CEO Update – April 12, 2021
The following is from our CEO, Zach Bair:
Dear Shareholders,
I’ve recently had a barrage of questions from interested parties about the status of the company, Soundstr, etc. I cannot reply to individual emails, as you know, so I thought I would provide a quick update.
First of all, have no fear. Everything is going as expected, if not better, with recent results showing that we are identifying almost 100% of the monitored music ingested into Soundstr. The only exception of course is that our touring side of the business was zero for 2020 due to the pandemic shutting everything down, as noted in our filings, and therefore we lost out on a lot of revenue that we expected. The revenue from the touring would have provided us more budget in order to accelerate completion of the first phase of Soundstr and its deployment. As a result of this lack of revenue, Soundstr development and deployment has taken longer than we would have liked, but we are actively in discussions with several parties, both large and small, to that effect. We do indeed have some units in the field, too., including another one that will be installed shortly at the recently opened RockHouse Live Clearwater Beach.
And, importantly, we have a signed term sheet for institutional funding, in the high 7 figure range, and we are in discussions with a number of other interested and credible parties too. We expect this funding deal to close within approximately 30 days. This will greatly accelerate what we are able to accomplish with Soundstr and allow us to enhance development on our other technologies. When this is closed, we will report on it.
I know many of you are eager for news. As I’ve often said, and will continue to say, VNUE is a technology company. Development cycles are lengthy, especially with brand new technology, and therefore there is not daily news to report like many small cap public companies. No news is good news, as they say. And I do not like putting news out just for the sake of news. This is a long-term play folks. And there are things we just can’t talk about yet publicly.
I’d also like to point out that everything we are doing in VNUE results in added value for the company and shareholders, and in creating a true multimedia technology company that checks all the boxes. For example, the recent announcement about VNUE Radio ties directly to what we are doing with NewHD and working to solve the issue of monitoring streaming radio stations with Soundstr, which is in addition to terrestrial radio, physical locations, etc. This is a huge issue in that industry, and by working closely with NewHD, we have insight as to what those problems are specific to that segment and how to solve them with technology.
Furthermore, we are tying together several elements with this initiative to create even more revenue opportunities – our artist services division, Soundstr, content from DiscLive and set.fm, and VNUE Radio. And, let’s not forget RockHouse Live International, of which VNUE has a 4.99% stake, and which the first location in Clearwater Beach is going absolutely gangbusters. By leveraging the ability to utilize VNUE technologies in a high-profile new concept, we have the ability to showcase our technologies and how they can work together and realize revenue from that relationship as well. Just for clarity, VNUE has a stake in not just the Clearwater location but all future locations, and will enjoy revenue from these operations.
This is my fifth year as CEO of VNUE (anniversary is in May). I knew that it would not be a cakewalk when I joined, and we indeed solved a huge number of corporate problems within the first 18 months of my joining, but I also have known that the business problems we are looking to solve with Soundstr when we acquired that tech two years ago are monumental and would not be something that happened overnight. And, of course, no one expected a pandemic to bring the world to a standstill. Despite these challenges, have still accomplished a massive amount of work and progress with a very little resource, where many companies would have thrown in the towel, and we did not. We have an exceptional team, all of whom are successful in their own right, and are equally dedicated to the future of VNUE.
I’d also like to point out that I’ve always been keen to grow the value of the company organically, rather than through artificial means, such as reverse splits or paying for stock promotion, the latter of which I find to be distasteful. In early 2020, we took a massive amount of dilution from a couple of smallish notes that traded out – “expensive” notes that we had to take at the time because we literally had no other options available to us. Because of this, our share price hit an all-time low of .0001 around May of that year, which was devastating to me at the time after pouring my heart and soul into this company. However, I resisted calls to execute a reverse split, as well as those promising to “get our share price back up,” and instead, focused on old-school execution. Because of this, the stock eventually recovered, and has since traded as high as four cents. Also, the vast majority of our minimal funding since then has come from a long-term friendly investor. So, to be clear, we have zero plans for a reverse split, and my plan is to continue to organically grow our company through execution and sheer determination. This is how you build success, and true shareholder value, even if it is difficult. There are no short cuts.
So to summarize – we have a term sheet for funding in the high 7 figure range which should close within 30 days; Soundstr is working well and is in the process of being deployed at select locations/businesses and development continues to add important revenue-generating features; touring should kick back in this year to a degree (at this time matchbox twenty is still scheduled too) with many artists looking for revenue, and should be full steam ahead again in 2022; we will experience new revenue streams from VNUE Radio, which will be professionally run and managed by NewHD Media, and which will also help us to flesh out issues in rights management for online radio streaming; we will continue to grow our artist services division and expect to sign more artists and will realize revenue from this channel; and lastly, VNUE will enjoy revenues from RockHouse Live International, starting with the Clearwater location and all future locations globally. All things considered, we are excited about everything that is going on, and hope that you are too.
So my personal opinion is that patience is a virtue. We are working hard to further our initiatives and continue our slow march forward. I realize there are probably folks looking to make a quick buck from a bump in the share price after some positive news, and for those folks, more power to you; but in reality, and again it is my opinion, those who persevere and are long-term holders stand the most chance of enjoying true success along with the hard work of those in the company.
Thank you for your continued support and belief in VNUE. As I’ve said, let’s change the world together – for the better!
All the best,
Zach
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This press release may contain forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected, including statements related to the amount and timing of expected revenues and any payment of dividends on our common stock, statements related to our financial performance, expected income, distributions, and future growth for upcoming quarterly and annual periods and the other risks set forth in Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q as filed from time to time. Actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant expenses in the expansion of our existing and new service lines, noting there is no assurance that we will generate enough revenues to offset those costs in both the near and long term. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein. Stockholders and potential investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Stockholders should not utilize opinions expressed in this press release as their sole reliance for decision making concerning the buying and selling of the Company’s securities.