Tally Labs, creator of NFT character Jenkins the Valet, and SALT Audio are teaming up to bring Jenkins The Valet’s debut interactive audio experience to market this summer. The partners have amassed a roster of writers, directors and voice actors, and it will be accompanied by a unique software experience, as well as gamified NFTs. The partners see the deal as an important step in creating a unique interactive experience tailored to Web3, the next step in the evolution of the world wide web, which is based on blockchain technology
Jenkins the Valet is an NFT character and creation. Originally known as the Head Valet at the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Jenkins’s following has swelled to 40,000 followers on Twitter. He writes about other avatars he meets in the metaverse, commenting on current events and creating backstories for them. With his growth and success, Jenkins has committed to bringing his fans and community with him along the ride. This commitment led to the launch of his own collection, The Writer’s Room, a virtual Writer’s Room of nearly 3,000 international members, which has seen over $15 million of volume on the secondary market. Holders of Writer’s Room NFTs can vote on the creative direction of the content brought to market as well as license their own NFT avatars to appear in the works in exchange for royalties.
“The NFT space is moving at light speed. Animation can be expensive and often takes years to make. We see audio as a completely untapped frontier with lower development costs, greater speed to market and an amazing proving ground for IP that can come before going to full animation,” Jenkins said. “In other words, audio is just the start. We intend for this IP we’re creating with SALT to eventually live in many forms.”
SALT is an audio-first media company that was founded by partners Jamie Schefman, Noah Gersh and Nick Panama. Its work includes “Blackout” (QCODE), “The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon” (Spotify) and most recently the Luminary show “The Midnight Miracle” with Dave Chapelle, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey.
“It is no secret that Web3 is where tomorrow’s culture, stories and communities are being created, and we believe that the next global brands and experiences are going to be built at the nexus of the audio-first and digital-native community,” said Nick Panama, co-founder and CEO of Salt Audio. “It took about two minutes with Jenkins to know this is exactly who we were looking for in a partner. This is going to reset the table of what a podcast can be, what distribution models can look like and how audience plays a part in story creation. Most importantly, we’re giving Jenkins a voice in our world.”
Jenkins the Valet recently signed with CAA for talent representation and then inked a deal for New York Times Bestselling author Neil Strauss to write his debut tell-all, a novel set inside the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Jenkins has also recently tapped Emma Needell, screenwriter and executive producer of “The Water Man,” to co-create a new Web3 world named Azurbala. Known as the jungle city on the other side of the metaverse, Azurbala is a piece of intellectual property that Writer’s Room holders will have the opportunity to virtually travel to, interact with and mint NFT avatars from.
Tally Labs’ agents at CAA connected Jenkins with the SALT team.
