Utopia Genesis Foundation, an organisation formed to support the development of an open platform for the music industry, has appointed Rick Heffernan as Head of Business Development.
Heffernan, with over 18 years of music industry experience, will join a diverse and passionate group of talented professionals working towards achieving transparency and creativity in a new framework.
“Our strategy will be aimed at cultivating awareness and onboarding new artists to gain widespread adoption. We’re on the frontier of what is effectively still a new category for the music industry and what will be an important tool moving forward,” says Heffernan, Head of Business Development at Utopia Genesis Foundation. “Innovation always meets resistance in one form or another so we want to amplify the pure benefits that tokenisation has to offer artists, fans, independent labels, managers and all stakeholders.”
In the role of Head of Business Development, Heffernan will be responsible for leading collaborations across all facets of label relations and artist onboarding. He will also take a leadership role in coordinating strategic partnerships, product testing, and marketing efforts for the Utopia Genesis ecosystem. Prior to joining Utopia Genesis, he co-founded Light On, a music-to-brand consultancy where he’s worked with some of the world’s most recognisable brands and influential people, including Red Bull, Miller Beer, and Yandex, where he worked closely with Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak.
At Utopia Genesis, Heffernan will hold a critical leadership role that is responsible for leading the company’s business development strategy to deliver a blockchain-based solution tailored to the music industry that will enable artists, producers, record labels and all stakeholders to operate by providing specific data intended to unlock a wider music ecosystem on the Utopia Open Platform. The Open Platform is an openly accessible, multi-layered and self-serviced portal used to develop applications using blockchain technology.
“Rick is a seasoned expert in the music space that knows our business well,” says Thomas Contin, President of Utopia Genesis Foundation. “He brings a relentless focus on relationship-building, a strong track record of driving growth and innovation, and proven transformational leadership, all of which position him for success. Our management team believes that Rick is the right leader to guide our business development operations as we continue to grow.”
