We recently connected with Heir Jordan and have shared our conversation below.

Heir , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Definitely. When it comes to knowing when it pivot, it’s one of the things that’s helped me maintain longevity. First thing that comes to mind is understanding the importance of timing and leverage as an independent label owner and talent manager.

Speed to market is something that people romanticized, but I learned that what’s even more important is knowing what’s next – and being in position for it.

Cryptocurrencies aren’t going anywhere, and neither are NFT’s – if for no other reason than freedom from societal norms. My company VALOR was catapulted into the spotlight back in 2016 for being one of the first independent labels to catch editorial playlists — long before the days of pitch grids and failed attempts by many distributors who simply don’t have the relationships.

At the start of 2021 we released our first music NFT and haven’t looked back since. By being an early adopter, we are in the midst of the next dot com type boom.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m originally from Raleigh, North Carolina and I fell in love with Hip Hop at a young age. I started making beats in high school, and once I got to college things really took off. I met tons of people from across the US, and it gave me the foundation that I needed to be successful. At that time Florida was becoming the new “go-to” in the music industry, and instead of chasing my dreams as an intern at a label in New York, I ended up moving to Florida after graduating from North Carolina A&T State University (the biggest HBCU in America. #AggiePride.)

I went on to launch an independent label Trackoholic Music Group, which was a full service entertainment company housing a record label, talent agency, and music production company. We composed and licensed music for film, television, video, advertising as well as the high-tech world of apps, games and online sites. While operating the label I had an opportunity to join the music technology world with AudioCommon, leading their music industry strategy as director of Artist & Label relations.

In 2018, I launched a new brand, VALOR, a boutique digital media agency that specializes in the development of creative brands in the realms of entertainment, sports & lifestyle.

I have been fortunate to have worked with many labels, companies, and festivals over the past few years such as Warner Brothers, 300, ABC, BET, MTV, RevoltTV, A3C, SXSW and many more. I also manage DJ Five Venoms from Rolling Loud, Stockz, Kissie Lee, Yung6ix, Cliff Savage & The Construction Kings.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Ha! What did I say earlier about being ahead of the curve? NFT’s are the future. Personally, I have about 50 NFT’s in my collection. They all offer various utilities – that could be IRL access to events, merchandise, discounts, travel, etc. NFTs are a lot more than the JPEGS.

I’ve had two of my clients truly embrace them as well. Stockz is the host of MetaMoney on Revolt TV, where he is educating the hip hop community about cryptocurrency, investing, the pitfalls and ways to use them – airs every Friday on Revolt and their socials. He is also a part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club – in addition to the access, he created the anthem “Bored Ape Yacht Club” single, which was featured by UPROXX with a live performance. He’s truly merging the culture into Web3. DJ Five Venoms has also started to release music and art through NFT drops with SXSW, Pianity & Rarible.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Yes. I’m going to tell a story about my friend and client, DJ Five Venoms. Not only is he the best DJ on the planet, he has one of the best jobs on earth- the official DJ of Rolling Loud.

A lot of people don’t know how we met and it’s a story of staying down with the people who believe in you and support you without wanting anything in return but seeing you win.

Five & I go back over 10 years to like 2011 – back when I was producing, rapping, and performing. I was introduced to him through our mutual brother Carl Murray (who owns Endurance, one of the top agencies in Florida.) when I was releasing my first mixtape. I played it for five and he offered to host it – I took him up on it and the rest is history.

I went on to jump into music tech and distribution, and Five started DJing for a company in Orlando called DOPE ENT which is now known to the world as Rolling Loud.

Believe in people, take chances, you never know!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.itsvalor.us
• Instagram: Instagram.com/heirjordan
• Facebook: Facebook.com/1valor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heir-jordan-107b7715
• Twitter: Twitter.com/heirj0rdan

Image Credits
KEMMOIRE GEORGE ADE