Verswire, a first-of-its-kind artist development incubator founded by Veeps Founder Sherry Saeedi, blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, and veteran music manager Nick Lippman, which also includes Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz as a strategic advisor, as well as Warped Tour Founder Kevin Lyman and manager Gus Brandt (Mark Hoppus, Foo Fighters) as investors.
As a venture capital fund like Shark Tank for musicians, the organization considers artists as entrepreneurs and tailors tailored investments for each while enabling them to retain majority ownership of their masters. Each investment is tailored to the demands of a particular artist, from A&R through distribution, development, marketing, brand collaborations, and beyond. Verswire provides musicians with an entirely new option that has never been presented before, serving as an artist-led antidote to the poor label deals that have historically plagued the music industry.
“The countless tech solutions that allow artists to make extra money have merely been a bandaid, while no one has fixed the root of the problem: that unfavorable deals do not allow artists to make money or own their music,” says Verswire CEO & Founder Saeedi. “In witnessing my closest friends put on the back-burner or trapped within the deals they signed while going bankrupt, I didn’t feel like anyone out there was providing the right solution to artists, but rather an iteration of the same archaic business model we’ve seen fail artists time and time again. I decided to build Verswire with an incredible team to re-envision the industry and provide musicians with an alternative that’s truly created with their well-being and careers as the priority.”
“The artist and label relationship needs to be a symbiotic partnership in order to garner absolute success,” says Verswire Partner Nick Lippman. “Verswire is the culmination of this ideology and something I’m proud to be a part of.”
Every artist is also paired with a mentor with whom they may learn and grow, including Verswire’s debut signing with Beauty School Dropout. This California-native three-piece has been directly guided by Hoppus and championed by Wentz. Today, the band releases a punky new single, Assassin, marking the company’s first-ever release. The single merges blazing instrumentation with unbreakable melodies and one day could be a powerhouse in rock music like the Foo Fighters and blink-182. Not only did this band release a new song, but they also released a music video to go along with it that boasts a star-studded cast including Hoppus, Wentz, and Paris Jackson.
“I am very excited to help build a new way for bands and artists to create music for communities, while retaining ownership of their work,” said Hoppus.
Wentz added: “I’ve been a fan of Sherry and the work she’s done for years, and look forward to being part of Verswire’s journey.”
Check out the official music video to Assassin below:
Photo credit: Marv Watson
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