Photo Credit: On Air

Content from the UMG-owned production studio is available to stream now.

With the emergence of concert streaming’s high-growth potential, on-stage performance streaming platform On Air is now offering new monetization opportunities for intellectual property owners and artists. The platform aims to elevate the fan experience by offering a true cinematic experience with content available in 4K UHD with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technologies.

Since 2020, On Air has hosted a serious catalog of live concerts and performances from A-list artists and shows. That includes performances from the likes of Zara Larsson, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, and Years & Years from iconic music venues spanning Royal Albert Hall, OVO Arena Wembley, BBC Studios, and more.

But that’s just the beginning: expanding upon their existing on-stage video catalog, On Air recently forged a deal with Mercury Studios for concert performance footage. Mercury Studios, a division of UMG, is a multi-faceted music content studio and treasure trove of seminal concert footage. Just recently, On Air joined forces with DMN to further propel the platform.

Mercury Studios’ sizable catalog features over 2,000 hours of standout performances by the most prominent names in music — including Peter Gabriel, Lynyrd Skynrd, Duran Duran, Black Sabbath, Journey, ZZ Top, Santana, Eric Clapton, Toto, and The Who, as well as assets from legendary production company Eagle Rock. Now, that historic and important catalog is finding another outlet via On Air to reach fans – with the ingestion and dissemination process well underway.

“On Air provides an exciting opportunity to showcase the breadth of Mercury Studios’ programming, from award-winning documentaries to concerts by iconic artists like Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, Chicago, Jeff Beck, Cypress Hill, and INXS. This partnership with On Air will further expand the reach of these remarkable performances,” said Rob Gill, SVP Global Operations, Mercury Studios.

Jakub Krampl, co-founder and CEO of On Air, sat down with DMN to reveal how On Air’s latest deal with Mercury Studios expands global exposure opportunities and monetization for all IP owners, labels, and artists on the platform. For starters, Mercury Studio’s catalog is impressive, and that will draw a bigger audience interested in higher-quality live performances.

“We’re here to support the distribution of catalogs and monetization of longform content in 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos technology,” said Krampl. “On Air provides an end-to-end service to artists, labels and rights holders — all backed by a cutting-edge tech stack.”

On Air’s vast infrastructure expertly covers every aspect of the streaming process, solving problems typically faced by IP owners when they attempt to distribute content across mainstream channels.

A sampling of On Air’s live concerts and performances from A-list artists filmed at iconic music venues. (Photo Credit: On Air)

According to Krampl, On Air offers a ‘premium streaming service for on-stage entertainment,’ handling everything from pre-production and on-site production management to an exclusive post-production process that ensures higher-quality content for its users.

On Air’s DRM-protected streaming platform plays comfortably across desktop, mobile, and TV endpoints. Stretching things further, the company also pushes engagement by marketing content and managing assets across multiple platforms, including social media with tailored campaigns.

And when the opportunity arises, On Air also helps to negotiate branding and agency partnerships to further stretch the reach of its footage.

The platform offers prime viewing experiences to fans in over 190 countries, while taking adequate measures to prevent unlawful distribution. Among the most prominent offerings available to stream are Zara Larsson’s sold-out ‘Venus Tour’ at AFAS Live in Amsterdam, Noel Gallagher’s High-Flying Birds live at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester, Yoshiki’s ‘Requiem Classical World Tour’ recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, and a pair of sold-out All Time Low shows, captured at OVO Arena Wembley (2023) and Merriweather Post Pavilion (2024).

One of On Air’s biggest differentiators is its audio and picture quality, with streams available to watch in 4K UHD with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technologies.

Krampl explains that the solution, crafted by On Air’s partnership with Dolby, “provides every user with the opportunity to experience our productions with the immersive sound of Dolby Atmos and ultra-vivid pictures of Dolby Vision for a premium entertainment experience.”

“On Air has successfully achieved a live stream in Dolby Vision, which hasn’t been done before — and that’s only one of the many advanced solutions we’re capable of providing,” Krampl continued, while pointing to the company’s All Time Low OVO Arena Wembley capture. That show was delivered in 4K UHD with HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive sound, and accessed across 56 countries simultaneously over the web, mobile and TV apps.

In fact, all On Air-produced shows are filmed in close partnership with Dolby. “We’re delighted that On Air uses Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision to give them an edge in concert streaming,” said Jane Gillard, Head of Music Partnerships Europe for Dolby. “Artists invest so much into live shows – sound, visuals, effects, lighting. In using the best in Dolby technology, On Air are able to deliver an experience that beats standard video and stereo hands down.”

The on-stage performance streaming space has a number of big competitors, though On Air’s focus strategies of Dolby-powered streams, complementary solutions, and competitive pricing could prove to be significant differentiators.

Krampl explains that On Air’s entire service infrastructure is developed in-house, which makes it ‘independent of third-party platforms and agencies.’ This self-developed tech-stack and content delivery platform, according to Krampl, allows On Air to address problems before they arise, ‘while continuing to develop and innovate’ for their stakeholders.

