Executive Turntable: Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus Launches VC Music Startup; S10 Promotes Four

Veeps founder & COO Sherry Saeedi, Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Lippman Entertainment partner Nick Lippman launched Verswire, a new venture capital music startup, with Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz serving as a strategic advisor. The company’s founding team also includes director of A&R and branding Myia Ingoldsby as well as numerous advisors and investors including Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and tour manager Gus Brandt. Verswire is described as a development incubator for both emerging and established artists that tailors a custom investment for each, including “funding, resources, tools, mentoring, support from prominent music executives and an ecosystem to own and operate their businesses within while allowing them to keep majority ownership of their masters,” according to a press release. The company provides primary label services including A&R, distribution, marketing, brand partnerships, sponsorships and publicity, all individualized to each artist’s needs. Verswire’s debut signing, Beauty School Dropout, recently released the single “Assassin.”

S10 Entertainment announced several internal changes, including the promotions of Jay Cao and Justin Hunter, plus the hires of Miranda McEvoy and Jessica Roxana, who will all report to CEO and founder Brandon Silverstein out of the bicoastal firm’s Los Angeles offices. As vp, Cao will work across S10’s management roster, record label, publishing catalog and ventures. As chief of staff, Hunter now oversees the link between S10 divisions, optimizing and streamlining communication channels. As head of operations, McEvoy will oversee day-to-day operations at S10, working closely with Silverstein to ensure that both short and long-term company objectives are achieved. As director of artist management, a role she assumed in January, Roxana will handle day-to-day management of Anitta for the company.

Nick Barr was hired as vp of A&R and creative strategy at Island Records in Los Angeles, where he will play a key role in signing new talent while bringing his marketing, digital and creative strategy to bear.

Daniel Gillick was hired in the newly created role of head of content strategy at Motown Records in Los Angeles. Reporting to executive vp and COO Alison Finley, Gillick will oversee original content strategies across platforms and new content types across all of Motown’s artists and partners.

Stephanie Lamoureaux was hired at Live Nation Entertainment to build the legal operations function for the brand starting in late June. She will help “define processes, organize initiatives, and leverage technology to create efficiencies and elevate” how the legal team operates, according to a LinkedIn post by Lamoureaux. Her official title was not available at press time; she was previously global head of legal operations at Block, Inc. (formerly Square).

Sherry Alaghehband was elevated to vp of promotion and radio marketing at Atlantic Records.

Warner Music Canada hired Madelaine Napoleone as vp of marketing in Toronto. She will report to Warner Music Canada executive vp and general manager Andy West.

Concert promoter Move Concerts Brazil hired Tiago Maia as managing director. In the role, Maia will lead the company’s operation and help maximize its growth. He can be reached at tiagomaia@moveconcerts.com.

Tanya Keogh was hired as strategy director at Huxley, where she’ll work with Huxley founder and director Anna Meachem to oversee strategy for Huxley talent, brands, business and team development. Huxley’s artist clients include Megan Thee Stallion and The 1975. She can be reached at tanya@huxley.world.

The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) in the U.K. hired Genneah Turner as general manager. She will play a key role in ensuring that artists’ rights and interests are represented as the organization “enters a new phase in its mission to drive greater fairness for artists and music creators,” according to a press release.

Metaplex Studios, described in a press release as “the organization dedicated to advancing the Solana NFT protocol Metaplex,” hired Ash Pampati as head of music. In the role, Pampati will steer the company’s investments in Web3 applications and tools for the music community.

Pharrell Williams, Nina Chanel Abney, Shaun Neff, Todd Kramer, Easy Otabor, Nick Adler and J1mmy.Eth are among the founding team members behind the Gallery of Digital Assets (GODA), a new platform designed to allow contemporary artists “to explore the NFT and digital space,” according to a press release. GODA will work with artists to leverage the new medium while providing users with access to drops from a collection of established figures from the traditional art world as well as up-and-coming artists. The first drop is slated for early this summer.

Nora Lyons was hired as director of publicity at multi-disciplinary PR firm Shore Fire Media. Based out of the Brooklyn office, Lyons will report to senior vp Rebecca Shapiro while representing talent, musicians and businesses in arts and entertainment.

Jason Allen was promoted to senior director of infrastructure operations at TuneCore, where he will continue to manage the DevOps and database teams, which lead the implementation and delivery of the infrastructure, security, data and back-end automation processes behind TuneCore’s product. Additionally, Allen will manage TuneCore’s internal IT functions, working closely with TuneCore’s parent company, Believe, to coordinate activities for all global employees.

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