South By Southwest (SXSW) just beefed up their experience by announcing that Dolly Parton is partnering with FOX Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL) to launch “Dollyverse,” an audience-centric Web3 experience. To promote the debut of Run, Rose, Run co-written with best-selling author James Patterson, Parton will make her first-ever appearance at SXSW on March 18, when she and Patterson will speak about the project at Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater.
Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominee Connie Britton (“The White Lotus,” “Nashville,” “Friday Night Lights”) will moderate the conversation with Parton and Patterson. Immediately afterwards, she will give a live performance featuring songs from Run, Rose, Run, along with a few of her hits.
Scheduled to open for Parton and Patterson are Kovic, Callie Twisselman, Electra Mustaine and The Brothers Moore. The entire event will be streamed live for free on “Dollyverse” by Eluvio, which also will power the “Dollyverse’s” NFT sales.
The “Dollyverse” will release an exclusive selection of official and certified Dolly NFT collectibles, including limited-edition NFTs of the Run, Rose, Run music album and a limited series of Dolly-inspired NFT artwork, for purchase during and after SXSW. In-person attendees at Parton’s performance will be able to claim a free NFT, while fans streaming the event will be able to receive tokens authenticating their participation.
“There’s almost nothing more important to me than connecting with my fans. And I’m almost always up for trying something new and different,” said Parton. “I’d say releasing NFTs at my first ever appearance at SXSW, with James Patterson by my side, definitely counts as new and different!”
Available for purchase beginning this Monday, March 7, and published by Little Brown and Company, Run, Rose, Run is set in Nashville and follows a young woman who comes to country music’s capital city to pursue her music-making dreams.
Additionally, fans will be able to listen to an album of 12 original songs inspired by the novel and written, performed and produced by Parton. The album is co-produced by Richard Dennison and Tom Rutledge, and will be released this Friday, March 4, by her label, Butterfly Records. Click HERE for the album and HERE for the book.
Dates for “Dollyverse’s” limited-run and a schedule of NFT drops and information regarding her appearance at ACL Live will be announced in the coming days. Parton’s performance at ACL Live will be for SXSW badge holders only and available on a first-come, first-serve basis depending on venue capability.
BCL is the first-ever Blockchain Sponsor of SXSW, where the company will launch major on-site and virtual activations and decentralized content and experiences powered by the blockchain. Through its partnership with BCL, SXSW will mint its first-ever NFT, and SXSW’s community of artists, filmmakers and brands participating at the festival will be able to create and distribute for free or sell directly NFTs of their work using the SXSW x BCL NFT marketplace found within the SXSW GO mobile app. SXSW attendees will be able to purchase NFTs with credit cards or cryptocurrency with support for all major Ethereum wallets.
Eluvio’s technology is eco-friendly and highly energy efficient both in the ways it manages media and uses blockchain technology. Through a novel compositional and just-in-time protocol, the Eluvio Content Fabric does not make digital file copies and dramatically reduces the network storage and usage requirements of today’s traditional streaming and distribution systems. The Eluvio Content Fabric’s blockchain also uses an eco-friendly “proof-of-authority” consensus, which avoids the high energy consumption used in computational “proof-of-work” blockchains.
BCL will also host discussions about the convergence of entertainment and technology, activities and special events daily from Friday, March 11, to Sunday, March 13, at Trinity Hall in Austin (located at 5th and Trinity). More information regarding BCL’s involvement at SXSW 2022 can be found at bcl.xyz/sxsw or by following BCL on Twitter @wearebcl.
In March of 2022, Parton will release the book “Run Rose Run” which she co-authored with James Patterson, alongside an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book. Parton also released her own fragrance line this year called “Dolly: Scent From Above.” From her “Coat of Many Colors” while working “9 to 5,” no dream is too big and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.
ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN CREATIVE LABS
Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL), a new business and creative unit formed in 2021 by FOX Entertainment and its Emmy Award-winning animation studio, Bento Box Entertainment, provides content creators, IP owners and advertising partners end-to-end blockchain computer ecosystem solutions to build, launch, manage and sell Non-Fungible Token (NFT) content and experiences, and fungible tokens, as well as digital goods and assets. BCL also manages a $100 million creator fund, established by FOX Entertainment and Bento Box, which identifies growth opportunities in the NFT space. In August of 2021, Fox Corporation made a strategic investment in Eluvio, a global pioneer for managing, distributing and monetizing premium content via blockchain, that will provide the underlying technology platform for BCL.
Source: SXSW, Dolly Parton, BCL, James Patterson, Kovic, Callie Twisselman, Electra Mustaine, The Brothers Moore
