Grammy-winning musician, composer and producer Wyclef Jean says the music industry is breaking. So he is currently involved in the startup, OpenWav. Through the OpenWav app released in the summer, artists can drop new music and exclusives, connect directly with fans, sell products, sell host concerts, pop-ups, listening parties, and more.
The startup will then use AI tools to provide more support to artists.
Speaking at this week's Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference, Jean is currently the top creative officer of OpenWav, with harsh words about the state of the music industry, and is particularly criticising the streaming services' business model.
“If you're a new artist, the amount of stream you need to get $10,000 is literally a rip. So you're in a constant rebellion,” he said.
Jan pointed out Cardi B as a recent example of the issue, saying that while people probably thought it was funny that she was selling CD and vinyl albums (she did it with Tiktok, who promoted her albums), it showed just how bad she was doing has become for the artist.
To get things to look, Jaeson MA, co-founder and CEO of OpenWav, who spoke with Jean at the event, said, “We'll need to hit a million streams on Spotify now… for $3,000.” MA is an entrepreneur, investor and advisor in the media industry who helped numerous startups, including Musical.ly (which became Tiktok), Triller, Coinbase, Grab, and others, and co-founded NFT App Op3n with multiple media companies.
MA explained that the industry's broken model is why OpenWav's team is building a music platform directly towards fans.
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“Algorithms don't reward music,” he noted, agreeing to a recent social media post from singer Rizzo, who complained about the lack of “summer songs” this year.
The MA then explained that what artists today need is a true fan of 1,000, not a million listeners on Spotify.
“If you have 1,000 true fans who give you $10 per month (1,000 Starbucks Coffee Time), it's $120,000 a year as an independent music artist. Think about it.” (Technically, $100,000 a year – he probably got it wrong – but his point is standing.
“Spotify doesn't pay you. Instagram, Tiktok doesn't pay you. But your real fans pay you. They buy your tickets. They buy your exclusive music – your music was first dropped in OpenWav. They buy your items.
Of course, OpenWav is not just thinking about turning “superfans” into an artist's revenue stream. Spotify itself has been talking about building a superfan platform for a while. We are telling investors that they are aiming to launch a new Premium Tier that caters to fans who have early access to concert tickets, other features and other perks. The company is negotiating with labels such as Universal and Warner music to make that happen.
However, as Spotify does, OpenWav doesn't necessarily target major artists. Instead, it follows indie artists and others who are just beginning.
The concept is nothing new. Spotify also tried to enter the space in 2018 when indie artists offered a way to upload their own music.
In response to questions about why OpenWav is different from other fan platforms, MA confirmed that there are competitors in the market today, but insisted that no one is doing everything OpenWav does in one place.
“When you come to OpenWav, you can sell tickets and earn 80% of your profit. The 20% (going) platform now has tickets for the show available,” he said. “Everyone who buys tickets enters the event chat like a discrepancy. You can literally communicate, integrate and network the very people who are purchasing tickets for your show,” MA continued. “Then you can actually drop products with zero front costs, inventory and global dropshipping in the same community chat.”
Artists on the platform also own viewers, such as fan email addresses and phone numbers.
The platform allows artists to design products using AI, and both Jean and MA expressed enthusiasm for the technology. Jean pointed out that AI can help musical artists create more than before, and Ma noted that even record producer and songwriter Timbaland uses AI Music Service Suno like a sampler to help make more of existing music.
OpenWav will use AI to help artists with how managers can use to suggest tour locations, product ideas, and more, as well as tools to create album art and lyrical videos.
“What we saw with AI is that AI is becoming your best friend as an artist,” MA said. In the meantime, OpenWAV will be available on consumer-oriented iOS and Android devices.