The entertainment industry has always been the entry point for the Web3 space, as we can see in the case of the popular game Axie Infinity and how it is able to popularise the concept of play-to-earn in Southeast Asia –to the point where some players are even using the game as the primary income.

But there continue to be untapped opportunities that overlap between the entertainment industries and the Web3 space. This is where companies such as Chronicle step in.

In a statement, the company listed down the problems in the NFT space that it aims to solve with its solutions, and these problems range from the “chaotic, jumbled, standardless” NFT space and the copyright and license issues that come with it; environmental concerns; and particularly the unfamiliarity of major entertainment companies with the technology.

As an NFT marketplace, it sets itself apart by working together with major studios such as Universal, NBC Universal, and Amblin Entertainment to produce licensed digital collectibles of their top film franchises. An example of their works included one that they have done for the popular magic show Penn & Teller Fool Us which allows fans to purchase digital collectibles and gain access to exclusive content such as behind-the-scenes.

“Basically providing a service for brands to be able to get their IP into a platform where they know that it is basically controlled,” explains co-founder Tim Glover in a call with e27.

It also aims to bring an NFT experience that is easier to use, enabling the wider audience to tap into the technology. Its app included features such as email sign-up and USD onboarding via payment integration partners such as Stripe and PayPal.

“One of the points of differentiation for us and some of the other marketplaces … is that we are a marketplace that is user-friendly, makes it easy for somebody to buy an NFT and to sell in US dollars. It is credit card-based; you don’t have to have a crypto wallet. And that was something that brands really responded to,” explains Chronicle CMO Doug Neil in the same interview.

Also Read: NFTs: The future musicians were promised is finally here

Chronicling the journey

The story of Chronicle began just last year, exactly as the concept of NFTs began to peak in society. Prior to founding the company, co-founders Glover and Jim Jin have had experience in both the entertainment and blockchain industries. Glover used to handle marketing and franchise consultant for Universal and Amblin’s Jurassic World franchise, creating immersive digital content, while Jin has invested in blockchain projects since 2016.

As CMO, Neil is a senior entertainment executive with over 10 years of experience in digital marketing at Universal Pictures.

“We came up with the idea of Chronicle about late Q1 of last year and got the team together in Q2. At that time, the NFT boom had just happened,” Glover says.

“We saw an opportunity to do two things: we wanted to make the purchasing of NFTs as easy as possible for both the fans and the beloved entertainment brands. For anyone that is not really familiar with an NFT, we wanted to make that journey as easy as possible for them … if you do not have to have a crypto wallet, you could use a credit card, and you log into your account and your collectibles are there in your account. The same thing goes for brands who are also navigating the NFT space, like the established entertainment brands, who do not know much about this technology.”

Chronicle is divided into three different business units. In addition to the blockchain unit that provides NFT-as-a-service to entertainment companies, it also runs a 3D animation studio that works on digital marketing campaigns for clients, including campaigns for the recently released Jurassic World.

“It has been great for Chronicle because it provides us a revenue stream for doing animation services. It is also allowing us to show off the quality of our work,” explains Glover.

The company is run by a fully remote team of nine who are based in various countries from the US to Australia.

Also Read: A beginner’s guide into the world of NFTs

On the future of NFT and the entertainment industry

Since its launch in September, Chronicle said that it has gathered more than 15,000 registered users, providing access to officially licensed NFTs to global fans.

For the company, this is certainly not the end of its journey as they intend to continue on expanding its offerings.

“We are continuing to expand our offerings and brands are very receptive to that … as we are executing our plan, we are finding out what is working and wanting to lean into that as we are developing and broadening our relationships,” says Neil.

When asked about the future of NFTs, and how the company plans to seize the existing opportunities, Glover believes we are going to see more exciting use cases built around utility and community.

“It’s probably fair to say that it’s just about scalability and whether a game with already a million users introduce NFTs into it … I think a lot more NFT projects are coming and they have the backing of the NFT and crypto blockchain community. [But the big question here is] what does that represent in the real world? It is probably only one to five per cent [of all the fans],” he says, stressing the importance of NFT projects to reach out to the wider public.

“We need to get past all of these issues of copyright infringement or stolen wallets, all of these problems that the NFT and crypto industry are experiencing, which is the reason why Chronicle exists in the first place. If we are able to get through that, you will start to see adoption as some of these legacy companies will start to look at entities a bit closer.”

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Image Credit: Chronicle

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