WE'RE WIRED; THEY'RE VERSWIRED

Veeps founder/COO Sherry Saeedi, blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus and veteran manager and Lippman Entertainment partner Nick Lippman have launched Verswire—an intriguing alternative to the record-label model—with Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, who'll serve as a strategic advisor. The team views the venture-capital start-up as a Shark Tank for musicians.

Saeedi, Hoppus and Lippman; photo by Brian Doherty

Verswire's plan is to treat artists like entrepreneurs and provide them with funding, resources and mentorship based on their specific needs—A&R, marketing, brand partnerships and other functions. It pledges to let artists keep majority ownership of their masters. Investors in Verswire include Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and manager Gus Brandt (Hoppus, Foo Fighters).

“The countless tech solutions that allow artists to make extra money have merely been a Band-Aid, while no one has fixed the root of the problem—that unfavorable deals do not allow artists to make money or own their music,” CEO Saeedi said. “In witnessing my closest friends put on the back burner or trapped in the deals they signed while going bankrupt, I didn’t feel anyone out there was providing the right solution, just a reiteration of the same archaic business model we’ve seen fail artists time and time again."

Verswire's first signing, a band called Beauty School Dropout, has issued a new single, "Assassin." Hoppus, Wentz, and Paris Jackson are featured in the video, embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Look for a shredded copy of HITS in the toilet Hoppus uses at the very end of the clip.