The On Air HD stereo service is available to viewers at $10.99 per show, with the On Air catalog available to stream on-demand with unlimited replays.

Photo Credit: On Air

Why is now the moment for concert video to expand and reach a wider audience? Krampl points out that On Air is aware of how current economic challenges have significantly shuffled audience priorities and where they want to spend their money.

Exorbitant ticket prices and the cost of travelling to venues present barriers that threaten to separate artists from their fans.

On Air aims to democratize access to live music and provide a genuine connection between audiences and performers. Their ‘cutting-edge solutions directly offer the energy and magic of live performances to audiences’ around the world.

The On Air app, available across Apple iOS, Android, and Fire TV, is designed to make viewers feel like they’re in the center of the action. Users can tune in to On Air’s cinematic show library in 4K UHD and spatial audio from anywhere, and seamlessly switch to the big screen at any time.

Photo Credit: AI

ChatGPT is impressive out-of-the-box but challenging to apply to real-world problems. Area4 Labs and Hearby are building with AI technology to create a data-driven live event concierge.

The following comes from Hearby, a fast-emerging player in concert discovery and a DMN partner. Enjoy!

Full disclosure: “Train” when applied to Chat technology is the same “train” that we might apply to cats. That is, we ask them to do things they were going to do anyway in a way that doesn’t displease them, and then we figure out how to be happy with what they did.

This has been our biggest lesson in creating “Ask Hearby,” our AI chatbot music concierge. In this article, I’ll bring you behind the scenes on our AI adventure.

At Hearby, we aim to use technology to find and uplift grassroots music and help people find the wonderful music hidden right in their neighborhoods.  Whether you’re looking for a night of clubbing, a free classical concert, or music to keep the kid out of your hair, it’s all out there.  You may not realize there’s a great music venue right in the industrial park next door, on the dockyard of Liverpool, or in a thrift shop in London.

We want to get people exploring and finding music that they’ll love, and to do this, we spent a lot of time investing in fast search technologies, data-driven filters, and map visualizations. Then we ran right into the wall of ‘Too Much Stuff.’

Enter the chatbot, which allows fans to fast-forward and say what they want without going through all the tedious steps of searching, filtering, and reviewing results. It’s a lot of work for something that should be fun.

However, my experience with chatbots has been a big meh, and we wanted to do something more intriguing.

Our main product requirement was “be useful and don’t be irritating”.  Yes, it took us a long time to get that, and we fell off the dragon a few too many times. But seeing how this ubiquitous technology works and encouraging more ideas and dreams with it has been interesting.  At its core, it’s a foray into using a Large Language Model (LLM), and I will breathlessly say the possibilities are unlimited.

It took a while, but after several tries, we finally have something useful and entertaining to use. So here’s the behind-the-scenes on what we tried that didn’t work — and what finally did.

• • Train, train, and train again.
  • Give me all the data!  More data!
  • Hybrids: Just how many technologies can we cram in here?
  • It’s a sandwich.

So first, a little more about Training when it comes to Machine Learning.

I need to bring up the topic of training, partly for my snazzy title but also because it’s at the bottom of everything you’re hearing about AI.

To train ML, we first choose a neural net architecture, then give it a vast set of data items labeled with the correct answers (for example, Cat/Dog, T-shirt/Skirt, Pedestrian/Bollard).  This type of supervised learning is expensive in computing power, requiring a huge amount of ethically obtained, accurately labeled data. Training enables the ML architecture – the layers and feedback loops that make up the neural net  – to adjust to create maximally accurate predictions.  For example: “99% chance this image is a cat”.

Going beyond cat/dog to something actually relevant quickly gets expensive and time-consuming. It’s pretty much prohibitive on large data sets for all but the biggest players.  Enter LLMs, which come ready-trained on massive amounts of human text right out-of-the-box for anyone to use.

This is what powers our chat dragon: the ability to “understand” human language, figure out what is being asked, and create amazing responses in human language.  On the topic of whether there is any actual human-style understanding of concepts, I can start an argument in an empty room (so I won’t go there).  It doesn’t matter for our purposes as long as the output is accurate, useful, valuable, safe, and reliable.

This brings me to our challenge: how to make already trained chat technology do what we want.

For a small amount of money and a lot of delight, you can get a subscription to Open AI’s ChatGPT, which will happily write you a letter to Grandma, your term paper, or a pretty decent novel – at least better than anything I can write.  Whether soulless or best-selling is in the eye of the beholder, but I prefer to consider it a fantastic tool to help spur creativity.

But as impressive as this is, these out-of-the-box answers are standalone, and the type of chatbot we wanted to create is a conversation that builds as we go along, with context and informality, powered by accurate event, venue, and band data.  The challenge, then, is how to get a language-based model to incorporate this external data and use it in its responses and how to have the conversation build as it progresses (memory).

Data! Give me all the data!

The challenge is getting our data into ChatGPT to inform its responses.  In a “normal” program, this is a matter of, well, programming.  However, an LLM is different: rather than programming, information needs to be text-based to be taken on board.

