Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Timbaland has announced his latest venture and partnership, Ape-In Productions (AIP) — an entertainment company and virtual community that will launch and promote Bored Apes as successful music artists in the metaverse. The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) phenomena has generated over $1 billion in trading to date, and Universal Music Group has announced the creation and signing of a Bored Ape group by the name of Kingship.
According to the announcement, Timbaland, who acquired a Bored Ape NFT, and his partners “plan on disrupting the music business again with this new venture similar to how Verzuz and Beatclub have.”
In a statement, Timbaland said, “We’ve built a new entertainment platform in the metaverse that puts creative control and long-term ownership back in the hands of artists, a concept that is incredibly important to us.”
AIP’s first artist signing is TheZoo, a hip-hop group in the Bored Ape Yacht Club universe. They will release their debut single “ApeSh!t” — produced by Timbaland —in conjunction with the initial AIP label NFT on November 17th.
AIP was co-founded by Timbaland and several members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community as a new platform for entertainment for the metaverse era, with the goal of discovering and amplifying music artists while unlocking creative content through premium NFTs. Specifically, he is joined by partner Gary Marella, Clement Kwan, and Andrew Rosener and Jonathan Tenenbaum of MediaOptions. Timbaland, his company Beatclub, and other creators will be developing music for the AIP’s first set of releases.
The AIP roster will feature a select group of Bored Apes who will release original music and animation in the metaverse as NFTs. By acquiring these NFTs, collectors will also gain access to a host of exclusive items, such as merchandise, community building events, virtual studio sessions, and animated concerts performed by AIP’s roster in the Bored Ape Yacht Club world.
All animation including the forthcoming AIP animated series and concerts will be created and produced in partnership with BRON Digital using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology. Token holders of the initial AIP NFT will also have access to custom art by production studio Myth Division, as well as other exclusive extras.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a community with 5,500+ “ape-holders” including Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg, Lil Baby, Jermaine Dupri and another 3,500+ holders of related Bored Ape NFTs.
