In a Zoom Call last week, Jean Nubra explained the name and origin of his next novel character, the boring Ape NFT, Nickel Nickel.
Nubla’s Bored Ape Yacht Club # 6717 wears a leather vest and an orange beanie hat, but the most distinctive feature of the cartoon monkey is the silver coin that covers his eyes. Thirty-Nine Bra, vice president of flower delivery service, imagined his boring ape as a member of a biker gang called the “Anarchy Ape” who died in a failed cargo robbery. Nubra told dot.LA that his loved one sometimes put silver coins in the eyes of the dead during the funeral, but Nickel’s family used ordinary old nickel. It somehow prevented apes from properly entering the afterlife and made him undead.
It may not be the best ghost story to come out of Los Angeles, but Nicky soon haunts the pages of a book written by best-selling author Neil Strauss, who wrote autobiographies such as Marilyn Manson and Jenna Jameson. To do. Nubla has licensed Nicky for an NFT storytelling project called Jenkins the Valet. This project is backed by the Creative Artists Agency and you can see Strauss putting together the stories of various Bored Ape holders.
Nubra’s boring Ape Yacht Club # 6717, he lovingly named it “Nickel Nickel”.
Photo courtesy of Jean Nubra
“This goes into the philosophy of Web3. For example, I can now participate as an owner,” Nubla said. “I’m inside the door right now. I’m not just looking out and watching a movie. [and] Pay the ticket. “
Nowadays, many artists, startups, entertainment companies, and regular NFT holders are incorporating irreplaceable tokens into their commercialized intellectual property. Based in Santa Monica, one of the world’s largest record labels, Universal Music Group has created a “Metaverse Group” consisting of four boring monkeys who seemingly make music. Cryptographic Exchange Coinbase uses a boring monkey as a character in the movie trilogy. Meanwhile, talent agencies such as WME and United Talent Agency have added boring monkeys and other NFT characters to their client roster.
These are because blockchain companies like Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, have granted broad commercial rights to NFTs, a unique digital asset validated using blockchain technology. Creative work is possible. According to experts, granting these rights can increase the value of the NFT collection by increasing its cultural relevance, but such projects are for non-NFT adopters. It is unclear if it can appeal to.
Actor and producer Seth Green has just learned so hard that there are still a lot of legal issues left. Green is developing a live-action / animated hybrid comedy called “White Horse Tavern”. In this comedy, the creator’s own Bored Ape, lovingly named “Fred” by Green, comes alive as a friendly neighborhood bartender. The project was largely thwarted last month when a scammer tricked Green with an online phishing scheme and stole four NFTs, including Fred. The Bored Ape NFT comes with a license to commercialize art, so Green may have temporarily lost the right to produce the show (Fred has since returned safely). As some observers have stated, this drama has transformed Green into a poster child of how the NFT world remains sketchy: the “wild west” of digital assets.
Are you ready for prime time?
Jeremy Goldman, a Los Angeles lawyer who heads the blockchain group of law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, recognizes the work of companies like Yuga Labs that have created immense value in the NFT collection. As he sees, the problem is the relatively short terms and conditions of the collection, which doesn’t elaborate on what happens in certain situations, such as when an NFT is stolen. If investors and distributors are uncertain about the outcome, it risks killing the project or production.
“All of these NFT projects, including the Bored Ape Yacht Club, were very experimental and, in a sense, not aimed at prime time,” Goldman told dot.LA. “Many licensing questions are kind of unanswered.”
Still, some entertainment tech companies haven’t stopped pasting NFT avatars into their stories. LA-based Invisible Universe is developing an animation parody called “The R3al Metaverse”. This includes characters from the 5 NFT collections. (Disclosure: dot.LA co-founder and executive chairman Spencer Rascoff is an investor in Invisible Universe).
Promotional art for “R3al Metaverse”.Photo courtesy of the invisible universe
The startup bought three NFTs and secured two licenses that fit the story exactly, CEO Tricia Biggio told dot.LA. Indeed, Invisible Universe also approached the creators behind the NFT project. She said that these organizations had different views on the use of IP, but all organizations were aware of the value of the Invisible Universe project.
“It was fun. Some of them would be like,’Well, you don’t really have to do it by us,'” said Visio.
