composer entrepreneur musician producer
Ty Morse was born on January 27, 1982, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up listening to musical theatre and rock operas, including works associated with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pink Floyd, and The Who. His early musical interests developed alongside an education in the liberal arts.
Morse studied at Davidson College in North Carolina and graduated with the class of 2004. He studied English and developed the rock opera Frankenstein: The Rock Opera with fellow Davidson student Justin Perkinson after the project began as a classroom assignment based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel. Founded in 1837, Davidson is a residential liberal-arts college whose curriculum and campus culture emphasize broad undergraduate education and close faculty-student collaboration.
Morse began his professional life in music and media. He wrote music connected with Discovery Channel programming, including a song for Animal Planet, and later worked at Virgin Records, where he gained experience in the commercial music business.
At Davidson College, Morse co-wrote Frankenstein: The Rock Opera with Justin Perkinson and Jon Greenlee. The project developed from three songs written for a literature assignment into a thirty-five-song production. Its world premiere, presented by the Davidson College Theatre Department at the Duke Family Performance Hall from October 22 to 26, 2003, used a student cast and professional musicians; the work later received a New York stage reading in 2004 and was released as a recorded production.
Morse and Greenlee co-founded Royalty, Etc. Records, an independent label associated with artists including Space Camp, Middlepicker, ZibraZibra, Grickle-grass, and Seymore Saves the World. Morse also recorded and released his own albums, including St. Agnes Eve and Teaching Art to Lovers, and participated in the song Soccer Rocks with Greenlee and professional soccer player Jay DeMerit.
In 2007, Morse co-founded Songwhale and became its chief executive officer. The company developed enterprise SMS solutions, mobile-media technologies, and digital marketing campaigns for domestic and international clients, with operations associated with the United States, Japan, Thailand, and other markets. In 2014, he co-founded Big Smile with MCN to market mobile technologies for direct-to-consumer products, particularly in Asia. In 2015, Songwhale launched CheapestTexting, a low-cost SMS platform for small businesses.
Morse founded Time Horse Productions in 2016. Through the company, he served as executive producer of Strange Negotiations, a documentary about musician David Bazan that premiered at the 2019 South by Southwest Film Festival. His later production interests have included documentary projects concerning music, cultural communities, and life in Japan.
Morse co-wrote and co-produced Frankenstein: The Rock Opera, a thirty-five-song adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel that premiered at Davidson College in 2003 and subsequently received a New York stage reading and recorded release.
Morse co-founded Royalty, Etc. Records, an independent label that released music by artists from the Minneapolis-area independent music scene as well as Morse's own recordings.
Morse co-founded Songwhale, an interactive technology company providing enterprise SMS, mobile-media, and direct-response marketing services for domestic and international clients.
Morse served as executive producer of the documentary Strange Negotiations, which premiered at the 2019 South by Southwest Film Festival.
(Morse's debut solo album, released through Royalty, Etc. ...)
2006(Album by Ty Morse released through Royalty, Etc. Records.)
(Documentary directed by Brandon Vedder about musician Dav...)
2019(Recorded rock opera co-written by Ty Morse, Justin Perkin...)
2016(Song associated with Ty Morse, Jon Greenlee, and professi...)
2006Morse's public comments connect entrepreneurship with creative persistence, self-assessment, collaboration, and disciplined prioritization. His career reflects an approach in which music, technology, and documentary production are treated as related forms of experimentation and communication.
In interviews, Morse has described himself as broadly curious and comfortable moving between artistic, scientific, and business subjects. He has also emphasized the importance of recognizing personal limitations, partnering with people who provide complementary skills, and prioritizing carefully while building a company.
Quotes from others about the person
Morse has said that his liberal-arts and music background helped him communicate across different professional settings and that creative work shaped his approach to entrepreneurship.
Morse has pursued independent record production, mobile technology, documentary filmmaking, and cultural projects involving music communities in the United States and Japan.
Mary Shelley is documented as an important literary source for Morse's Frankenstein: The Rock Opera. His work also drew on the Old English epic Beowulf for a separate rock-opera project.
Morse collaborated with soccer player Jay DeMerit on Soccer Rocks and has participated in documentary work involving the Green Bay Packers' Japanese supporters.
Morse has expressed an interest in musical theatre, rock operas, acoustic rock, and independent rock music. His formative references have included Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pink Floyd's The Wall, The Who's Tommy, Chris Bell, Nick Drake, and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.
Morse has documented professional and creative collaborations with Jon Greenlee, Justin Perkinson, and Jay DeMerit. Greenlee was a co-composer of Frankenstein: The Rock Opera and a co-founder of Royalty, Etc. Records and Songwhale; Perkinson co-wrote Frankenstein: The Rock Opera; and DeMerit collaborated with Morse and Greenlee on the song Soccer Rocks.
Co-composer and producer of Frankenstein: The Rock Opera, co-founder of Royalty, Etc. Records and Songwhale, and a collaborator on Morse's music projects.
Davidson College student and co-writer of Frankenstein: The Rock Opera.
Professional soccer player who collaborated with Morse and Jon Greenlee on Soccer Rocks.
Filmmaker who directed Strange Negotiations, produced with Morse as executive producer.
