Warner Music Invests in CryptoKitties Creator, Dapper Labs

From Streaming to Blockchain

Warner Music Group has recently announced that they have invested in Dapper Labs. This investment, which came in to the tune of $11.5 million USD, was completed as Warner Music eyes new markets surrounding digital collectibles and non-fungible tokens.

In a digital world, where content pirating is commonplace, blockchain affords the ability to infuse digital content with pre-determined and ensured scarcity. As collectible markets are often driven by rarity, Warner Music believes that this move has potential to open new, lucrative doors.

CryptoKitties by Dapper Labs

If the name Dapper Labs sounds familiar, this is most likely due to the fact that they are the creators of CryptoKitties.

This blockchain based game became wildly popular in late 2017, as users worked to collect unique digital collectible kittens. Beyond its simple popularity, the game gained notoriety due to the fact that it, basically, stalled the Ethereum Network upon launch.

While the Ethereum network has grown stronger and more efficient in the time since, a simple game provided a stark reminder at the time that the blockchain industry was, and is, young and unproven.

Going with the Flow

The money being invested is intended to be used by Dapper Labs to create a new blockchain known as ‘FLOW’. This blockchain will be purpose built to handle applications such as CryptoKitties, and digital collectables.

SEC Approval

Investors in Dapper Labs, which now includes Warner Music, will be receiving traditional securities representing company stock. What is unique about the move, however, is the future ability to convert these securities to tokens, which can be used on the platform yet-to-be developed.

The way the deal is structured, for this to occur, the SEC will need to provide their approval. Time will tell if the SEC shares the views of Dapper, and agrees on whether the tokens represent utility tokens, or security tokens.

To date, while the SEC has cracked down on many past ICOs which sold tokens viewed as securities, they have recently shown a willingness to work with companies being forthright with their intentions. This was made evident, most recently, as BlockStack completed their own token generation event. This particular event saw the SEC approve the sale of tokens, which were described by BlockStack as utilities.

Commentary

In making their announcement, Jeff Bronikowski, VP of Business Development at Warner Music, took the time to discuss, with Forbes, their mindset. The following is what he had to say on the decision:

“When I was in college, you’d walk into someone’s room and you’d see 200 CDs and you would say, ‘That guy’s a big music fan.’ And now you just see somebody with a music subscription service and some playlists…We think that as people spend more time crafting their persona in the digital realm, digital goods and collectibles is a great way to express that fandom.”

Warner Music Group

Warner Music is a New York, New York, based company, which specializes in services surrounding the entertainment industry. From streaming services, to hosting a variety of record labels, Warner Music is all about helping artists, and delivering desired content to consumers.

CEO, Stephen Cooper, currently oversees company operations.

Dapper Labs

Founded in 2018, Dapper Labs is a Canadian company, which maintains headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia.

CEO, Roham Gharegozlou, currently oversees company operations.

In Other News

The decision by Warner Music Group to enter blockchain is no surprise. Various subsets of the entertainment industry have dipped their toes into blockchain over the past year. Recently, this was seen through multiple partnerships involving film, and industry participants such as tZERO.

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