Founded on the core belief that creators deserve better treatment from the industry, PennyFly offers something new: no longer do artists have to sign away the entirety of their rights, creative freedom, most of their revenue, and ultimately their life to achieve major-label results

PennyFly Entertainment

This interview series celebrates all the phenomenal . Well-Deserved, Champion. HackerNoon sits down with Jett Prescott of PennyFly Entertainment: Startups of the Year Winners [ ] https://hackernoon.com/startups-of-the-year-2023-winners-north-america As the founder of PennyFly Entertainment, what does it mean for you to win this title? I am a long-time tech nerd and reader of HackerNoon, so it truly means a lot. Before PennyFly was even an idea, I graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in Cyber Security and was certified to work with the NSA. I fully expected my life would be immersed in all things hacking and counter-hacking, but shortly after graduating, what began as a hobby, writing and performing music turned into a serious career pursuit. Following label offers after moving to LA, I made the decision to stay independent while networking within the industry to build a team around me. This undertaking became much bigger than myself, snowballing into helping more and more artists, and today, we’ve worked with over 170 different artists at all career stages. As PennyFly grew, I began to wonder if I would ever utilize any of that education or if it was an unfortunate waste of time and money…thankfully, it wasn’t. Everything came full circle as blockchain and AI-driven solutions continued to dominate multiple major industries. My understanding of these technologies allowed PennyFly to integrate them into our services and workflows and ultimately expanded what we do into a new company division, as we have now catered to over a dozen web3-based projects. Big shoutout to our CTO, Dr. Harry Malinski, and CMO, Skye Ruedas, for spearheading these efforts! Tell us how your startup is changing the world. I often tell people we’re not exactly “reinventing the wheel” when it comes to artist services. We have mentored under some of the best marketing professionals in the industry and are simply offering the same major-label caliber services you would typically get from signing a larger label deal - Having been around for nearly seven years, we continue to be one of the only true label services agencies in the world that can replicate these niche services under one roof (and without the 360-style strings attached). In the past two years, we have seen increasingly heavy interest from artists outside of the US in need of our services, as they are unable to find what we do anywhere else. what truly makes us different is that we don’t gate-keep these services behind contracts that take ownership, rights, and freedoms away from artists. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? I feel incredibly blessed to be working alongside such passionate and driven individuals - but most of all, we’ve developed strong friendships over the years and consider each other family. As our artists know well, we are far from the stereotypical “corporate” vibes you see with most companies, especially other marketing agencies and labels. This goes a very long way when it comes to cultivating the right atmosphere for artists to thrive. While we are very results-driven and don’t take shortcuts, we’re also all close friends who enjoy hanging out at the end of a long day…from gaming to watching sports or streaming the latest South Park, we always make time to have some fun. Speaking of family, my wife Raye has been such an integral part of PennyFly becoming what it is today; she is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to dialing in the right branding for our artists, from web development to digital design. In contrast, Harry Malinski’s wife, Melody, has been a huge asset on the administrative side and is growing into a larger creative-driven role to complement our evolving needs in-house. What sets you apart from the competition? It really comes down to our unique combination of proven marketing techniques with real accessibility. We don’t do 360 deals or require artists to sign unfavorable contracts in order to get the same teams and services they would otherwise get from well-known labels. It is also entirely up to the artist whether or not they’d like to publicly mention involvement with us - some artists opt for a “silent partnership” where we support them behind the scenes without the portrayal of having been officially “signed”. There are pros and cons to both approaches, as plenty of artists also prefer the opposite, which is why we ultimately leave it up to them. The only thing that really matters to us is ensuring our artists are comfortable, motivated, and inspired to succeed. Lastly, we seem to be the only company in our niche that showcases a long-form compilation of testimonials featuring a wide variety of artists we’ve worked with, all on camera talking about their experience working with us. We treat our artists like family, which leads not only to success but also to having a lot of fun along the way. How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2024? What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing? We are simply going to continue doing what we do best: offering great teams to great artists. The traction we gain with our clients continues to speak for itself, and we are growing every week. A major focus for us in 2024 will be scaling up everything we do. This means building out our departments with additional teams to handle more artists without compromising our attention to detail, ability to deliver, and overall results. As our Director of Project Management, Carter Perran has been invaluable in leading successful recruitment efforts and keeping everyone on track. Are there any artists you are particularly excited about? Absolutely. One of our biggest passions is working with artists who have incredible talent and potential but need the right exposure to build a truly engaged fanbase. We are expecting big things from Tanya Mezh, Kiraly, J. Lauryn, Amelia Milo, CasPark, and Laura Warshauer, whom we’ve all thoroughly enjoyed working with. There are also some exciting new partnerships in the works as we speak! 2023 has been another crazy year, especially in tech with the Generative AI takeover - is this a trend you are concerned about? This really is an interesting topic that has many nuances to it. On one hand, we’ve seen an incredible improvement with some of our services that are now supported by AI. From increased efficiency to better results, it’s hard to argue with the advantages these AI tools provide when utilized properly. On the other hand, we can’t forget the value brought by real artists, musicians, and writers. There is a human element that will always transcend machines attempting to reproduce that human feel. Currently, getting the most out of these AI solutions still requires a skilled, intelligent professional to gather some of what the AI produces in order to shape the final result into something practical and presentable. Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us? Whether you are an artist in the early stages of your career or already established, remember that the #1 thing to always focus on is consistency. Staying power is everything. Artists we work with who find the most success in the quickest timeframes remain incredibly consistent in their music release schedules and social media presence. Even if you have an entire team behind you, work ethic is everything - this cannot be overstated enough. If you embody these values throughout your craft and your content and remain true to your authentic self, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Overnight success is years in the making as they say, so don’t get discouraged if things don’t take off as quickly as you expect them to. Stay the course and keep going. The ones who win are the ones who simply refuse to give up. Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. See our global winners announcement . here Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package

