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THE
NEWSLETTER
q4
INTRODUCTION
Thank you!
You are reading this because at some point since the start of SYFR projects last January you took the time to teach us more about what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. Whether we had 30-minute meeting or we engaged in business together, we've incorporated something we learned from you into the way we operate and the goals we worked towards this quarter. Our hope with this newsletter is that you will know your support means everything to us and that we see you as part of the SYFR projects team and any wins we have.
We owe a special Thank You to Jennifer Sullivan, Olivia Mell, and memBrain's STORM REPORT, for the music partnership guidance and the inspiration and style ques for this newsletter.
- Sean O'Leary & WONDR | Co-founders of SYFR projects
TIGHTEN OUR
SHIP
01
AGILE METHODOLOGY AND COMPOSITION OWNERSHIP
STAYING AGILE, NEW MUSIC, LAUNCHING SYFR PUBLISHING, RIGHTS OWNERSHIP, SOCIAL GROWTH
To hit our targets this quarter we had to make it our absolute purpose to tighten the ship and be perfect at Agile. We use agile methodology to establish communication, set goals, plan and execute to the best of our abilities. In short, agile helps flatten our team structure and hold each other accountable as we work on our individual tasks.
WONDR has been hard at work this quarter writing and recording new music that fully embodies his swagger, energy, and real-life story. We are excited to start rolling out singles in Q1! Here's a little teaser of what's to come. This track is unreleased and unmastered and you are one of the first to listen!
This quarter we launched SYFR publishing with the signing of two new songwriters from North Carolina (click into 02 to see whom we signed). SYFR publishing came about organically, built on the foundation we had in place to handle the publishing side of WONDR's music. Publishing will continue to embody our passion for helping our peers make better music and own 100% of their compositions.
Our first publishing artists are actually two guys whose music, personalities, and hustle we've admired for a while now. Before launching SYFR publishing, we were providing feedback as they made records and helping to put contracts in place to fully acquire the beats they were finding online. Combining an awesome synch partner, Whizbang, asking for more rap music they could clear in one call, Songtrust making administration super easy, a personal library of hundreds of beats, a newly signed composer/producer on the management roster, a growing network of producers on-board about our business model, and two crazy talented dudes we wanted to have more involved in SYFR projects, taking this step made sense to us.
We are excited to continue building out this part of our business over the coming year. Music publishing is the most important part of the music business and radically changing every day. We plan to be a big part of that change!
Despite not having released a new record since last December, WONDR's career has taken off since his move back to North Carolina. Social media engagement is at its highest ever because we have locked in on consistanty sharing high qualitiy news, show footage, signings, and other things WONDR and SYFR projects have been up to this quarter. WONDR's Instagram actually played a crucial role in landing him his first paid partnership deal with Perry Ellis. More on this collaboration in section 06.
Check out this PDF if you'd like to see how SYFR projects uses Agile in the music space.
01
YOU'RE STRONGER WITH A TEAM
BRINGING PR & RADIO PROMOTION IN-HOUSE, EXPANDING THE MANAGEMENT ROSTER, & SIGNING OUR FIRST PUBLISHING CLIENTS
ROUND OUT OUR CORE TEAM
02
Easily the coolest thing we did this quarter was expand our team and roster. Shae Foote (pictured left) is a rockstar in marketing, pr, and radio promotion. She is one of the most connected and well respected people in the entertainment space in North Carolina. Shae has already made a huge impact at SYFR projects by connecting us with every major DJ in NC and getting WONDR's music spinning on the biggest stations with only her co-sign! Shae is also a veteran and mother of a double threat 5-year-old drummer/hooper. We are excited to have her on our team as we go into our new year!
We have officially signed our second management artist. Ferg (pictured right) won us over with his killer music, beats, songwriting ability, and experience in the synch and music library space. Ferg recently contributed 50% of the music cues in Dance Mom's season 8 and 100% of the cues in the first season of My Crazy Birth Story. With multiple new shows in the works, 2020 is shaping up to be a huge year for Ferg. Be on the lookout for new music!
Ferg Signing Management Agreement with Sean.
Team Dinner With Shae
Pictured: Sean O'Leary Signing AJ The Menace to SYFR publishing
Learn More About The Menace Here
Pictured: WONDR Signing Liion Gamble to SYFR publishing
Learn More About Liion Here
02
WONDR ARTIST TO WATCH IN NC
03
MAKING A SPLASH BACK IN NC
FROM CARPOOL KARAOKE & PODCASTS TO MUSIC PLAYING ON NC'S BIGGEST HIP-HOP STATIONS AND MORE
Since moving WONDR back to North Carolina in July, word has spread fast about his music. More people are talking about the artist rocking racing suits at his shows, signing artists, modeling with major brands, appearing on K97.5's Car Pool Karaoke, landing a deal with Perry Ellis and so much more! Teaming up with Shae Foote has certainly amplified things. North Carolina is a smaller market compared to Nashville and LA where WONDR has lived since launching his solo career last January. That said, the NC music scene has a rich history and is currently buzzing in the media thanks to artists like J Cole, Rapsody, and DaBaby. It has been awesome to see how many doors WONDR has opened with his music alone in North Carolina! Sean is going to split his time between LA and NC keeping the west coast as his base.
