Australian-born Serenade, an NFT Music startup launched in 2021, has unveiled the members of its UK advisory Board.
Music industry personalities joining the board include: Darcus Beese, founder of Darco Recordings; Sammy Andrews, founder and CEO of Deviate Digital and concert promoter Toby Leighton-Pope.
Also joining the board are Fay Milton, musician and co-founder of Music Declares Emergency; Jin Jin, songwriter, A&R and publisher; Dan Sanders, artistic director of Atlantic Records; Phil Christie, co-founder of Manifest Publishing and former CEO of Warner Records; Oliver Sasse, Nerve Management and BBC Radio 1XTRA broadcaster DJ Target.
The board will be chaired by former YMU UK chief executive Iain Watt.
Watt joined the NFT platform as chairman of the Advisory Board in March.
The board will meet quarterly and will be an “active and credible voice and advocate for Serenade,” the company said.
Serenade also notes that its board will offer advice and insight into key issues relating to the company’s presence in the UK, support the work of Mike Walsh, UK Head of Strategic Partnerships, and play a key role in guiding the strategy of UK artists and partners of Serenade.
Serenade says her board will also help chair its environmental practices, and will aim to broaden the company’s pool of expertise and gender contacts.
In May, Serenade raised A$6 million (approximately $4.2 million) in seed funding, backed by investors including executives from Atlantic Records UK, Secret Sounds, Future Classic, UNIFIED Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as actor Hugh Jackman.
Speaking to MBW in June, Max Shand said he planned to use the funding to invest in Serenade’s technology and to “develop [Serenade’s] marketing resources, products and partnerships between the UK, Australia and soon the US”.
“It is a real privilege to be able to work alongside the members of this council with their collective wisdom and knowledge.”
Iain Watt
Iain Watt said: “When creating an advisory board for Serenade, we wanted to bring together a dynamic and diverse pool of expertise and opinions from a wide range of backgrounds.
“It will allow us to understand how we should best serve artists and their teams and thus create new experiences for their fans.
“It is a true privilege to be able to work alongside the members of this Board of Directors with their collective wisdom and knowledge to help create new ideas and generate new opportunities for Serenade.”
“We set up our Music Advisory Board to give a voice to the UK music industry – its artists, its institutions and, above all, its fans.”
Max Shand, Serenade
Max Shand, Founder and CEO of Serenade, added: “We set up our Music Advisory Board to give a voice to the UK music industry – its artists, its institutions and, above all, its fans.
“As a music company that uses innovative technology to enhance the artist-fan relationship, we rely on our proximity to the industry to understand its needs in order to create meaningful products.
“This council represents the strongest voices contributing to the artist-fan relationship today across multiple pillars of the music industry, and we believe we have the expertise and knowledge to grow our business. meaningfully and with integrity in the future.”The music industry around the world