It’s weird, but not so much when we remember this is a language model. This is precisely how we listen, take in new info, understand it, and use it to inform our actions.  In all fairness, the latest models also allow other forms of input, expanding beyond text input. But this is where it was when we started, so that’s where we began.

We started with text-to-sql, in which we describe in words how to find the answers to questions using the tables in our database. So, essentially, telling a programmer how to formulate database queries.  This sounded so crazy and improbable that we thought it just might actually work.

Sometimes, it did, but mostly, it sulked, made stuff up, or ignored us.  Or all of the above.  If you’re thinking cat again, I’m right there with you.

Bring in the hybrids.

So, we moved on to hybridizing and searching our database using ChatGPT for its language capabilities. Among the many challenges:

(1) Knowing what the fan is asking about – An event? A venue? A neighborhood? A genre? A person?

(2) Find the data in our database with a fuzzy search – the whole point of chatting is that the fan doesn’t have to be specific.

(3) Get the data into ChatGPT in words, which is all it understands.

(4) Receive a human-ready answer from ChatGPT.

(5) Augment that answer with links and images.

We quickly realized we needed to confirm it was using our data and not going elsewhere, which in LLM terms is called temperature.  Or, in human terms, don’t make stuff up!

It’s a sandwich

After a number of tries, we ended up with a workable sandwich of technologies: Bert NER to understand what the fan is asking about; specialized models to detect essential but idiosyncratic info like informal dates (“in 3 weeks”); a vector database to translate a fuzzy human question into something specific we can ask our already existing search capability; a layer to feed the search answer to ChatGPT in words, and then a method to receive the ChatGPT response in human language. And, finally, a layer to augment it with images and links.

Voila!  If this all sounds like a bit much, I get you.  But we were delighted to see that a fan can ask a reasonable question, “What’s on in London tonight?” or “Where can I take Aunt Nelly for a jazz brunch?” and get a believable answer that makes sense.

More interesting is that a fan can ask an unreasonable question and get an answer about music events or venues, and an explanation as to why, or, if it’s too far a stretch, simply a reasonable on-topic answer.  And, to put your mind at ease somewhat, some questions bring in the guard rails: “I cannot assist you with that”.

Onward!

In addition to our chatbot launching later this year, we are working on several other AI efforts, mainly in Machine Learning and classification. These are focused on highlighting the music scene for fans and encouraging them to explore and find new music and venues.  Off their sofas and into venues!

The chatbot has been a very interesting excursion for us into LLMs, which have enormous potential to change how we live with software. So, I hope this has shone a little light on this powerful technology for you.

We’re focused on music and using these incredible tools to uplift grassroots music. Still, I hope this gave you some ideas on how this kind of technology might help in your part of the music world – places where you want people to be able to get to the point faster, have informal access to better information, or be able to explore and expand on an idea on the fly.

UNIFI Music Founder & CEO La’Shion Robinson (Photo Credit: UNIFI Music)

Finding and retaining effective management is a significant hurdle for many emerging artists. Now, UNIFI Music is building an AI-driven intelligent platform for that.

Superstar music careers frequently start on the fringes: in a poorly-lit rehearsal space, late night on a laptop and cracked DAW, or as part of a local scene that hasn’t yet crossed over.

If an artist or group is lucky, an ardent believer is pulling the strings to get gigs, upload tracks to DSPs, monitor royalties from different licenses and platforms, and settle disputes. But professional managers with acumen, experience, and connections are usually out of reach at the beginning.

And that’s a problem.

The real artist management pros are usually overloaded with their high-demand clientele. And they’re generally inaccessible if they’re taking on emerging artists, or simply too expensive for artists in the early stages of their careers.

The music industry is laser-focused on the profound threat AI-generated music poses – which makes sense. But can AI fill a meaningful role in other areas like artist management?

That was the light bulb for execs at UNIFI Music, a company focused on building artist-focused solutions. “We’ve seen a huge need for artist management from artists in the 0-5 stages of their careers,” La’Shion Robinson, UNIFI’s founder and CEO, told Digital Music News.  “There’s simply an overload of tasks beyond the core competencies of creating music, building a cultural connection, and performing.”

‘Overload’ is a fitting descriptor.

From securing competent management to navigating the complexities of promotion and distribution, the path to success is often fraught with obstacles. And with tasks spanning social media engagement to booking gigs and navigating the complexities of streaming platforms, the workload can be immense – especially in the face of fierce competition.

With that problem in mind, UNIFI Music’s vision is to solve these pain points with an innovative AI-powered solution that could redefine artist management. That is perking the ears of investors, many of whom feel that AI-related models in the music industry are overlapping and saturated.

“Here’s something extremely useful, relevant, with tremendous potential to scale,” Robinson summarized. Just recently, UNIFI joined forces with DMN to further expand their concept.

According to Robinson, AI can play a meaningful role in streamlining artist management and empowering emerging musicians. UNIFI’s AI-powered platform, called Sasha, will act as a centralized toolbox, offering a range of features and services to support artists in their career development.

Sasha is designed to complement platforms like SoundCloud, providing artists with a comprehensive suite of tools to manage their careers effectively. That includes a question-driven interface, with Sasha understanding virtually any language. “This isn’t just a customized ChatGPT,” Robinson continued. “Sasha employs LLMs to provide customized guidance to the artist.”

