John-Paul McCorley is an engineer, professional composer and performing musician. He is a former CTO, has written music for the BBC and RTE, and has toured with Snow Patrol and Elbow.
During lockdown, despite one of his recent projects being the most streamed show on PBS America, John-Paul and his fellow collaborators struggled to generate any meaningful income from their art. The stereotype of the starving artist was alive and well, with some seeing as little as 4% of the revenue they generate. John-Paul believes that artists should expect the same quality of life and prospects as other professions, so started his company, Ecko.
Ecko is a collaboration platform that allows artists to claim the lion’s share of the revenue they generate. Artists can create world-class fan experiences and digital art around Ecko’s tokens, built around sustainable and responsible blockchain technology. Ecko aims to create a more equitable future that fairly rewards artists for their efforts by simplifying NFT technology.
John-Paul joined the Regional Talent Engines programme in 2022. He feels that he has already benefited from the scheme: “It has allowed me the financial freedom to go full-time with Ecko, raise a round of funding and deliver our first pilot projects. The mentorship and training has helped us to develop a product that solves a meaningful problem.”
Ecko is now part of the Techstars Seattle and Protocol Labs family, with contracted customers across three continents. Those customers have more than 100 million followers across social media and include musicians, actors, and emerging creative talent across all disciplines. Over the coming years, John-Paul aims to help future creators connect in a more meaningful way with their fans, make more money from their work and build a vibrant community of artistic collaborators.