Warner Music Group (WMG) has entered into a partnership with blockchain gaming developer Splinterlands.
Described by WMG as a “first-of-its-kind deal”, the partnership will see the two companies collaborate to give select WMG artists opportunities to create and develop play-to-earn (P2E), arcade-style blockchain games.
WMG says that the deal makes it the first major to partner with a company like Splinterlands.
Splinterlands was founded in 2018 and is currently one of the world’s most popular blockchain game dapps (decentralized app).
The fantasy-themed collectible card game currently boasts 1.8 million registered users, 450,000 daily users, and reports to have recently passed a “historic one billion battle” milestone.
By leaning into arcade-style gaming, Splinterlands and WMG say that they will produce mobile-friendly, accessible games that can “facilitate wider adoption and foster community building more easily than traditional play-to-earn games”.
Play-to-earn games specifically tap into blockchain technology to give players rewards, such as NFTs, that hold real-world value.
Players can trade, sell, or lease anything they earn in-game.
Blockchain currently make up half of the entire blockchain industry’s usage according to DappRadar.
Today’s news marks Warner Music Group’s latest in series of blockchain and wider Web3 moves.
WMG recently partnered with New York-headquartered digital collectibles platform Blockparty, marking the firm’s first major label partnership.
The company also struck an NFT-related global partnership in April last year with Genies, which dubs itself “the world’s largest avatar technology company”, while. In September 2019, it joined an $11 million investment round in blockchain firm Dapper Labs.
Speaking on the company’s fiscal Q1 2022 (calendar Q4 2021) earnings call earlier this month, WMG CEO Steve Cooper made reference to these partnerships in his opening remarks, and spoke of the opportunities presented by Web3 for the music industry.
Said Cooper: “From collectibles to music royalties, Web3 represents an exciting future for the music industry that will help our artists reach millions upon millions of new fans in interesting and innovative ways”.
Commenting on the partnership today (February 23), Spliterlands’ CEO Jesse “Aggroed” Reich states that WMG is “innovating the music industry to meet the standards set by Web 3.0 community members”.
“Our partnership with Splinterlands pulls focus to our artists and their music as we all work together to develop and maintain tokenized games.”
Oana Ruxandra, WMG
Oana Ruxandra, Chief Digital Officer & EVP, Business Development, WMG said: “I don’t think we can underestimate how massive the opportunity around P2E gaming is.
“Our partnership with Splinterlands pulls focus to our artists and their music as we all work together to develop and maintain tokenized games.
“As we build, we will be unlocking new revenue streams for our artists while further solidifying fans’ participation in value created.”
“Warner Music Group is a leader in the music industry. They are innovating the music industry to meet the standards set by Web 3.0 community members.”
Jesse “Aggroed” Reich, Splinterlands
Jesse “Aggroed” Reich, Splinterlands Co-Founder and CEO said: “Warner Music Group is a leader in the music industry.
“They are innovating the music industry to meet the standards set by Web 3.0 community members. We’re thrilled to be working with them and I look forward to new collaborations at the intersection of gaming, music, crypto, NFTs, defi, and blockchain.”Music Business Worldwide
