanna, Shawn Mendes and Migos.
The announcement follows news of UMG launching a ‘metaverse group’ last month, consisting of four virtual apes from the Bored Apes Yacht Club through its 10.22pm Web3 label. The music rights giant shared its plans to release NFTs, music, community-based products, experiences and more in the metaverse.
“UMG continues to lead and unlock what is possible with Web 3.0 and virtual economies,” Celine Joshua, Executive Vice President, Commercial Innovation & Artist Strategy at UMG said.
“With our Genies partnership, we created an ideal framework and toolkit to empower our artists in the evolving digital universe,” Joshua added.
Akash Nigam, CEO at Genies, also shared: “We’re not bringing culture to NFTs and crypto. Genies and UMG together are bringing the power of NFTs and crypto to culture.”
“This next era of the internet is about empowering people with more ownership and capabilities. UMG’s roster of talent represents some of the world’s most entrepreneurial pioneers, and by equipping these iconic artists with their own Genie avatars, we’re excited to help them realise even more potential in Web 3.0.”
