Grammy-winning artist Wyclef Jean has partnered with Jaeson Ma, co-founder of Asian music collective 88rising, to launch OpenWav, a platform that promises artists higher earnings via fan engagements.

The startup, based in Los Angeles, was launched on Wednesday (June 11) during A2IM Indie Week in New York City, with backing from creator economy-focused fund Connect Ventures, Warner Music Group, Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, SuperScrypt, Dragonfly, Galaxy Interactive, and Animoca Brands.

Wyclef Jean will serve as Chief Music Officer, while Jaeson Ma will serve as Chief Executive Officer of the new company.

Wyclef Jean, the Haitian-American musician who co-founded The Fugees and produced hits for Destiny’s Child and Shakira, has also founded other music ventures including Carnival World Music Group, which provides creative artists with music publishing and distribution resources.

He has also invested in companies like AI voice platform Kits.AI, and helped launch a suite of new music tools dubbed ‘Music AI Sandbox’ for Google and YouTube.

“The music industry is broken. Most artists can’t make a living off streams, and social media rewards clout, not connection. OpenWav was built to change that.”

Jaeson Ma, OpenWav

Ma, meanwhile, is the founder of East West Ventures, a brand strategy and investment firm, and 88rising, a music platform and record label primarily for Asian American artists. He also co-founded Stampede Ventures, an independent entertainment media company with franchises across film, television, and digital.

OpenWav says Ma has raised capital and advised on deals totaling over $1 billion.

Ma said: “The music industry is broken. Most artists can’t make a living off streams, and social media rewards clout, not connection. OpenWav was built to change that. We’re giving artists the power to monetize their superfans directly, own their audience, and finally build a real, sustainable career doing what they love. No middlemen. No gatekeepers. Just artists in full control.”

Another co-founder, Eric Tu, was named Chief Operating Officer. Tu has worked with brands like Nike, Beats by Dre and Google.

Veteran music manager Madeline Nelson also joined OpenWav as senior advisor, bringing three decades of experience including roles at Sony Music Entertainment and Amazon‘s music division.

Nelson recently founded Purple Cow Innovation, an entertainment agency staffed entirely by women. She also served as SVP at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation, and is the co-founder of music jingle/ scoring company. SodoMoodLab.

“I’m energized about what OpenWav is building right now. They’re creating a pathway for artists to get discovered, build a solid foundation, and create a sustainable business model for themselves rooted in cultural currency that is true to them.”

Wyclef Jean, OpenWav

OpenWav says it combines ad-free music streaming with AI-powered creator tools, e-commerce, exclusive drops, ticketing, and fan community features. It lets artists sell merch, tickets and exclusive content directly to fans. The platform employs artificial intelligence to help musicians design products and analyze audience data.

Commenting on the launch, Wyclef Jean said: “Coming into this game as a young composer, having a chance to produce for The Fugees, Destiny’s Child, and Shakira, just to name a few, my passion has always been about discovering. I really believe deep in my soul that with OpenWav, we are headed back in that direction. The system is currently constructed in a way that prioritizes promotion and algorithms over artistry.”

“We’re not just launching a platform, we’re launching a movement to redefine the future of independent music and give rising stars a chance to build superfandom right from the very beginning.”

Eric Tu, OpenWav

“But OpenWav does the reverse, putting artists first. This is why I’m energized about what OpenWav is building right now. They’re creating a pathway for artists to get discovered, build a solid foundation, and create a sustainable business model for themselves rooted in cultural currency that is true to them. The platform allows them to bypass the gatekeepers, creating a platform built on artistic equity-from events to merch. The future of music we all want to see is right here.”

Eric Tu added: “We’re not just launching a platform, we’re launching a movement to redefine the future of independent music and give rising stars a chance to build superfandom right from the very beginning. We built OpenWav to empower indie artists with tools to gain control of their artistry and superfans.”

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Israel warned that “Tehran will burn” as it exchanged a fresh round of missile attacks with Iran and Benjamin Netanyahu said his campaign could bring down the Islamic republic.

Israeli paramedics said that 14 people had been injured in a strike on a house in the north of the country, after Iran fired a barrage of missiles towards Haifa, which is home to one of Israel’s most important ports.

Soon afterwards, Israel’s defence forces said that they were carrying out strikes on military targets in the Iranian capital Tehran, which Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz had earlier warned would “burn” if Iran continued missile assaults on urban areas.

Israel earlier struck a processing plant in Iran’s South Pars gasfield — the world’s largest, shared with neighbouring Qatar — triggering a large explosion, in a significant escalation of its campaign.

The moves — which prompted Jordan to close its airspace for the second day running — came after Netanyahu gave a public address on Friday night directed to the Iranian people in which he called on them to “stand up for your freedom” against the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The objective of Israel’s operation is to thwart the Islamic regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile threat to us. As we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom,” he said. “The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them.”

On Saturday, he threatened that Israel would “hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime”.

“What they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” he said.

