Warner Music Group has announced a “first-of-its-kind partnership” with DRESSX, a digital fashion retailer, allowing its artists to design their own virtual fashion lines.
The partnership will also see Warner Music investing in DRESSX as the major record label doubles down on its investments in the Web3 space. WMG did not disclose the size of its latest investment in a Thursday (December 15) release.
Under the new partnership, WMG artists will be able to collaborate directly with DRESSX to design and launch 3D and AR virtual clothing that fans can collect and use across Instagram, Snapchat, and other platform partners.
DRESSX features more than 3,000 digital items on its online library and operates an AR fashion app.
This provides new revenue streams for artists, while also creating additional collectible merch for fans to showcase across artists’ fandoms online.
Launched in August 2020, DRESSX is described as the largest digital closet with a commitment to sustainable fashion as its digital garment market allows consumers to showcase their style digitally. It also invests in science-based evaluation of the carbon footprint of its digital fashions.
DRESSX has proposed a patent for calculating the carbon footprint of digital fashion, which has been validated by The Carbon Accounting Company. It has partnered with Flow Carbon to offset carbon emissions across its operations.
The firm has also teamed up with a number of tech, fashion, and lifestyle companies, including Meta, Roblox, Snapchat, Google, Coca-Cola and FARFETCH, among others.
Digital fashion on the platform has been featured in Vogue Singapore, Vogue Business, WWD, HighSnobiety, Forbes, Financial Times, and more. They have also graced the covers of L’Officiel USA, L’Officiel Paris, L’Officiel Italy, Vogue Czechoslovakia, Vogue Singapore, Haute Living, and more.
WMG has sharpened its focus on the Web3 space through investments and collaborations with players in the field.
In January, the company said it made its “first entry into the NFT metaverse realm” by teaming up with virtual gaming world The Sandbox.
Less than two weeks ago, the record company signed a partnership with e-commerce and interactive platform builder LGND.io and Polygon Companies, a blockchain network developer.
The three will launch a music and collectibles platform called LGND Music in January 2023, where users can buy and own music tokens and build a digital collection of ‘Virtual Vinyls.’
WMG has also partnered with NFT marketplace OpenSea in late September, letting WMG artists build and extend their fan communities in Web3.
In June, Warner Music made an investment in San Francisco-based Authentic Artists, a music platform that supports metaverse-native virtual artists.
“As our digital identities become exponentially more robust and impactful, we are focused on building partnerships that will enable WMG and our artists.”
Oana Ruxandra, Warner Music Group
WMG’s Chief Digital Officer & EVP, Business Development, Oana Ruxandra, said: “The representation of our future digital selves will be as important and, if you’re measuring by sheer volume of interactions, maybe more important than how we represent ourselves physically.
“As our digital identities become exponentially more robust and impactful, we are focused on building partnerships that will enable WMG and our artists. With its leadership in wearables and sustainability, DRESSX is exactly the type of partner we need sprinting alongside us as we build for the future.”
Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, co-founders of DRESSX, said: “Digital merch and swag from musicians will definitely be a part of the digital wardrobes of fans, and it’s great to see that more and more stakeholders believe in this new domain that is already changing the fashion industry at a scale. Every day, we are getting closer to our aim of giving a meta-closet to every person in the world, making fashion accessible to everyone through innovation and tech.
DRESSX’s Shapovalova and Modenova added: “We are extremely proud to partner with Warner Music Group and their incredible artists to continue building and scaling the DRESSX meta-closet vision for the future. Digital fashion is a visual language for communicating and creating bonds online, and at DRESSX we use technology to provide the utility for digital wearables using augmented reality, machine learning, and blockchain.Music Business Worldwide
