Death Row Records will be “an NFT label” and the first major record company to operate in the metaverse, according to its new owner Snoop Dogg, who dropped the news during a Clubhouse chat on Tuesday (Feb. 15).
“We will be putting out artists through the metaverse,” said the rapper, who added, “Just like [Death Row] broke the industry when we was the first independent to be major, I want to be the first major in the metaverse.”
Snoop Dogg revealed the news during a conversation hosted by Clubhouse creator Will Weinbach, who created a room titled “I’m Not Leaving This Room Until Snoop Dogg Joins” on Monday, a day after the rapper performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Snoop Dogg joined the room 14 hours later.
Snoop Dogg’s purchase of Death Row Records from the Blackstone-controlled MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music) was announced on Feb. 9. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though a source told Billboard that the agreement on the use of the Death Row brand – including the label’s IP, trademark, name and logo – had been finalized, while the purchase of the Death Row recording catalog was expected to close soon.
This is far from Snoop Dogg’s first foray into NFTs and the metaverse. In March 2021, the rapper announced he would be releasing his first NFT collection, “A Journey with the Dogg,” on Crypto.com. In September, he claimed he was the user behind the Twitter account @CozomoMedici, which garnered significant interest due to its owner’s well-documented speculation in the NFT space and ownership of hundreds of NFTs. He additionally owns virtual real estate in the Sandbox gaming metaverse, which is slated to drop the Snoop Dogg-inspired NFT/playable avatar collection “The Doggies” this month.
Following his announcement of the Death Row acquisition, Snoop Dogg revealed that he would be making his new album, B.O.D.R. (Bacc on Death Row), available via blockchain in partnership with blockchain gaming platform Gala Games. The album can be purchased in the form of “Stash Box” NFTs, each of which contains one of 17 songs off B.O.D.R. and goes for $5,000 apiece (there were 16,093 out of 25,000 Stash Boxes remaining at the time of publishing). Gala has claimed that holders of the Stash Boxes will receive “exclusive drops,” including films, comics, images and unique concert opportunities. “Think of the Snoop Dogg Stash Box as a lifetime membership to an elite club,” states a recent post on Gala Games’ official blog.
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