The SaaS-like Sasha will also integrate with UNIFI’s “LinkedIn for Music” platform, enabling artists to connect with industry professionals and build valuable relationships. The broader aim is to bolster intelligent, AI-driven management with a rich network of connected musicians and opportunities.

According to Robinson, UNIFI Music’s vision for Sasha extends far beyond simple task management.

“This is a brand-new, functional direction for AI in music,” Robinson relayed. “We’re building a complete AI manager built from the ground up for musicians, music companies, and the entire music managerial ecosystem.”

The ultimate goal is to create a virtual manager capable of strategically, tactically, and emotionally guiding an artist’s career. For existing managers, the platform helps to eliminate time-consuming ‘assistant’ tasks like venue research, social media posts, and transportation logistics. “There’s less need for an assistant manager and more opportunity to create the ‘super manager,'” Robinson described.

Currently, Sasha can handle tasks like social media recommendations and identifying promising venues. However, as the platform evolves, it will take on increasingly complex responsibilities like contract negotiation, release planning, and tour management.

Ultimately, UNIFI Music’s vision is to create a virtual manager capable of guiding an artist’s career toward success.

Unifi’s Sasha in action (click to enlarge).

Unifi’s Sasha in action (click to enlarge).

Music management agencies may not like Sasha, but UNIFI’s vision is unique when compared to typical AI creation and management companies.

While the debate over AI-generated music continues, UNIFI Music is simply exploring the potential of AI in other areas of the industry. By leveraging AI’s capabilities, the company’s vision is to provide artists with personalized guidance and support, leveling the playing field and democratizing access to the tools and resources needed to succeed.

“UNIFI has the potential to revolutionize artist management and empower emerging musicians. We may also catapult fringe scenes and artists to the fore by boosting their industry savvy and experience overnight,” Robinson relayed. “That’s exciting stuff.”

If you’d like to connect with UNIFI Music, please contact La’Shion Robinson directly at l@unifimusic.ai.

Photo Credit: FanCircles

FanCircles, a self-described “pioneering SaaS superfan platform,” has announced a $2 million raise and set its sights on adding new features.

The UK-based superfan business just recently announced that multimillion-dollar round, the result of capital put up by “several angel investors.”

Established nearly a decade back by Affiliate Window founder and industry vet Kevin Brown, FanCircles enables artists to stream performances as well as studio releases, communicate with fans (including via push notifications), interact with UGC, offer early access tickets, and sell merch in-app, to name some features.

On the ticket and merch fronts, FanCircles according to its website supports Ticketmaster and Shopify integration. (Artist users can seemingly opt to sell merch directly via their app/site as well.) Additionally, the platform allows clients to choose from free and subscription options.

Running with those points, contrasting superfan competitors like Hybe’s Weverse and presumably Warner Music’s forthcoming app for diehard supporters, FanCircles doesn’t operate a centralized service. Rather, the company says it affords artists the “opportunity to have their own fully branded platforms.”

To date, a variety of professionals, from veteran acts like Marillion and Robbie Williams to newer talent such as Olivia Lane and The Piano Guys, have rolled out standalone superfan platforms via FanCircles, the latter’s website shows.

And per the mentioned Kevin Brown, who doubles as CEO, the model sets FanCircles apart from well-known competitors.

“Major companies like Apple Connect and Facebook for Artists have faced difficulties with multi-artist models,” communicated the Access founder Brown. “This suggests that individual, artist-branded platforms are more effective in resonating with fans and supporting artists’ careers.

“This investment is a testament to the incredible demand for more authentic and direct artist-fan relationships,” he proceeded. “FanCircles is more than just a platform—it’s firmly putting artists front and center with its unique model of one app per artist.”

Looking to the future, FanCircles intends to use the newly raised capital to continue developing its core product, with an eye on optimized features including bolstered data analytics, e-commerce tools, and content delivery. Also on the horizon are buildout efforts targeting Europe, Asia, and North America alike.

Bigger picture, against the backdrop of possibly slowing streaming growth, superfan offerings are drawing more attention – and funding – than ever. Besides Warner Music’s previously noted superfan app, which is expected to release later in 2024, Universal Music is leaning into related initiatives with Hybe’s Weverse as well as Spotify.

Closing on the funding side, the past year or so has now delivered a number of superfan-platform raises, all compiled in DMN Pro’s Music Industry Funding Tracker. The likes of Fave, We Are Giant, Renaissance, Tune.fm, and Trax have pulled down a cumulative total of approximately $35 million in investor capital.

Warner Music Group consolidated quarterly streaming revenues (source: WMG 10-Q disclosures)

For Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, calendar Q2 2024 was a tale of two earnings reports — and streaming forecasts. While UMG acknowledged a subscription-growth slowdown, the Robert Kyncl-led WMG emphasized “strong” improvements. But are things as rosy as they seem for today’s third-largest major label?

