PennyFly Entertainment has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards. PennyFly is a record company and boutique marketing agency embracing the latest in AI and web3. Founder Jett Prescott sat down with us to offer his insight on..
Welcome to HackerNoon’s Startups-Of-The-Year interview series. This section is curated by our Editorial team to spotlight bold and disruptive startups across the globe.
Hey Hackers,
PennyFly Entertainment has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards!
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.
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?
Recession-proof. 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.
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 🙏🏼
