Animal Concerts, a metaverse concert organizer, has partnered with Kakao’s Klaytn network in South Korea to increase its exposure in the Korean entertainment industry and help Klaytn’s global expansion plans.
The cooperation between Klaytn and Animal Concerts, according to the Jan. 10 statement, is likely to help Klaytn expand the number of NFTs exchanged on the platform.
Klaytn is one of only three blockchains with native support on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, but its trading volume is the lowest. Kakao, Klaytn’s parent company, is working on an NFT and Metaverse platform called Kakao Games.
Animal Concerts intends to organize and promote concerts in the Metaverse, as well as issue a cryptocurrency, nonfungible tokens (NFT), and merchandise for well-known recording artists. The New York-based company has already partnered with Alicia Keys to promote her album KEYS.
Colin Fitzpatrick, CEO of Animal Concerts, feels that NFTs could help the music industry recoup revenue that has been lost since the Covid-19 outbreak began.
Artists that have shows or tours cancelled miss out on cash and the opportunity to interact with fans in a live setting. Concerts held in a pandemic-free Metaverse could drastically alter the concert experience, avoiding the disappointment of a cancelled show while also reducing touring costs.
Working with Klaytn is a logical fit, according to Fitzpatrick, because “Klaytn’s key goals are NFTs and Metaverse.” He also hopes to gain more access to South Korea’s $6 billion music entertainment market:
“Korean entertainment will be a huge thing for Animal Concerts.”
Due to current scalability issues, Fitzpatrick noted that while “technical limitations prohibit how many people can actually attend a concert in the Metaverse,” he hopes to build a network of virtual venues across existing and new Metaverse platforms to host concerts in a manner similar to tour. “It’ll take a while to get the first few going, but they’ll eventually come to us,” he said.
Despite the fact that Klatyn is a huge corporate-backed blockchain, Fitzpatrick is unconcerned with decentralization. Shinhan Bank, LG Electronics, Netmarble, and the crypto-based businesses Maker and Binance are among the 30 members of the Klaytn governance council.
There may be some who criticize decentralization, but “there are a number of blockchains that are not as decentralized as stated,” according to Fitzpatrick. He also believes that corporate entities participating in the blockchain space have advantages:
“I don’t think people fully appreciate how things will work with a blockchain backed by such a behemoth.”
