It was January 18, 2022. WarpSound dropped WVRPS, the first hybrid generative AI-composed music and art collectibles. Inspired by its crew of virtual artists Nayomi, Gnar Heart, GLiTCH, and DJ Dragoon, each NFT included its own unique visual trait-driven musical voice, or “sonic fingerprint,” enabled by WarpSound’s industry-leading generative AI music platform. Now, WarpSound celebrates one year of community and music innovation with its first WVRPS “Mintaversary” and unveils the next evolution of metaverse music experiences powered by their generative AI music technology.

The WVRPS by WarpSound collection of 9,999 unique music NFTs sold out in nine seconds on public launch day and has since maintained its lead as the all-time #1 Music NFT project on OpenSea by consistently offering new music collectibles and virtual and IRL experiences to holders. WVRPS was the first music project to offer full commercial rights to the music, stems and artwork, as well as the first to enable holders (via WarpSynth by WarpSound) to use their NFT to create a new derivative music and art collectible. These innovations unleashed the WVRPS community's creativity and resulted in new remixes, albums, art and more. 

In celebration of the Mintaversary, WarpSound is sharing a first look at The Sandbox 1:1 avatars that will be available soon for WVRPS holders. The company was recently accepted into The Sandbox's Game Maker Fund to build a generative AI music-driven experience. In addition to the upcoming avatars, WVRPS holders will be gifted a free WVRPS X Secret Garden “WarpSound Bouquet” interactive music collectible. Those collectibles will be available for claim on January 18. 

"We're proud of what we’ve accomplished with WVRPS over the last year. It’s been a wild and weird exploration of future music, identity and creative expression, and I don’t think the WVRPS community would have it any other way,” says Chris McGarry, Founder & CEO of Authentic Artists, WarpSound’s parent company. "WVRPS was always a key building block towards our larger vision for generative AI-powered music experiences in the metaverse, and now we get to bring that to life with WVRPS at the heart of it." 

About Authentic Artists
Authentic Artists is a generative AI music company awakening a deeper connection with music through new forms of creativity, play and community. Powered by Authentic’s industry-leading music platform, Authentic’s WarpSound brand is creating the sound of the metaverse through innovative music content, collectibles, and social experiences. The WarpSound collective of human and generative creators, led by virtual artists Nayomi, DJ Dragoon, Gnar Heart and GLiTCH, can be found unleashing musical creativity across web2 and web3 platforms. Inspired by WarpSound’s virtual artists, WVRPS by WarpSound is the all-time #1 music NFT collection on OpenSea. Authentic is backed by investors including OVO Fund, James Murdoch's Lupa Systems, Warner Music Group, Crush Ventures, the Founders of Nike’s RTFKT, The Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

The Game Maker Fund is an initiative that supports game designers in The Sandbox’s metaverse by funding creators’ projects and publishing their games

Authentic Artists has been selected as a recipient of The Sandbox’s Game Maker Fund, an exciting development as they continue to create the sound of the metaverse under their WarpSound brand. The funding will be used to build a new music experience powered by Authentic’s industry-leading generative AI music platform.

Expansion to The Sandbox opens up a new world of music play and creativity opportunities for WarpSound’s interactive music experiences. It will also become the home venue for WarpSound’s virtual artists Nayomi, Gnar Heart, DJ Dragoon and GLiTCH who have performed on Twitch, Decentraland, Crypovoxels, Stageverse, as well as IRL events at Tribeca Film Festival and NFT.NYC. 

“The Sandbox Game Makers Fund's goal is to support Creators to work in a creative platform that inspires them, and allow them to truly own their creations while fueling innovative experiences in the open Metaverse,” says The Sandbox COO & Co-Founder Sébastien Borget. “Music is integral to gaming, and WarpSound’s generative AI music capabilities will level up what’s possible for music in The Sandbox.”
 
"This is a meaningful win for us, with less than 100 brands and builders receiving this grant,” says Authentic Artists CEO Chris McGarry. “The Game Maker Fund team believes in our vision of awakening a deeper connection with music. Together, we’re setting the foundation for a future filled with new musical adventures made possible by generative AI tools.”

Past recipients of the Game Maker Fund include Snoop Dogg, deadmau5, Atari, Steve Aoki, and more. “The Sandbox is one of the most significant and innovative players in the open metaverse web3 space. This is incredible strategic validation for our team,” adds McGarry.