Over the past year, the Israeli premier has repeatedly said he was seeking to “reshape” the Middle East. Israeli officials believe their military successes against Iran’s allies in Lebanon and Syria have created an opportunity to attack Iran when it is in its weakest position for years.

Israel’s hardening objectives and hints at seeking regime change came after a large-scale assault launched by Israel on Friday, which hit Iran’s nuclear programme and military leadership.

The strikes have primarily hit cities in central and western Iran, where the majority of the country’s military and nuclear facilities are located. In Tehran — a city of 10mn — the strikes on houses of senior regime officials hit residential areas, resulting in significant civilian casualties, including women and children.

Iran in retaliation fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel overnight on Friday. A senior adviser to the commander of the Revolutionary Guards said Iran’s barrages had targeted 150 locations.

While most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defences, some made it through, with two people being killed in a strike in the town of Rishon LeZion that damaged several houses, and another being killed in an attack on Tel Aviv.

Iranian media, quoting unofficial estimates, said that 78 people had been killed and 329 injured in Iran since Israel started its campaign on Friday.

The Israeli air force said on Saturday morning that it was continuing to strike surface-to-surface missile launchers in Iran.

Israel launched its assault on Iran in the early hours of Friday, capping nearly two years of spiralling tensions in the Middle East, which has been in turmoil since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Israeli officials said that they had launched the attack as Iran had moved perilously close to being able to make a nuclear weapon, a scenario that they have long regarded as an existential threat.

However, Iranian officials have denied they are seeking a bomb, and the most recent threat assessment issued by the US intelligence community this year concluded that Iran had not restarted the nuclear weapons programme that it suspended under international pressure in 2003.

However, Tehran has for several years been enriching uranium close to weapons grade, and is thought to have the capacity to produce sufficient fissile material required for a nuclear weapon in less than two weeks.

Universal Music Group has formed a joint venture with WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed investment firm founded by prominent Hollywood agent and WME co-founder, Patrick Whitesell.

According to the official announcement, the venture’s goal is to “accelerate commercial opportunities for UMG’s artists and artist estates in rapidly growing areas outside traditional recorded music and music publishing”.

The press release added that the JV will pursue opportunities that “extend music’s value across film, television, fashion, consumer products, branded experiences, and other emerging growth areas”.

Citing an interview with UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, The Financial Times reports that examples of ‘ambitious projects’ Grainge wants to ‘replicate’ via the JV include the wildly popular Abba Voyage virtual concert series and Mamma Mia! musical.

The FT also reports that the ‘agreement’ between UMG and Whitesell will ‘have financial backing’ from private equity giant Silver Lake.

Patrick Whitesell launched his new platform with $250 million in backing from Silver Lake following the latter company’s acquisition of Hollywood agency giant Endeavor. Whitesell was previously Endeavor’s Executive Chairman.

Silver Lake completed its acquisition of WME owner Endeavor in March, taking the company private and rebranding it as WME Group.

According to UMG’s official press release about the new JV with Whitesell, as co-founder of WME and now founder of WTSL, he “has helped talent navigate moments of transformation – structuring groundbreaking deals that reshaped how creators engage with ownership, production, and brand expansion”.

In a statement issued on Thursday (June 12), UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge said: “We exist at the center of a vibrant ecosystem of partners from the worlds of technology, brands, retailers, and media who recognize the power of our artists to shape culture globally.”

“With this new venture we will be able to leverage Patrick’s deep experience in successfully creating non-traditional business models with world-class IP to accelerate the expansion and monetization of our ecosystem to the benefit of our artists and partners.”

Sir Lucian Grainge

Added Grainge: “With this new venture, we will be able to leverage Patrick’s deep experience in successfully creating non-traditional business models with world-class IP to accelerate the expansion and monetization of our ecosystem to the benefit of our artists and partners.”

According to Universal, by combining UMG’s and WTSL’s “strategic expertise and networks”, the two companies will “capitalize on how cultural influence is leveraged, making artists and their music the foundation for building scalable, multidimensional businesses that connect with audiences in new and lasting ways”.

“This is about building the future of artist IP with the scale and ambition it deserves.”

Patrick Whitesell

“This is about building the future of artist IP with the scale and ambition it deserves,” said Whitesell.

“Universal Music Group represents the most powerful collection of music and artists anywhere in the world. Together, we’ll explore new ways to extend that cultural force into every dimension of entertainment and consumer life — creating lasting business value while keeping music at the center.”

UMG argues that other entertainment industries like sports, film, and digital media “have already undergone a major shift where talent is even more valued,” and that “athletes and entertainers have become equity stakeholders, producers, and business leaders, building vertically integrated platforms around their personal brands”.

According to UMG, WTSL’s founder Patrick Whitesell has played a central role in that “evolution” via his work spanning live events, media, and creator-led ventures, “all with the goal of helping talent scale strategically and sustainably”.

This new joint venture, according to UMG, “reflects that same philosophy, applied to music”.

“It’s built to give artists the same tools and structure to turn creative equity into long-term enterprise that’s anchored by music and designed for multi-format growth,” the company said.

 Music Business Worldwide