DMN Pro crunched the numbers to answer that question, which is particularly pressing given the industry-wide implications of a growth slowdown at UMG.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction: The Stark Contrast Between the Calendar Q2 Earnings Reports of Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group

II. Warner Music Group’s Streaming Performance by the Numbers: Reported Revenue from Q4 2021 Through Q2 2024

Graph: Warner Music Group Consolidated Recorded and Publishing Streaming Revenue by Quarter

III. Warner Music Group’s Recorded and Publishing Streaming Showing At a Glance: Are Things Truly Looking Up?

Graph: WMG Recorded Music Subscription Revenue

Graph: WMG Publishing Streaming Revenue, Subscription and Ad-Supported

IV. The Bottom Line: WMG’s Streaming Growth Strength and Where the Space Is Heading

Please do not redistribute this report without permission. Thank you for subscribing to DMN Pro!

Photo Credit: Mohamed Hassan

From infringement complaints against generative AI developers to unpaid royalty actions targeting streaming platforms, the music industry certainly isn’t lacking high-stakes litigation. Here are ten particularly important lawsuits with major implications to watch moving forward.

How many active lawsuits, conflicts, settlements, negotiations, and legal stare-downs are happening in the music industry — right now? At last count, Digital Music News is tracking more than 140 different filed lawsuits in the United States alone, all in various stages of litigation. And that doesn’t include the drumbeat of cease-and-desists, government proceedings, and private discussions and upcoming suits.

(Stay tuned for our complete litigation tracker from DMN Pro.)

As any attorney can attest, most of those suits aren’t groundbreaking or precedent-setting. Here’s a familiar litigatory tune: Artist A uses a sample from Artist B without permission, demands go nowhere, and litigation ensues. But some of the cases roiling the industry will have serious implications and impacts for years and decades to come. That includes battles in arenas like AI, statutory royalties, government regulation, and even national security.

Plucking from the latter, here are ten lawsuits with the potential to reshape the music industry ahead — for better or for worse, depending on where you’re seated.

Report Table of Contents

Introduction: An Overview of the Music Industry’s Litigation Landscape.

I. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) v. Suno and Udio

II. The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) v. X (Formerly Twitter)

III. Epidemic Sound v. Meta

IV. TikTok and ByteDance v. Department of Justice

V. Department of Justice v. Live Nation

VI. Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) v. Spotify

VII. MLC v. Pandora

VIII. SoundExchange v. SiriusXM

IX. UMG Recordings et al. v. Internet Archive et al.

X. RIAA v. Verizon

XI. Bonus: Cleveland Constantine Browne et al. v. Rodney Sebastian Clark Donalds et al.

Please do not redistribute this report without permission. Thank you!

En Vogue (Photo: HITKOR)

HITKOR is all about the fan experience — with an important twist. The company delivers high-end live-streaming capabilities from a well-appointed studio to artists, labels, and a global customer base. At its core, the platform revolves around a professional sound stage and a range of recording services and monetization options, all of which are now available to the music industry. “This is for you to reach your fans in a meaningful manner and present yourself in a groundbreaking way,” HITKOR says.

Russ Miller, CEO of HITKOR, clarifies that they’re not in the business of being a publishing or content marketing company — and aren’t trying to be. “HITKOR’s business model is about a premium live-streaming entertainment experience,” Miller shared, relaying that HITKOR even allows fans to switch through different cameras and audio streams.

Alongside a global reach, the company introduces unique revenue pathways for artists, an elevated experience for their fans, and assets such as ‘a world-class Live crew specializing in music performances and high-definition isolated audio recording.’ Just recently, HITKOR joined forces with DMN to broaden awareness of their model.

Most significantly, artists retain their audio IP and the ability to collaborate with HITKOR to produce a unique and exclusive event. According to Miller, the expanded live experience is about a ‘boutique, high-level global offering that other players aren’t bringing.’ With its premium infrastructure, Miller believes HITKOR can provide these elevated offerings to every artist while maintaining a very green footprint — by dramatically reducing the resources consumed by conventional global touring.

Miller says HITKOR’s hybrid entertainment — for fans and artists — is the way of the future, adding, “HITKOR does not aim to replace live entertainment. Its purpose is to augment.”

Miller offers a perspective you won’t find from a typical tech CEO. He’s a working musician and session drummer who has toured for many years with the likes of Andrea Bocelli and the Psychedelic Furs. Part working musician and part business owner, Miller knows the many nuts and bolts required to create a powerful live performance.

Accordingly, HITKOR’s inspiration stemmed from his passion for equipping artists with the tools they need to present fans with a quality stream of their performances.

HITKOR set for Stephen Glickman (Photo: HITKOR)

With that goal in mind, HITKOR allows fans to switch cameras in real time, enabling them to stream just like ISO cams and hear the performance in immersive audio.

The platform also provides artists and creators accessibility to fans in far-off, expensive-to-tour territories.

“There are a ton of young rock bands with followings in certain places like Australia and Asia — but they need hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel and production to reach those fans. The math of touring and putting hefty resources into reaching that audience doesn’t work,” Miller explains, adding that these territories with bubbling fan bases are a significant opportunity for artists, but unlike ‘top tier artists whose touring companies can afford it or get corporate sponsorships’ to reach them, indie players do not enjoy the same luxuries.

