A New Spin on the Record Deal: Verswire Launches With Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz on Board

variety.com:

Jonathan Cohen After pioneering a more artist-friendly live-streaming paradigm as the founder/COO of Veeps, which sold to Live Nation at an eight-figure valuation in 2021, Sherry Saeedi now has her sights set on disrupting the major-label business model.

Saeedi, veteran music manager Nick Lippman and Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus have teamed to launch Verswire, which will utilize a venture capital approach to help artists make money and grow their businesses without going into debt while doing so.Somewhat in the vein of the long-running TV show “Shark Tank,” Verswire, which also counts Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz as a strategic advisor, will make custom investments into both new and established acts depending on their needs, while also working directly with these partners as an incubator to dial in everything from distribution, sponsorships, artist development and Web 3.0 strategy.

Rather than not making any money until they’ve paid back a large advance from a label, artists will instead participate immediately in other revenue streams with Verswire and keep majority ownership of their masters.

The equity split will be based on “when we think we’ll break even and at what percentage, and what’s fair to the artist,” Saeedi tells Variety. “They’ll always keep the lion’s share, because we’re treating artists as entrepreneurs for the first time ever.”“Traditional record label deals never really allow the artist to make money off of, or own, their content, which still baffles me to this day,” she continues. “No other industry functions this way.