🎥 Metaproof Media, Entertainment, IP

Hey friends, this is Sophia from 🎥 Metaproof Media, Entertainment, IP, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse and web3 are changing the media, entertainment, and IP industry.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse media, entertainment, IP news every Friday.

💌 A quick thanks to our friends…

Shout out to this week’s sponsor CyberBrokers. A project with futuristic, cyberpunk art and immersive storytelling, CyberBrokers tells an exciting story that takes users through the world of the Paradigm Lost. Create, collect, game, and experience in this journey that brings the metaverse to life. Expand your reality today and go explore the Paradigm Lost. Check them out here!

📲 By the numbers

• The 3D animation market is expected to reach $31.29B by 2028, thanks to the adoption of visual effects in media and entertainment. More than 170 million people, for instance, use virtual reality in some capacity right now. (Source)

• The crypto market slowdown loomed over the culture and entertainment sector - consisting largely of digital artistic creations, collectibles and apps such as NFTs, and metaverse - in the fourth quarter of 2022. Volume in NFTs fell to $3.3B QTD, from $8.3B in the fourth quarter of 2021 - a 59% drop. (Source)

📫 News & trends

🐭 Down 44% in 2022, this entertainment giant's stock is set up for long-term potential

Disney is gearing up for a future that could treat investors for years to come. Disney’s stock has recently been struggling: the House of Mouse stock is down over 19% in the last five years, and in 2022 alone lost around 44% of its value.

But it has room to grow, particularly in light of the entertainment behemoth committing to innovative entertainment via new technologies. Last year, Disney made good on its promise of creating digital experiences, keenly aware that business models need to be developed to ensure its competitiveness.

It is now tapping into the potential that the metaverse, web3, blockchains, and augmented reality have to offer. In fact, one of the most noteworthy inductees in its Accelerator Program is the blockchain Polygon, which has risen to fame in the last few years for its sheer usefulness in NFTs and web3.

👩 Latest topics discussed in metaverse news program

"Morning Metaverse," China's first news program about the metaverse, has aired on Dragon TV. Presented by Shanghai Media Group or SMG News, the weekly program is hosted by virtual compere Shen Xiaoya, a digital animated news anchor of SMG who has shown up in live news reports for events such as the China International Import Expo and China International Cartoon & Game Expo. The virtual host will share the latest information and trends about the metaverse every Sunday morning in the new program, as well as interpret China's new policies regarding the flourishing metaverse industry.

🐬 Calvin Harris enters the metaverse for first ever VR concert (with dolphins)

It’s a metaverse party Scottish producer and DJ Calvin Harris is headlining with the announcement of his immersive virtual performance later this month on TikTok LIVE. Slated for Friday, January 13th, the star DJ’s first-ever VR concert is free for viewing in 2D through his official TikTok account. Fans in Europe and Asia, on the other hand, will be able to experience it in 3D via PICO virtual reality headsets. Harris himself will appear as a virtual avatar in the digitally animated performance that seeks to “take fans on a musical journey through Calvin’s virtual universe.”

🍃 Azuki celebrates 1st anniversary, announces release of Hilumia

“Welcome to Hilumia 🌱: The crossroads of the Garden. A growing city shaped and built by the community. The past, present, and future of Azuki.” And so web3 anime universe Azuki tweeted, announcing the release of its metaverse city Hilumia, seen as an immersive version of Azuki’s Mindmap. Hilumia features various locations such as Slowpoke’s Toy Haven, Ember Square, Golden Skate Park, Garden Express, and Food For Thought. The release coincides with the first anniversary of Azuki, a collection of 10,000 unique, generative avatar NFTs launched on January 12, 2022.

💡 At CES 2023, agencies outline progress and potential around the metaverse, podcasting and sustainability

No surprise here: web3 and metaverse activations have formed some of the biggest highlights in products and programming at CES 2023. Several agency and media executives noticed more AR and VR products compared to previous shows. Today, clients and agencies are now focusing on practical applications before they experiment with the metaverse, especially as businesses face an uncertain economy. Dentsu’s metaverse campus, the Dentsu NXT Space, lies on productivity platform HeadOffice.Space and serves as an example. The metaverse space was unveiled at CES as new buildings and areas continued getting built out and updated on the platform. The initiative reflects Dentsu’s metaverse experimentation, helping the agency guide clients in their testing and research.

₿ Dolz excites the metaverse, invites US citizens to its project, after successful presale

A fresh new entrant in the dynamic metaverse space is Dolz.io, an adult-themed metaverse that launched a presale in November 2022. Raising over $862,000, its native token DOLZ has been listed on Uniswap and Quickswap with a low circulating supply, broadening the horizon for the budding project. Dolz.io is the metaverse venture of Totem Media, a major competitor in the adult industry space. It launched its first product, VirtuaGirl, which then became iStripper, and had since expanded its operations. iStripper, which consists of collecting cards containing video shows, is considered by some as the “Sorare of adult entertainment.”

⬆️ Metaverse applications in the real world

The metaverse can be harnessed to create virtual worlds for the media industry. It can usher in the creation of tools to create virtual sets for filming as well as provide more realistic scenes for videos. Gaming firm Animoca Brands, for instance, is building a studio backlot in metaverse platform The Sandbox in partnership with Planet Hollywood. When it comes to the social media realm, we’re seeing IMVU, an online social network game created in 2004 where players create 3D avatars and interact with each other, rising to fame. Look no further than Meta, formerly known as Facebook, changing its name to Meta and indicating the metaverse-oriented future of social networks.

