OpenWav, a direct-to-fan platform co-founded by Wyclef Jean and 88rising’s Jaeson Ma, has launched a new financing service for independent artists.
Called OpenWav Artist Bank, the program offers qualifying independent artists cash advances against their streaming royalties.
OpenWav Artist Bank is launching in partnership with Snafu Records, the Sweden-headquartered, AI-driven catalog financing company that has previously raised funding from backers including Pophouse Entertainment, ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog, and multi-platinum artist LP.
Mira Howard, COO at Snafu Records, said: “Snafu exists to uncover and support undervalued songs. OpenWav Artist Bank is aligned with our mission as it strives to provide artists with responsible financing options that preserve their catalog ownership.
“Together, we aim to help artists reach their biggest fans, build momentum for their music, and create long-term value for their catalogs.”
According to Ma, Co-founder and CEO of OpenWav, Artist Bank can advance artists “anywhere from the low five figures to the high seven figures“, adding that the company has “access to meaningful capital and structured financing capacity” that allows it to scale as demand grows.
“Artists who qualify can typically receive advances of up to two-times their annual streaming earnings, with a minimum threshold of $8,000 in annual streaming royalties,” Ma said. “That gives us the ability to support artists with real, growth-oriented capital while maintaining a disciplined and artist-friendly model.”
Ma added that the company “aim[s] to create an alternative music ecosystem where artists can be capitalized without having to sign away their ownership and master rights in a traditional label advance deal that often becomes nearly impossible to recoup”.
Under the program, artists earning more than $8,000 a year in streaming royalties can apply by submitting three years of income reports, after which OpenWav says its technology generates multiple potential offers. Terms range from one to five years, and deal terms can cover anything from a percentage of a single song to an artist’s entire catalog.
“The bigger vision is to help artists not just survive between releases, but build enduring, multi-dimensional businesses around their music and IP.”
Jaeson Ma
OpenWav says that its Artist Bank features a 70/30 split in the artist’s favor, with OpenWav administering royalty collection during the recoupment period until the advance is repaid. In other words, under the program, OpenWav collects 30% of an artist’s streaming royalties to recoup the advance, with the artist retaining the remaining 70% until the balance is repaid.
“Longer term, we see Artist Bank becoming part of a broader operating system for creator businesses,” added Ma. “That means expanding the number of artists we support, deepening the capital products we can offer, and integrating financing more tightly with the rest of OpenWav’s ecosystem across fan monetization, commerce, analytics, and audience development.
“The bigger vision is to help artists not just survive between releases, but build enduring, multi-dimensional businesses around their music and IP. That ambition is consistent with OpenWav since launch: providing infrastructure that is direct, data-driven, and designed to help artists create long-term businesses while maintaining a direct relationship with fans.”
As part of the program, artists also gain the ability to pre-release new projects using OpenWav’s suite of tools – including music, merch, ticketing and exclusive content – for an exclusive pre-release window defined by the artist before distributing widely to DSPs.
The launch of OpenWav Artist Bank expands the Los Angeles-based company’s broader strategy to build what it calls “modern, creator-first infrastructure” for independent artists.
“OpenWav Artist Bank is aligned with our mission as it strives to provide artists with responsible financing options that preserve their catalog ownership.”
Mira Howard, Snafu Records
OpenWav, which launched in June 2025, combines direct-to-fan commerce, owned audience data, and on-demand manufacturing.
Its Chief Music Officer is Grammy-winning artist Wyclef Jean, while Ma previously co-founded 88rising. In January, OpenWav formed a joint venture with Loud House Group for artist merchandise and fan engagement.
Snafu Records, founded in 2020 by former Universal Music executive Ankit Desai, uses an AI A&R tool dubbed ‘EMMA’ that analyzes millions of data points weekly to identify what the company says are undervalued artists and catalogs. In 2023, MBW reported that Snafu had closed a $7 million funding round in equity and credit led by Pophouse Entertainment.
OpenWav Artist Bank enters an increasingly crowded indie artist financing space, where a wave of new entrants have raised significant capital in recent months.
Prominent music financing platform beatBread has now deployed over $100 million across 1,700 funding agreements since its founding in 2020, having raised $124 million in fresh funding last year from backers including Citi.
In January, Pipeline, a new financing platform backed by Matt Spetzler’s investment firm Jamen Capital, said it had raised over $200 million in capital aimed at helping independent music companies unlock the value of their IP.
That same month, music investment company Duetti secured $200 million in fresh financing, led by a $50 million Series C equity investment by Raine Partners alongside a $125 million private securitization and a $25 million increase of an existing credit facility.
In February, Memphis-based Connect Music closed an $80 million funding round from Rockmont Partners and Variant Investments to fund catalog acquisitions and expand its licensing operations.
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