We’ve have been musicians our whole lives. I (John) grew up in Liverpoool playing in indie bands working my way up the roster from playing in pubs to no one to playing on the main stage at the Reading & Leeds and the Isle of Wight festival sharing stages with greats such as Eminem and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I (Arianna) grew up in the Cayman Islands, moved over to the UK to pursue music and years later I’ve found myself going on sold out EU/UK tours opening up for big musicians like BANKS, playing at iconic venues like the Brixton Academy. Since then I’ve worked with likes of Rankin, British Vogue, Alexander Mcqueen and more.
We came across blockchain, NFTs and web3 at a time when we were both frustrated with the current music industry. I was being offered record deals that, as an emerging musician weren’t ideal for the long term. And John had just played a sold out show and was refused access to his fans who couldn’t get in.
We saw a few musicians being able to generate finance from and connect with their true fans by leveraging blockchain and NFTs. So we tried to sell our own NFTs ourselves and found out that it’s not accessible, cheap or easy for artists to do it properly. We thought this was much bigger than just us and Legends was born.
Tell me about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Our mission is to bring financial empowerment and creative freedom directly to the hands of musicians and to create closer relationships between fans and artists. We want to usher in a new era for music where musicians can release music on their own terms.
How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?
We are just about to launch. We’ve been working behind the scenes to build an iconic brand and add value to the future of music – and now we’re ready to make some noise.
Tell us about the working culture at Legends?
At Legends we are driven by innovation, passion, and ambition. Everyone we work with is either a musician or a music lover. We even have a recording studio in our office that the team can use.
With everything that we do we thinking “How can we push the boundaries and move culture forward”
How are you funded?
We have offers for about half our V1 funding requirements, and are in the marketplace for the other half, so if you like our vision, get in touch!
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
Legends is a disruptive company and when you’re changing the status quo you are inevitably going to be met with naysayers. But we take inspiration from the legendary musicians who came before us who were also met with resistance when they were creating something new. Being a trailblazer is never easy, but it’s worth it when you see the impact your work can have.
How does Legends answer an unmet need?
Streaming changed the game by creating access to a large catalogue of music whereas at Legends we are changing the game by creating access to the musicians themselves.
What’s in store for the future?
First we are releasing our own collection, the Legends Club. This is an audio/visual generative avatar collection which also serves as a backstage pass to everything we are creating within Legends ecosystem. Each avatar is paired with a unique song generated from the Legends sample pack which contains audio from a collective of insanely talented musicians
Right now we are building the Legends platform behind closed doors.
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
Find something that you are deeply passionate about so you stay motivated through the tougher times, stay focused and put the blinders on because there are a lot of doubters out there who won’t believe in you but you can do it!
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
The first thing we do is walk our dog, Yoko, grab a flat white while we go through the day together before jumping into our team meeting. The great thing is, is that no two days are the same. Some days we’re filming content, some days we are building with our tech team, meeting musicians, and recording music – it keeps everything fresh and exciting.
Arianna Broderick and John Clancy are the cofounders of Legends.