The folks from Universal Music Group (UMG) seem convinced that the best way to get on board with the metaverse and NFTs is to combine the two. The group has announced a partnership with a company that builds avatars that incorporates NFTs. In a way that’ll make them (and potentially you, but probably not) more money, naturally.

Universal has teamed up with a company called Genies, to make digital avatars (called Genies, of course) of UMG’s artists. For the metaverse. That thing that doesn’t really exist yet? Sure, makes perfect sense.

Some things just aren’t Universal

The plan is for Universal artists to use these Genies as “a persistent virtual representation of themselves across the metaverse”. And these artists will eventually also release wearable clothing for fans’ own avatars, as NFTs. Because you can never have too many buzzwords in a single press release.

Genies will, eventually, handle a planned NFT marketplace. The company told CoinBase that the market would be built on the Flow blockchain, operated by Dapper Labs. It’ll sell virtual shirts and hats and target Gen Z buyers, mostly. Each item will set buyers back between $3 and $15. R240 seems almost reasonable for an NFT, but the outfit hasn’t explained how the items will be different from buying digital clothing for, say, an Xbox Live avatar.

Universal certainly seems convinced though. It recently announced a group formed of NFTs — Kingship, which uses characters from the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project. At the moment, the only remarkable thing about the group is that it is NFT-adjacent. Music hasn’t entered into the equation yet, at all. Maybe Kingship will be the Gorillaz. Maybe they’ll be awful. But they’ll be awful with money, and that’s the important thing.