Interviews
Billboard Magazine: 2021 Change Agents List
Billboard Magazine: 2021 Change Agents List
Billboard Magazine: 2021 Change Agents List
Making it her mission to diversify Secretly Publishing’s roster with Black alternative voices since she arrived in 2019, McClain, 31, is also reaching out beyond the independent music company. In 2020, she created the Blurred Lines community on the invite-only social media app Clubhouse to help Black musicians learn about publishing, distribution, digital marketing, brand partnerships and blockchain from experts around the world. “The challenge to find supporters who are willing to invest in left-of-center Black musicians from across the diaspora is very important to me,” says McClain.
CoinDesk
Billboard Magazine: 2021 Change Agents List
Billboard Magazine: 2021 Change Agents List
In Web3, McClain says, people should be rewarded for being a fan from the early days of an artist's career or for influencing industry-level decision makers about what’s hot. Having great taste should make someone a known subject matter expert in Web3 and open up better processes for compensating those who influence top industry decision makers.
NYLON
Billboard Magazine: 2021 Change Agents List
NYLON
McClain did creating a group on Clubhouse in the midst of the lockdown. “Every single Friday, I host a New Music Friday room. It’s called Blurred Lines and it’s about Black artists who blur the lines of genre and have an alternative perspective,” she says. “There’s no other space for these people. I’d love to see in the future Black people centred in alternativeness.”
Artsy
Pitchfork
NYLON
For collector Melanie McClain, it’s all about the community. The Bored Ape that she uses as her avatar (with 3D glasses and a Breton stripe T-shirt) allows her access to the BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) Discord channel and announces her status as an early adopter.
Pitchfork
Pitchfork
Pitchfork
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