Meet PennyFly Entertainment, Startups of the Year Winner (Malibu, CA)

Welcome to HackerNoon’s interview series. This section is curated by our Editorial team to spotlight bold and disruptive startups across the globe. Startups-Of-The-Year Hey Hackers, PennyFly Entertainment has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards! Please vote for them 📀🥂 here PennyFly’s founder Jett Prescott sat down with us to offer his insight on all the exciting endeavors they have going on: Meet PennyFly Entertainment PennyFly Entertainment is a record company and boutique marketing agency embracing the latest in AI and web3. As a by-artists-for-artists collective, we recognize that the music industry has mistreated and taken advantage of artists for decades. Everybody knows it. I experienced this firsthand as an artist which allowed me to discover the avenues and opportunities available to change things for the better. Our flexible deal terms and access to the same critical music industry channels and professionals as the majors allow us to offer everything an artist expects from a typical label deal while leaving them with significantly greater profit and control over their career. We additionally have a successful track record advising, developing, and marketing web3/blockchain projects for a variety of talented creators and entrepreneurs. My Role As PennyFly’s founder, my role focuses primarily around the discovery and signing of new artists, developing strategic partnerships with others in the industry, and serving as the executive producer across dozens of music and marketing campaigns for our creators. How We're Disrupting & Improving the Entertainment Industry No longer do artists have to feel that signing everything away to a label is their only path to success. PennyFly exists to provide all of the same high-caliber label services to artists at any level -  from management to music production to marketing - without gatekeeping everything behind veiled 360 deals that leave the artist with 15% of their revenues and zero real ownership or control over their music and career. Having worked with well over 100 different artists, no two artists have quite the same deal structure with PennyFly. We custom-tailor our development, production, management, and marketing agreements to fit the exact needs of the artist. Major labels have largely stopped investing in the development of new artists, focusing only on scaling up already-successful acts. Even the best artists with true potential still require an experienced team, capable management, and a killer marketing strategy to find success at a high level. Before PennyFly, hoping for a (poorly structured) signing deal from a label was the only realistic way to gain access to these essential career fundamentals under one umbrella. PennyFly is here to challenge the status quo of the entertainment industry - and much of what we do has been directly empowered by blockchain tech and AI. One of our most anticipated projects set for 2024 is an exclusive online & event-focused VIP club hosted by prominent influencers, creators, and artists, with unique opportunities for both digital and in-person luxury-style events involving fans. Standing Out From the Crowd We are proud to share that one of the top-ranked business schools worldwide, Pepperdine University here in Malibu, has twice named PennyFly Entertainment among their “Most Fundable Companies in the United States”. To date, we are the only record-label style entity to make this list. We are one of the only label platforms utilizing such an artist-friendly deal structure, so it’s easy to stand out when there isn’t really an abundance of direct competition. We’re also in a unique position to capitalize on delivering the best possible results to our clients by utilizing breakthrough AI technology across a plethora of marketing initiatives. This has both reduced artist-facing costs while generating