Jenkins the Valet partners with Salt to produce first web3 native interactive audio experience

Tally Labs, creator of Jenkins the Valet, and SALT Audio announced they have partnered to bring Jenkins The Valet’s debut interactive audio experience to market. Jenkins and the SALT team have been working closely to craft a product that will continue to blur the lines between consumer and creator while delighting listeners and introducing new ways to interact with podcast media. The audio experience, coming to market this summer, has amassed a leading roster of writers, directors, and voice actors and will be accompanied by a unique software experience, as well as gamified NFTs to further bring listeners along for the ride.

Jenkins the Valet is a first-of-its-kind NFT character, born directly on the blockchain. Originally known as the Head Valet at the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Jenkins’s following has grown to 40,000 followers on Twitter. With his growth and success, Jenkins has committed to bringing his fans and community with him along the ride. This commitment led to the launch of his own collection, The Writer’s Room, a virtual Writer’s Room of nearly 3,000 international members, which has seen over $15m of volume on the secondary market. Among many other perks, holders of Writer’s Room NFTs can vote on the creative direction of the content brought to market as well as license their own NFT avatars to appear in the works in exchange for royalties.

“The NFT space is moving at light speed. Animation can be expensive and often takes years to make. We see Audio as a completely untapped frontier with lower development costs, greater speed to market, and an amazing proving ground for IP that can come before going to full animation,” said Jenkins. “In other words, audio is just the start. We intend for this IP we’re creating with SALT to eventually live in many forms.”

SALT is an audio-first media company that creates exceptional experiences with the world’s leading artists, studios, and talent. What began with award winning and genre-defining work in audio fiction has quickly grown into SALT becoming the pre-eminent one stop partner for creating outstanding audio storytelling and brands. Founded by partners Jamie Schefman, Noah Gersh, and Nick Panama, whose shared wealth of experience in music built the foundation of the company, SALT successes include Blackout, Carrier, The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon, Hit Job, and most recently 2021’s Best Of list topper The Midnight Miracle with Dave Chapelle, Talib Kweli, and Yasiin Bey.

“It is no secret that Web3 is where tomorrow’s culture, stories, and communities are being created and we believe that the next global brands and experiences are going to be built at the nexus of the audio-first and digital-native community,” said Nick Panama, co-founder and CEO, Salt Audio. “It took about two minutes with Jenkins to know this is exactly who we were looking for in a partner. This is going to reset the table of what a podcast can be, what distribution models can look like, and how audience plays a part in story creation. Most importantly, we’re giving Jenkins a voice in our world.”

This partnership comes on the heels of Jenkins the Valet first signing to Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for talent representation and then inking a deal for 10-time New York Times Bestseller Neil Strauss to write his debut tell-all, a novel set inside the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Jenkins has also recently tapped Emma Needell, screenwriter and executive producer of The Water Man, to co-create a new Web3 world named Azurbala. Known as the jungle city on the other side of the Metaverse, Azurbala is an IP franchise that Writer’s Room holders will have the opportunity to virtually travel to, interact with, and mint NFT avatars from.

After setting their sights on Audio, it was Tally Labs’ agents at CAA that led Jenkins to the SALT team. SALT has quickly become a leader in the premium talent-driven fiction and non-fiction space, known for pushing the boundaries of audio media and having an experimental attitude.

About Jenkins the Valet

Jenkins the Valet is an NFT character who serves as a yacht valet, secret-keeper, and the unofficial storyteller of the Metaverse. In his day job as a Yacht Valet, he has learned all sorts of odd things about his patrons and is writing a tell-all with 10x NYT Bestseller Neil Strauss.

Jenkins The Valet has ambitions to bring his stories to larger and larger audiences across Film, TV, and more.

About Tally Labs Inc.

Tally Labs is a decentralized media business aimed at building worlds, characters, software, and ownership models designed for the Web3 era. Tally Labs brought Jenkins the Valet to market and has a number of other NFT projects in the works that further blur the lines between consumer and creator.

About SALT

SALT is an audio media company creating exceptional experiences with the world’s leading talent, studios, and brands. Through award-winning and genre defining work, SALT has become the one-stop partner for outstanding audio storytelling that fans return to for years to come. Founded by partners Jamie Schefman, Noah Gersh, and Nick Panama, SALT successes include Dave Chappelle’s The Midnight Miracle (Luminary), Blackout (QCODE), Carrier (QCODE), The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon (Spotify), Hit Job (Broadway Video), Dr. Death: Miracle Man (Wondery), and many more.