🤔 Will the metaverse save Meta from TikTok?

TikTok has been “stealing” users from Facebook: Instagram and Facebook made up 24% of teen social media usage in Q4 2021, while TikTok made up 30%. Facebook, which previously held a strong position in the social media industry, saw a decline in its user base for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, Facebook’s parent company Meta has invested $10B in the metaverse, which is five times more than what it paid for Oculus VR and 10 times more than what it paid for Instagram.The question is: will the metaverse save Facebook when its widespread adoption requires a major paradigm shift - a functional understanding of next-gen tech like blockchain and NFTs - and Meta’s fellow tech titans are also pouring money into it to vie for dominance?

📀 Virtual girl group MAVE: releases PANDORA ARTWORK

Virtual girl group MAVE:, the first K-pop girl group to debut in 2023 and the first girl group from Metaverse Entertainment, has released the "PANDORA" ARTWORK video for its debut single "PANDORA'S BOX," set to release on January 25th. The group's name, MAVE:, stands for "MAKE NEW WAVE,” seeking to create a new wave in the K-pop scene and produce cultural content that goes beyond current boundaries. More information about the group's debut album will also be released in the future.

⚖️ Blockish IP: The top IP events that affected emerging technologies in 2022

Emerging technologies like blockchain, NFTs, and the metaverse have seen growth and mainstream adoption in recent years. Along with their rise, however, is the emergence of critical IP law topics, including difficulties with the description of goods and services, inadequate specimens, and trademark infringement lawsuits involving NFTs. A prominent example of this is the lawsuit between Hermès and artist Martin Rothschild, which has significant implications for the examination of trademarks. Another issue that has been brought to the fore is the blockage by Roblox and Jazwares on WowWee's physical dolls "born from the metaverse" and the determination that only human beings, not AI, can be inventors. Additionally, there’s an ongoing discussion in the web3 community about resale royalties on the open NFT market.

🎤 KWANGYA@The Sandbox: The newly opened virtual space in the Sandbox metaverse

Korean mobile app KWANGYA has revealed the launch of KWANGYA@The Sandbox, a digital space in The Sandbox metaverse that offers unrestricted K-culture experiences and features the SMCU PALACE, previewed at the SMTOWN LIVE 2023 show. Users will be able to engage with SM artists and music in a unique way by completing quizzes and earning emblems, as well as accessing SSAM BEAR and the KWANGYA store. A hint feature has also been added to assist with navigating the artist zone. The collaboration with The Sandbox aims to provide exceptional K-verse experiences for fans, following The Sandbox's recent release of version 0.8 of its Game Maker, which includes multiplayer functionality, visual enhancements, and video streaming.

🎞️ Ashwin Saravanan-Nayanthara’s Connect to venture into metaverse

Indian actress-producer Nayanthara's recent horror film Connect, directed by Ashwin Saravanan, will be venturing into the metaverse as a mix of film and gaming experience in virtual reality. The film, which also stars Sathyaraj, Anupam Kher, Haniya Nafis and Vinay Rai in key roles, is a supernatural thriller set during the COVID pandemic. Connect, produced by Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan’s banner Rowdy Pictures, was released in Hindi on December 30.

🖌️ Trademarks in the metaverse — artistic expression or commercial product?

The metaverse is a digital space similar to the real world, with social interactions, currency, and trade, which can have tangible benefits. It had a market value of $22.79B in 2021 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 40% per year by 2030, according to GlobalData. However, vendors in the metaverse may be using well-known brand names and objects as virtual goods or NFTs without permission, raising questions about how to apply real-world intellectual property rights to products within the metaverse. This has generated a virtual market for representations of real-world goods, and individuals are buying and selling these digital items online.

🎙️Podcast: Minting is a tense time

Minting is a tense time for anyone who wants to sell NFTs - and apparently the co-founders of Yuga Labs honor a few “weird rituals” before the act, such as doing push-ups! Find out more on this episode of The Fucking Metaverse Podcast. Founded by four friends, Yuga Labs is known for its flagship collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which launched in April 2021 and with each NFT doubling as a membership to the community. “Inspired by the early crypto adopters who aped in, struck gold, yet always seemed bored – 10,000 Bored Apes were minted for roughly $200 at the time,” recounts Yuga Labs, its NFT collection selling out in the early morning of May 1, 2021 and spawning a rapidly growing community afterwards.

💸 Finance buzz

Asia is ramping up its metaverse interest and investment (Source):

• The government of South Korea, a global entertainment hub, recently invested $177.1 million in the metaverse as part of its Digital New Deal initiative, a program geared toward investing in new technologies to optimize the nation’s economy.

• Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng stock index is offering the specialist index Hang Seng China Metaverse Index to incorporate virtual reality firms as well as gaming and various other businesses that deliver advanced digital experiences to users.

• Thailand’s largest mobile operator, Advanced Info Services (AIS) opened V-Avenue, the metaverse shopping mall allowing two million unique users to shop in over 200 3D stores and interact in virtual reality, recreating the mall experience in an entirely remote manner.

🗣️ Quote of the week

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse media, entertainment, IP news every Friday.