About Authentic Artists
Authentic Artists is a generative AI music company awakening a deeper connection with music through new forms of creativity, play and community. Powered by Authentic’s industry-leading music platform, Authentic’s WarpSound brand is creating the sound of the metaverse through innovative music content, collectibles, and social experiences. The WarpSound collective of human and generative creators, led by virtual artists Nayomi, DJ Dragoon, Gnar Heart and GLiTCH, can be found unleashing musical creativity across web2 and web3 platforms. Inspired by WarpSound’s virtual artists, WVRPS by WarpSound is the all-time #1 music NFT collection on OpenSea. Authentic is backed by investors including OVO Fund, James Murdoch's Lupa Systems, Warner Music Group, Crush Ventures, the Founders of Nike’s RTFKT, The Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

The leading creative AI-driven metaverse music platform from WarpSound powers the new Meebin Boombox with future music programming

SAN FRANCISCO and MIAMI – Authentic Artists and Yuga Labs, the web3 company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, today announced a new collaboration to bring AI-generated music to the Meebits community on their new brand hub, turnon.meebits.app. 
 
The new collaboration between WarpSound and Meebits unites these two innovative brands focused on exploring new forms of music-driven identity, creativity, and community. Inspired by the spirit of the Meebits brand, the first batch of Boombox-exclusive songs are entirely composed and produced by WarpSound's industry-leading metaverse music platform. From lo-fi and hip hop to electro-pop and trap styles, Meebits holders will enjoy playlists by WarpSound’s virtual artists Nayomi, Gnar Heart, DJ Dragoon, and GLiTCH on the new Meebits hub.
 
"Meebits is a community that loves to have fun and push the boundaries of what’s possible when you blend personal identity, expression, and joy. WarpSound’s innovative music tech was a perfect fit for our new brand hub," said Danny Greene, Meebits Brand Lead at Yuga Labs. "We see a lot of power in what they’re building and think our community will love the AI beats that WarpSound is dropping on the site."
 
"We’re excited to kick off this collaboration with one of the most transformative companies and beloved communities in not just web3, but also popular culture,” said Authentic Artists CEO Chris McGarry. “The Yuga and Meebits teams share our passion for music and expression. Their validation of our music platform is a big step on our path to creating the sound of the metaverse.”
 
WarpSound delivers experiences for the metaverse including virtual artist performances driven by AI and co-created live with audiences. WarpSound’s platform has also enabled musical identity at scale with unique, music-driven collectibles based on WarpSound’s virtual artists. Fusing AI-composed music with generative PFP art, WVRPS by WarpSound has become the all-time #1 music NFT collection on OpenSea. 

As the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project, Yuga Labs is a leading innovator in the NFT space. Yuga Labs announced their acquisition of Meebits from Larva Labs in March 2022. Meebits is an NFT community composed of 20,000 3D characters with randomly-generated traits for use in the metaverse. 

About Authentic Artists
Authentic Artists is a generative AI music company awakening a deeper connection with music through new forms of creativity, play and community. Powered by Authentic’s industry-leading music platform, Authentic’s WarpSound brand is creating the sound of the metaverse through innovative music content, collectibles, and social experiences. The WarpSound collective of human and generative creators, led by virtual artists Nayomi, DJ Dragoon, Gnar Heart and GLiTCH, can be found unleashing musical creativity across web2 and web3 platforms. Inspired by WarpSound’s virtual artists, WVRPS by WarpSound is the all-time #1 music NFT collection on OpenSea. Authentic is backed by investors including OVO Fund, James Murdoch's Lupa Systems, Warner Music Group, Crush Ventures, the Founders of Nike’s RTFKT, The Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

About Yuga Labs
Yuga Labs is a web3 company shaping the future through storytelling, experiences, and community. Guided by the belief that the potential of web3 can be realized when we start with imagination, not limitations, Yuga’s initiatives aim to reinvent what real-world utility for NFTs look like and push the space forward as a whole. Since their launch in April 2021 with flagship collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, they’ve made headlines as one of the first companies to release IP licenses to their NFT holders, acquired and released rights to other top collections (CryptoPunks and Meebits), and made web3 history with record-breaking synchronized player participation in their newest initiative, Otherside. One of the most ambitious interactive metaverse projects to date, Otherside is built with the community, rebelling against traditional walled gardens in gaming spaces. In March 2022, Yuga Labs raised a $450M seed round at a $4B valuation.
 
For more information on Yuga Labs visit www.yuga.com or email press@yugalabs.io.

Everyone in the WarpSound community can interact with Authentic Artist’s industry-leading AI music platform through a variety of music experiments; select WVRPS by WarpSound holders can now collaborate with their NFT to create a new collectible with WarpSynth by WarpSound.  

WarpSound has been exploring new forms of music play and interaction in The Lab. The Lab houses a variety of prototypes that encourage the WarpSound community to test and play. The community’s valuable feedback will help WarpSound to eventually mature these tests into interactive metaverse music offerings. The first experiment, The Mutatinator, features WarpSound virtual artist, DJ Dragoon, and lets users poke, pull, and prod him to mutate his music in real-time. For example, tugging his nose adds more energy to the music, and yanking his tongue adds more crunch. The next experiment to be unveiled, SongSphere, will reimagine the soundboard and offer users novel ways to interact with and configure the stems of a song. New experiments are being rolled out regularly in The Lab.

