Singapore-based social media platform for artistes Fenix360 expands to Australia

SINGAPORE –Singapore-based social media platform Fenix360 is expanding and recently launched in Australia.

Fenix360 is a platform that helps independent musicians, artistes and other creators monetise their work and connect with fans. The company held a launch event at live music venue Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, on July 16 that featured a performance by Australian singer Gypsy Lee.

Built on blockchain technology, the platform lets artistes create apps to perform activities such as sell, stream and create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of their works. It was first made available on Google Play Store, Apple’s App Store and via web browsers in 2022. Launch events and organised concerts have since been staged in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Artistes who are on the platform include Voice Of Baceprot, the all-women rock trio who recently made headlines as the first Indonesian band to perform at British music festival Glastonbury, as well as Filipino singer Josh Cullen.

A recent Fenix360 concert in Malaysia featured performers such as singer-songwriter Noh Salleh and retro rock band Masdo.

Fenix360’s founder and global chief executive officer Allan Klepfisz and Mr Sandy Monteiro, chief executive officer, Asia, tell The Straits Times that the platform aims to help artistes maximise their earnings.

Mr Klepfisz says: “There has been a great inequity in the way other social media and digital music platforms compensate the artiste. It’s not sufficient just to say we will give the artistes a bit more of a percentage. It needs to be somewhat radically dealt with because the inequity has been so gross to date.

“We give the artiste 70 per cent of advertising revenue. At the moment, the other platforms give something like 3 per cent to the artiste, so it is a huge change.” 

Fenix360 also lets its artistes keep most of the other revenues from activities such as live streaming and sale of NFTs through the platform. The artistes get data about their fans, who can get access to exclusive content and donate to the artistes.

“You give the artiste more ways to earn money, more ways to have control, and the fans have more ways to enjoy themselves,” Mr Klepfisz adds.

Mr Monteiro, a music industry veteran whose previous roles include president of Universal Music South East Asia, is based in Singapore. Mr Klepfisz, former chief executive of music download service Qtrax, is based in Melbourne.

Mr Monteiro says: “We started from a music background, which is why the platform is predominantly music. But we do have other artistes on the platform, like dancers, models and actors, using it as their portfolio.”

Mr Klepfisz says there are 11,588 artistes on Fenix360, while the app has had 250,000 downloads. The numbers are set to rise, he adds.

“We are in the throes of a significant publishing and distribution alliance, which will alter the trajectory exponentially. That means we will have the ability to exceed our projections by a factor of 30 times.”

Although the company is based in Singapore, it has about 30 staff operating from around the world – with the majority of its investments coming from Singapore.

Mr Monteiro says: “Australia is our first global marketplace, and we are hoping that within the next six months, we will do a launch in Singapore.”