So how does an artist reach hard-to-access fans and offer them the experience they deserve — without the incredible amount of resources that touring demands?

Artists can pursue the traditional model of producing a show — renting a venue and getting a whole crew to capture and edit the piece. Or, artists can let HITKOR curate a premium experience for their fans — from start to finish.

According to Miller, HITKOR is an all-in-one solution for artists who need access to lucrative and expansive label resources. “We can work with artists who play theater-sized events, performing arts centers, etc. There’s a lot of opportunity on both sides — if the industry understands what we do.”

It’s an accessibility thing, explains Miller — another way to cultivate an audience and attain a wider reach. “We have a very indie approach to what we’re doing, but we’re doing it at a premium level.”

HITKOR’s facility in Simi Valley holds a ‘world-class’ sound stage and recording studio ‘with the latest and greatest Pro Tools HDX systems — where artists can do overdubs, remix, and do anything they want.’

For HITKOR’s one-of-a-kind offering, artists ‘don’t pay anything.’ Miller explains, “We pay. We’re not asking you for money or full licensing. It’s your music.”

Artists also gain a full guarantee as though they’re doing a live show. But unlike a traditional venue, artists receive a 50/50 revenue split.

In return, HITKOR — without getting into the weeds of the agreements — receives a sync license to the audio and video recording that covers a one-year monetization deal on the HITKOR platform. After the contract expires, the artist can renegotiate terms to extend the monetization. Throughout it all, HITKOR owns the rights to the video, which the company can only use in collaboration with the artist. And the artist or label always retains ownership of the audio.

“It’s an artist-centric deal,” says Miller, explaining that with a HITKOR tie-up, artists will own ‘a world-class multi-track recording of their gig, which they can re-release.’

As for record labels, Miller emphasizes that it’s an ‘excellent opportunity for an artist with a record coming out to do an online global record release party.’

In that scenario, the label would cover the artist’s cost, HITKOR would cover the production cost, and ‘everybody wins.’

Mitch Rossell (Photo: HITKOR)

Unfortunately, live performance fans are all-too-familiar with the shortage of good, highly accessible, well-organized live concert footage. For HITKOR, it all comes down to an optimized fan experience, and they’re betting on their high-end hybrid offer to deliver that at scale.

“It’s a challenging time for artists to figure out how they’re going to present themselves, in which way, and how they can make a living doing it — especially if they’re not huge artists,” Miller says.

As the economy introduces many novel challenges to the live concert industry, some artists have witnessed record success, while many middle-tier artists and performers have fallen by the wayside. Without a mammoth label or touring company resources behind them or enormous audience guarantees, these artists cannot afford to tour and reach their fan base — let alone cultivate a new one.

And these economic challenges also crush viewers. With astronomical ticket pricing and other ancillary costs such as gas and parking, even the most devoted fans can now only commit to a fraction of the shows they may be interested in attending.

HITKOR believes there’s now a significant gap to bridge and an opportunity to provide fans access to unique content — that doesn’t cost them an arm and a leg.

In the face of rampant inflation and rapidly depleting spending power, HITKOR’s ‘hybrid solution’ is built to cater to evolving audiences. The company believes fans will soon become highly frugal — prioritizing live performances and festivals that they cannot bear to miss, and switching to watching other shows at home.

By design, HITKOR wants to cast a pretty wide net and is working to build a little bit of everything for viewers, with VOD a big part of the company’s model.

“Audiences can watch a live show on HITKOR for a year after purchasing a ticket, with all the options to view it again in HITKOR’s unique ways. We’re adding VR 360 cams to the mix — where the fans join the artist on a virtual stage,” says Miller, adding, “All of the features exist in Encore VOD, even merchandising sales. Selling merch at shows the artist has already performed also presents a new source of revenue.”

Currently, HITKOR is selling everything a la carte and pay-per-view.

With a HITKOR tie-up, artists can cash in on several other potential upsides, including HITKOR’s lesser-known merch manufacturing company, Bold Hits, LLC in Chatsworth, CA. The in-house facility allows artists to create, produce, and sell exclusive merchandise in perpetuity — another cash flow option that comes with HITKOR’s boutique live stream model.

“To fully optimize the monetary benefits, artists need to help promote the HITKOR stream as though it’s a live show, which requires them to maximize their fanbase to sell tickets.”

Miller emphasizes that HITKOR’s offering is not a one-off opportunity for artists to grab and go. With global live streaming and a pay-per-view scenario for tickets and merch, HITKOR sells access  to the ‘event.’ At their end, artists can leverage their reach to ensure they don’t just have a show — ‘they have a floor-to-ceiling event experience for optimal commerce, the best artistic presentation, and a world-class show for all of their fans.’

Nearly $1.3 billion has been plowed into music-focused companies so far this year, according to details tracked and compiled by DMN Pro’s Music Industry Funding Tracker. But that’s tame compared to explosive Q1 2023 totals.

