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New Universal Music band Kingship is a few bored, virtual apes that are also NFTs

The music label says the "metaverse" group will be releasing new music, NFTs and more.

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Andrew Blok has been an editor at CNET covering HVAC and home energy, with a focus on solar, since October 2021. As an environmental journalist, he navigates the changing energy landscape to help people make smart energy decisions. He's a graduate of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State and has written for several publications in the Great Lakes region, including Great Lakes Now and Environmental Health News, since 2019. You can find him in western Michigan watching birds.
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Andrew Blok
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Four nonfungible nonblondes.

Universal Music Group

One of the world's largest music labels is exploring entertainment in the metaverse. Universal Music Group is already home to some of music's biggest names, but now its label 10:22PM is launching the music group Kingship, made up of some famous NFTs, or nonfungible tokens.

Four virtual apes from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of NFTs comprise a "metaverse group," Universal said Thursday. The team behind Kingship will eventually put on performances and release original music.

"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," Celine Joshua, founder of the label 10:22PM, said in a press release. "Each member of the group has their own story and personality that influences and contributes to Kingships's overall narrative."

10:22PM will create backstories for the apes and eventually sell NFT performances, providing buyers with unique musical experiences, Bloomberg reported. Alongside concerts in the metaverse, the group represents a "new area of NFT ownership," said Jimmy McNeils, the owner of the four NFTs that make up the group.

NFTs have already been big money for some owners. The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of thousands of unique digital artwork depicting, well, bored apes. At the end of October, one sold for $3.4 million. Two of the NFTs in Kingship are currently valued at about $125,000, according to OpenSea, an online NFT marketplace.

It's unclear when the first performance or musical NFT will be available to potential fans. Universal Music Group didn't immediately respond to questions about any timeline.