In “The R3al Metaverse”, NFTs living in the digital world will come to the actual NFT after appearing on a reality show and moving with them. The parody also enjoys discussing the value of NFTs. In one episode, the character stares at the painting and is confused by the lack of a “real application” as well as a wall decoration. (According to the scene’s storyboard, it’s observed as “like a zero utility.”) Invisible Universe will release about 40 episodes of the program on social media platforms from late July, with each episode in 45-90 seconds. It will be executed.
Who will watch the show about NFTs? In all of the recent hype, it’s an NFT still owned by a small part of the population. According to Biggio, viewers of The R3al Metaverse are primarily owners of its notable NFT community (Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, Doodles, World of Women, Robotos), for a total of about 50,000 tokens. Is in circulation. That said, Biggio believes the show can increase viewership and thus the value of their collections outside the yet-mainstream NFT market.
“Because we’re not gating content, we have a unique opportunity to bring people who want to enjoy content, fall in love with characters, and be part of a collaborative storytelling experience into the Web3 space.” Said Biggio.
“A unique opportunity to create wealth”
At the most basic level, like artwork in general, NFTs create a lot of value from their rarity and cultural relevance. But companies like Yuga Labs are spreading the idea of giving NFT holders commercial rights as well, allowing boring monkey owners to sell their faces on T-shirts and other merchandise. increase. Not only will this make the NFT itself more profitable, but it could also increase the value of the entire collection as Bored Apes can be put up in stores or appear in movies.
“By granting a wide range of intellectual property rights, either in the public domain or by giving the owner commercial rights, these items will come out there and become viral and culturally relevant. It’s more likely to be, “said Goldman, a lawyer.
Bill Starkov, a real estate developer living near Carabasas, is, in his words, the founder of another primate-inspired NFT project, the Apocalyptic Apes. (The zombied primates in the collection look like a horrifying version of a boring ape.) Starkov said his team “likes” the artwork, unless the ape brand name is apocalyptic. He said he gave NFT holders the right to do that. “We need to make sure they are using it properly enough and it is used to promote our project and our brand in a good way,” he said. explained.
Apocalyptic apes are featured in mixed martial arts fighter shorts. Photo courtesy of Bill Starkov
The ape owners put Simian on hot sauce bottles, exercise equipment, and sunglasses, but on the entertainment side, he’s also making car racing games, cartoons and movies about apes. Starkov, People who go by Fity.Eth Online, we also partner with Nicky Diamonds, the owner of clothing company Diamond Supply, to create products under a license agreement with Ape holders. He said these deals have generated tens of thousands of dollars for ape holders working with Diamond.
“One thing people are sleeping on is understanding intellectual property rights,” Starkov said of some people in the NFT community. “They think it’s an easy flip, but it’s not. It’s long-term. It stays here. It’s a unique opportunity to generate wealth.”
Nubla is one of the NFT holders who have used these intellectual property rights. Speaking through his computer’s augmented reality filter, which looks like Nickel Nickel, Nubra said he earned some cash by allowing the artist to create works based on his boring monkeys. .. Nicky’s street paintings are also adorned on the sides of Brooklyn’s brick buildings. This is part of a mural by graffiti artist Masuna, who was paid for the work by the owner of the NFT.
“Nickel Nickel” was featured in Brooklyn Street Painting. Photo courtesy of Jean Nubra
Nubla was one of 69 lucky people who randomly created a rare “yacht” NFT when Florida-based startup Tally Labs launched the Jenkins the Valet project last June. It allowed him to authorize his boring monkey as a character in Strauss’s novel and receive a portion of the book’s royalties. Nubla discussed selling the yacht NFT as its value reached six digits, but eventually decided to keep it and build Nicky’s IP “to see where it’s going”. ..
Nubla believes that IP decentralized NFT collections are at risk. He said that other boring monkey owners rarely stop using NFTs to promote ideas and views that others may disagree with or feel uncomfortable with. rice field. But like many people in the field, he’s crazy about Web3 ideas. This is a decentralized vision of the Internet running in blockchain-powered applications.
“It’s great to be able to profit from all the royalties you’ll get,” Nubla said of Strauss’s novel coming out this summer. “But I’m doing it mainly because of the atmosphere.”
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