Investors are still making heady bets on promising music startups, companies, and funds, but the ebullience of last year is cooling down.

For the first three months of 2024, total music industry funding levels topped $1.266 billion, according to rounds tracked by DMN Pro’s Music Industry Funding Tracker. That compares to a whopping total of $4.195 billion for the comparable Q1 of 2023, a period that also witnessed significantly larger deal flow.

The Music Industry Funding Tracker is DMN Pro’s subscriber-only database that tracks rounds big and small, complete with details about specific rounds (pre-seed to late-stage), investors (both lead and supporting), and dollar commitments involved. The database covers hundreds of investments over multiple years and offers a valuable resource for anyone placing or receiving growth bets in the music industry.

Despite the difference in funding totals, 2024 has its share of heady investments. Topping the list is Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group (IAG), which revealed an impressive $1 billion investment tranche led by New York’s HPS Investment Partners in mid-February. That was coupled with the news of IAG’s acquisition of the Rod Stewart catalog, with similarly gigantic IP acquisitions potentially ahead.

But 2023 had its own monster rounds — and more of them. Dropping the biggest jaws was gamma., which bagged its own $1 billion investment round in March of last year. Incidentally, that was followed by a $100 million round in February of this year, powered by Alpha Wave Global.

Other weighty rounds in 2023 included Kakao Entertainment, which pulled down a $966 million round, and Spirit Music Group owner Lyric Capital, which secured $410 million in funding commitments in February of last year, part of a broader $800 million IP acquisition fund raise.

Other 9-figure rounds were commonplace in early 2023, part of a potential spike year in investment activity for the music industry.

Case in point: total 2023 music industry funding topped $10 billion, according to DMN Pro’s tallies. That was more than double 2022’s $4.8+ billion in overall funding. Putting things into context, 2024 may simply represent a ‘return to normalcy’ rather than a year-over-year plunge.

(For those looking to explore last year’s heady investment environment, check out DMN Pro’s recent research report on this explosive year.)

As for March of this year, investment rounds focused on production and creative collaboration tools. The rounds were substantial for the companies involved, but the month was subdued overall — especially when compared to the same month last year.

Rounds secured included WavMaker ($5 million seed round), BeatConnect ($1.86 million seed round), and Hook ($3.5 million seed round). Investors powering those rounds included some noted investors, ranging from individuals like Vicky Patel to investment firms such as Sfermion and Point72 Ventures and ventures like FICC, Anges Québec, and Triptyq Capital.

By comparison, in March 2023, funding volumes topped a substantial $1.446 billion. In fairness, March 2023 included the 10-figure, $1 billion gamma round and two additional rounds topping $150 million (Character.ai) and $200 million (Torch Capital).

All over the map: selected artists’ social media followers, YouTube subscribers, and Spotify monthly listeners.

TikTok is facing its greatest regulatory threat to date in the U.S., where lawmakers are rallying behind forced-sale legislation. TikTok says this would effectively amount to a ban in the app’s biggest market, with ripple effects impacting dozens of industries. But what exactly would a ban look like for the music industry?

TikTok’s possible U.S. shutdown would bring music-specific consequences affecting licensing, supplemental artist income, promotion, discovery, fan interaction, and more. Though nothing to scoff at, the lost licensing revenue would pale in comparison to the absence of what has quietly become a go-to promotional tool for artists and labels of all sizes.

In this DMN Pro Weekly Report, we attempt to pick apart a post-TikTok world.

Report Table of Contents:

I. A Recap of the TikTok Forced-Sale Bill’s Legislative Progress 

II. The Music Industry Without TikTok: How a U.S. Ban Could Affect Labels’ Revenue and Artists’ Income

A. Graph: Selected Artists’ Social Media Followers, YouTube Subscribers, and Spotify Monthly Listeners

III. TikTok As a Music Marketing Tool – Will a Viable Replacement Emerge in the Event of a U.S. Shutdown? 

IV. TikTok and the Future of Music: Should We Expect Fundamental Industry Changes Post-Ban? 

V. By the Dates: Key Music Industry Revenue- and Promotion-Related TikTok Developments, 2022-2024

New! Join the DMN Pro subscriber-only discussion below.

Also please note that any authorized redistribution of this report is prohibited — thank you.

WavMaker, a music licensing startup designed with video creators in mind, has launched. Photo Credit: Jakob Owens

WavMaker, a music licensing startup geared towards video creators, has officially launched and announced $5 million in seed funding.

Tennessee-based WavMaker reached out with word of its formal debut and multimillion-dollar backing today. Founded by former Soundstripe higher-up Matt Arcaini (who doubles as CEO), industry vet Mark Stuart (director of label services), and Wavy Records co-founder Caleb Grimm (director of marketing), WavMaker bills itself specifically as “a next-generation music licensing platform.”

On the capital front, Vicky Patel, co-founder of film production house Monarch Media and “a principal” in the aforementioned Wavy Records, led WavMaker’s $5 million seed raise.

Moving forward, subscription-based WavMaker says it’ll use the involved capital to bankroll expansion initiatives, bring on additional team members, and bolster customer-outreach efforts.

