The present disclosure provides a system for generating artist-governed merchandise derivative works, comprising at least one processor and memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to receive a request associated with source content and a transformation theme for creating a merchandise derivative work, evaluate the request against pre-generation preference data associated with a content authority using a knowledge agent maintaining brand guidelines, generate the merchandise derivative work from the source content according to the transformation theme by applying a generative artificial-intelligence model through an action agent, perform post-generation validation against the brand guidelines, generate a digital identifier based on the merchandise derivative work, and enable distribution through a physical merchandise path for tangible products or a virtual merchandise path for digital assets.