Wyclef Jean Introduces Superfan Monetization Platform OpenWav at Indie Week 2025

Grammy-winning artist Wyclef Jean, 88rising cofounder (and early investor in Musical.ly and Triller) Jaeson Ma, and former Head of Amazon Music for Independent Artists Madeline Nelson gathered for Indie Week Happy Hour to launch OpenWav.

The event celebrated the official launch of OpenWav — a streaming, merch, ticketing, and superfan platform aiming to empower independent artists with tools to thrive in the ownership economy.

OpenWav is cofounded by Jaeson Ma and Eric Tu — who also serves as COO. Jean has signed on as CMO of OpenWav, and Nelson as Senior Advisor of the ‘next generation music platform built for indie artists.’

As dwindling streaming revenue became the bane of the independent music industry’s existence, many artists sought out unique revenue streams to make a living.

The sprint toward more fan-focused initiatives and tools began, aiming for better engagement, deeper relationships, and greater monetization avenues. On this front, OpenWav aims to — ‘redefine the future of independent music.’

According to OpenWav, the platform removes the middlemen and allows artists to have complete control of superfan monetization.

The team introduced how OpenWav delivers a myriad of opportunities to engage superfans. The all-in-one offering ‘bridges content, commerce, and community, enabling artists to monetize superfans through ticketing, merch, subscriptions, exclusive drops, and AI tools — all with zero friction and full ownership.’

Originally launched as OP3N a few years ago, OpenWav founders believe the offering will allow artists to form relationships with fanbases more effectively with direct engagement.

During the Indie Week 2025 Happy Hour event, Jean also debuted his new track ‘Back from Abu Dhabi,’ with Dave Chappelle on the intro.

After the track, Jean invited up-and-coming artists from the audience to freestyle on the open mic — before spitting a few bars of his own that thrilled the crowd.

A2IM Indie Week 2025 took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square, New York City, from June 9 to June 12, 2025.

Link to the source article – https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/06/19/wyclef-jean-openwav-indie-week-2025/