Check out WONDR on K 97.5's Car Pool Karaoke with Leith Cars
Check out Sean on The 3 Oak Podcast sharing his story and more SYFR publishing.
(PDF left) The handouts we pass out at shows to simplify Publishing & Distribution for artists and raise awareness for WONDR and SYFR projects
03
FUELING THE ENGINES
MUSIC, MODELING, TV SHOWS, AND OUR FIRST BRAND PARTNERSHIP DEAL WITH PERRY ELLIS
RAISE SUPPORT AND CAPITAL FOR NEW MUSIC
04
In the past three months alone, WONDR has modeled for Wrangler, Adidas, GAIAM, FILA, Smile Direct, K-Bell Socks, Hart Tools, Spri, and more. (Left) WONDR in Time Square modeling for Smile Direct. (Below) WONDR in Target Modeling for GAIAM and the promotional video we produced for Perry Ellis. (Right) Ferg with 50% of the music cues in Dance Mom's season 8 and 100% of the cues in the first season of My Crazy Birth Story.
04
PERFORMANCE ON LEVEL 10
05
PRACTICE, SHOWS, AND MORE PRACTICE
3 SHOWS, 50 REHEARSALS, 6 VOCAL LESSONS, RACE SUITS, PIANOS AND GUITARS
Check out WONDR's Instagram for more LIVE show content!
05
WHY & HOW WE DO WHAT WE DO
ADDING SONGTRUST, PERRY ELLIS, AND THIS NEWSLETTER TO THE MIX
MAINTAIN AND CULTIVATE NEW RELATIONSHIPS WITH BRANDS AND PARTNERS
06
We are excited to be working with Songtrust to collect the mechanical royalties owed to our songwriters and producers. Launched in 2011, Songtrust is the world's first self-service global royalty collection service and makes it super easy for us to register songwriters music and manage the collection of global mechanical royalties all in one place. Unlike a typical administration deal, Songtrust only takes a small percentage from the royalties they collect allowing us to continue owning 100% of the composition and move with the music as we see fit. We've been building this relationship since December of last year and are very excited to officially be on-board. Shout out to Alex Gershwin for educating us on mechanical royalties and collection.
This quarter WONDR landed his first-ever paid brand partnership deal with Perry Ellis. How did this deal come about? The music!
Earlier this year we ran an Instagram campaign where over 300 of WONDR's friends and fans shared his new record 'All for You' in their Stories. In a friend's IG story is actually where Wael, the digital & social manager at Perry Ellis, first heard the record which he let WONDR know was "fire!!!" From that point on Wael has been following WONDR's career.
Wael reached out about a social media collaboration in the first week of September. He was looking for an artist to be a part of the relaunch of Perry Ellis's limited edition Capsule 3 Collection that was to be released the following Monday. This would also be Perry Ellis's first release with Urban Outfitters. On top of the collection being super dope and something WONDR wanted to wear, Wael really took the time to articulate to us how he planned to help refine the brand's 1984 legacy and reach a new audience. He was looking for an artist on the cusp of breaking to take COMPLETE creative control of the content and messaging and was ready to do what he needed to help us get the content back to him in a super short time frame. Because communication was so strong we jumped at this opportunity knowing we could deliver.
We are super happy with how this collaboration turned out and it was an absolute pleasure working with Wael and Perry Ellis. In all, we returned 12 dope photos and 5 badass videos. From the sounds and looks of it, the Perry Ellis team feels the same way about the content. Because we own all the rights, we also quickly turned around a music license so the videos could feature WONDR's record 'All for You.' WONDR's friends and fans went nuts over the announcement of this collaboration and his Instagram post broke all personal records with over 280 comments, 68 shares, and over 1,800 views. We certainly look forward to building our relationship with Perry Ellis over the year to come!
Check out more content from this collaboration on Perry Ellis's Instagram
06
WHAT'S NEXT
NEW MUSIC, MORE PUBLISHING, NEW PARTNERSHIPS, AND MORE WORK!
Our Mission at SYFR projects is to build a music company that will impact the direction of music publishing, the way artists and brands collaborate, and how new music ventures scale. This past year has been all about learning and building a strong launchpad for our artists and business. 2020 will be a year of learning, launching our artists, and scaling SYFR projects.
Here are a few of the things we are working to learn this year:
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What we can do to help our artists make even better music and content.
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What we can do to start building strong relationships with the Spotify's, Apple's, Tidal's and YouTube's of the world.
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What we can do to better scale and manage the administrative and operational side of our business.
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What we can do to make our legal agreements better for artists and songwriters.
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What we can we do to make SYFR projects artists the best artists that brands and business partners have ever worked with.
Thank you again for being a part of this journey with us. We look forward to keeping in touch and a great 2020!
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