much better returns dollar-for-dollar. Our Predictions on the Entertainment Crossover With Blockchain and AI in 2023 The impact of AI on virtually every aspect of human life is becoming rapidly apparent, and the entertainment industry will certainly be no exception. We have already seen AI renditions of music by Drake, The Weeknd, and other massive artists surprise everyone with a stunning level of realism and believability. I had a great chat with 3LAU over Twitter spaces recently about what was at the forefront with this technology and how it’s going to alter the way music is made. We felt that perhaps the biggest impact would be on the songwriting process itself, where AI assists writers in developing hit songs without the need to collaborate with so many other writers (the average number of writers on a top 40 billboard hit was 9.1 last I checked). Some say this has already been happening behind the scenes for several years. We’re also beyond excited about the broadening relationship between blockchain and entertainment - live ticketing solutions tied to NFT collections & marketplaces are poised to shake things up in a big way, while platforms like offer web3 powered alternatives to streaming services with additional features bridging the relationship gap between fans and artists. tune.fm PennyFly has devoted substantial resources to experimenting with AI-driven solutions to unlock streamlined workflows across nearly every service we offer. Our CTO Dr. Harry Malinski alongside our director of project management Skye Ruedas have both been doing an incredible job of integrating AI into our platform in creative ways that bring new value to our clients. We have seen an over 330% increase in our team’s productivity and time-to-deliver on key initiatives as well as 57% higher growth metrics on our most popular marketing initiatives since implementing these solutions. It is safe to say that AI and the blockchain are not only here to stay, they’re legitimately taking over the way we do business one industry at a time. PennyFly remains committed to exploring all of the above, as we are excited to embrace the positive aspects of this new technology! What word defines the state of Entertainment in 2023? Industry revenues during the pandemic actually increased despite the lack of touring. As was seen with the video game industry, people turn to entertainment when times are tough - and music is no exception. Recession-proof. Why we decided to participate in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards I’ve always been a huge tech nerd at heart - when we received the nomination, I was hit with nostalgia from my early days learning about crypto and blockchain tech in general. HackerNoon was always a go-to source for me to stay in the loop on these subjects, so it is an honor to be recognized. Final Thoughts PennyFly has been growing steadily year-over-year with significant traction, coming out of 2022 being our biggest year yet. 2023 is already poised to outperform last year, and we’re beyond excited about several big initiatives in the pipeline. Most of all, we want to thank all of the incredible artists, creators, industry professionals, and entrepreneurs we work with on a daily basis who make everything possible 🙏🏼 ➡️ Vote for us ! today

PENNYFLY ENTERTAINMENT

pennyflyentertainment.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

PENNYFLY ENTERTAINMENT

EVERGREEN INDEX #7696

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

PennyFly Entertainment WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

PENNYFLY ENTERTAINMENT

pennyflyentertainment.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

PENNYFLY ENTERTAINMENT

EVERGREEN INDEX #7696

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT PENNYFLY ENTERTAINMENT

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

PennyFly Entertainment WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!