In addition to experiments in The Lab and weekly AI-composed WarpSound album drops on Audius, WVRPS NFT holders now have access to even more perks and experiments.

WVRPS is proud to be one of the first communities to offer their holders additional value via exclusive perks in Perk Shop. Once a holder connects their wallet, they have access to ever-changing unique rewards, such as merch and NFT giveaways, experiences, discounts and more (perks are updated regularly). Some perks are open to all holders, while others are tied to specific NFT traits. 

First tested at WarpSound Rarity Room at NFT.NYC, WarpSynth is now available for Mythical WVRP holders. With WarpSynth, holders can collaborate with their NFT to live-mint a new music + art collectible for the first time. The new collectible, a WVRPSynth, includes a full AI-composed song in high-quality WAV format, web and print-ready images, and MP4 videos. In the coming weeks, WarpSynth will be available for Legendary WVRP holders. 

“Each of these experiments with our community are stepping stones to fully realizing the potential of new generative tools to bring virtual audiences closer to our first and most powerful language–music,” says Chris McGarry, CEO of Authentic Artists. “They will help us to invent new shared music experiences for virtual worlds that are groundbreaking, limitless, and fulfilling.”

About Authentic Artists
Authentic Artists is a San Francisco-based company with the industry-leading metaverse music platform. Authentic delivers innovative musical content, collectibles, and social experiences using cutting edge deep learning, game engine and blockchain technologies, unleashing musical play and creativity across connected digital and physical worlds. The next era of music is here.

WarpSound is a collective of artists, both AI and human, collaborating across web2 and web3 platforms to create the sound of the metaverse. Led by virtual artists Nayomi, DJ Dragoon, Gnar Heart and GLiTCH, along with a deeply engaged and growing community of 5,000 WVRPS NFT holders, WarpSound is a home for everyone who loves music and doesn’t fit into a neat box.

Authentic Artists is a San Francisco-based company with the leading AI-driven metaverse music platform, which powers metaverse-native virtual artists, digital collectibles and interactive music experiences using cutting edge deep learning, game engine and blockchain technologies.

In 2019, Authentic Artists set out to awaken a deeper connection to music by reimagining music creativity and shared music experience. Authentic built its core technology with the belief that machine/human collaboration would unlock music’s greatest potential in digital worlds.

Under its WarpSound brand, Authentic is creating the sound of the metaverse. WarpSound delivers experiences for the metaverse that include fully formed audiovisual performances driven by AI and co-created with live audience interactions. Live voting to add a bass drop or increase the song’s intensity dynamically changes the composition of the music, as well as the WarpSound virtual artists’ unique signature sounds and performance. The magic happens behind the scenes, through a proprietary, custom-built AI engine that is composing and mutating the music, note by note, in real time.

Authentic’s platform has also been used to enable musical identity at scale with unique, music-driven collectibles. WVRPS by WarpSound fuses AI-composed music with generative PFP art across 9,999 unique music NFTs. Holders have full commercial rights to their WVRP’s music, which has resulted in creative collaborations, remixes (WarpSound’s Snoop Dogg’s High remix here), and more. Since launching in January 2022 and selling out in under 9 seconds, WVRPS by WarpSound has become the all-time #1 music NFT collection on OpenSea.

“We set out to ignite music creativity with new musical tools and experiences. Now, with the rise of the metaverse and advancements in creative machine learning, the possibilities for music play, personalization, and expression are limitless,” says Authentic Artists’ CEO Chris McGarry. “We’re excited that we can offer fans an opportunity to embrace their inner creator and shape the music they love.”

McGarry isn’t new to blurring lines between the virtual and physical worlds. His previous role leading music vertical development at Oculus VR put him on the frontier of immersive music experience.

WarpSound virtual artists have been found live streaming on Twitch, at Fan Controlled Football halftime shows and in other metaverses. Concerts by Travis Scott in Fortnite and Lil Nas X in gaming platform Roblox returned massive audiences; a whopping 12.3M people tuned in to Travis Scott’s concert in 2020. Authentic Artists are gearing up to do the same.

Authentic Artists is backed by investors including Warner Music Group, the founding team of Nike’s RTFKT, Crush Ventures, The Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget, OVO Fund, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, Mixi Group and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

About Authentic Artists

Authentic Artists is a San Francisco-based company with the industry-leading metaverse music platform. Authentic delivers innovative musical content, collectibles, and social experiences using cutting edge deep learning, game engine and blockchain technologies, unleashing musical play and creativity across connected digital and physical worlds. The next era of music is here.

WarpSound is a collective of artists, both AI and human, collaborating across web2 and web3 platforms to create the sound of the metaverse. Led by virtual artists Nayomi, DJ Dragoon, Gnar Heart and GLiTCH, along with a deeply engaged and growing community of 5,000 WVRPS NFT holders, WarpSound is a home for everyone who loves music and doesn’t fit into a neat box.