Bigger picture, WavMaker has emphasized the belief that video creators are grappling with “inconsistent or stagnant libraries with high costs and confusing licensing structures.” As such, it intends to afford the professionals access to a pre-licensed library that’s “refreshed constantly” with new music.

“As a musician and creator myself,” CEO Matt Arcaini said, “I understand the constant struggle to find affordable, quality music for video content. Sifting through a platform to find the right music can be frustrating and limit creativity.

“We created WavMaker to offer creators and musicians a mutually beneficial and frustration-free solution. Our platform frees creators from worrying about acquiring high-quality music and allows them to focus on producing incredible content. Musicians have a new outlet for their music. It’s a win-win for all,” concluded Arcaini.

Touting WavMaker’s technical capabilities in separate remarks – the platform wasn’t live at the time of writing but is expected to open up this month – CTO Jack Whitis pointed to “an intuitive user interface” and more.

“Our team has put tremendous care into building an intuitive user interface that makes finding and acquiring high-quality music easier than ever,” the former Soundstripe and Rosie engineering exec communicated in part. “Our platform abstracts away the inherent complexity of music licensing and makes finding the right song part of the creative process. We’re constantly trying to put ourselves in the creator’s shoes and anticipate the things that might slow down their workflow.”

In other funding news, social-focused remix startup Hook earlier in March expanded its own seed round, while musician-collaboration platform BeatConnect disclosed an additional $1.86 million in funding, elevating its total capital raised to roughly $4.3 million.

Will.i.am speaking at DMN Pro’s AI-focused symposium in October, 2023 at the artist’s FYI headquarters in Los Angeles (photo: Digital Music News)

When it comes to AI, will.i.am is emerging as one of several high-profile artists embracing the technology. Now, the artist — in conjunction with his FYI app — is debuting a SiriusXM radio show featuring a seriously convincing AI co-host, qd.pi.

Digital Music News first tipped news of the upcoming SiriusXM channel, dubbed ‘Will.i.am Presents the FYI Show,’ last week. Now, it’s showtime: according to details shared by the satellite radio giant, the show will begin airing on Thursday night on SiriusXM’s The 10s Spot (channel 11).

The kicker: will.i.am’s cohost is an ‘AI deejay’ and a seriously convincing one at that. A quick listen makes you realize that AI radio deejaying has arrived — and may be ready for primetime.

But how convincing is this? Ahead of the show’s debut, the Black Eyed Peas progenitor shared a preview of the show with DMN on a dedicated channel on FYI, an app designed by will.i.am to be the ‘ultimate productivity tool for creatives’. A few minutes in, and will.i.am’s sidekick AI deejay, qd.pi, appears. She’s scarily convincing — and without the AI disclaimer, listeners might think they’re listening to a well-spoken Brit.

This isn’t the navigational voice in your car mispronouncing street names. Instead, qd.pi’s inflections, timing, and pronunciations are almost impeccable — scarily so.

The rest is a mix of hits (think Bad Bunny, Post Malone, and Pharrell), chats with guests like Xzibit, and pass-offs to qd.pi. “Each week, we’re gonna take a deep dive into pop culture, music, entertainment, world news, and technology,” will.i.am describes in the show’s opening minutes. “We’re going to have thought-provoking discussions, hilarious games, interviews with some of my favorite people making culture today, and of course, the hottest music.”

“It’s also the first show with an AI radio cohost,” will.i.am reminds us. Indeed, this is the special sauce that makes this show genuinely different.

Interestingly, will.i.am refers to qd.pi as ‘it,’ which suggests some refreshing distance.

For those familiar with AI ‘companion’ platforms like Replika and candy.ai, that’s not always the case. But regardless of your orientation towards AI personalities, qd.pi does sound remarkably close to an actual human. According to will.i.am, this is the result of a relatively advanced large language model iteration.

“Nobody’s programming you telling you what to say, there’s nobody behind a mystery curtain with a microphone,” will.i.am assured. “There’s nobody typing what you’re saying. You’re a for real, large language model, able to have conversations — real deep ones, with knowledge about what’s happening in real-time. You are a for-real-for-real type of AI.”

Unsurprisingly, qd.pi agreed with that praiseworthy assessment, backing up the statement with an eloquent verification. Meanwhile, will.i.am also aims to complement the action on SiriusXM with a concurrent channel and chat on FYI, a social media startup with splashy Hollywood digs.

Perhaps the best part of the debut FYI Show is decidedly non-AI.

In a discussion about cars, rap, and everything in between, guest Xzibit offered some interesting information about his now-famous show, Pimp My Ride. “To be honest, I never intended to do reality TV. I did it because I wanted [MTV] to play my f-ing videos,” Xzibit admitted. “The people that listened to my music were on one side. But then I was getting soccer moms and people who didn’t care about Xzibit the rapper, but there was a character and personality that was comforting or funny, or I said something funny and they got it. It had nothing to do with my music, and that was the light bulb for me.”

“Pimp My Ride changed my life. It took me from a regional rapper to a global brand.”

Late last year, FYI generously offered its workspace for Digital Music News to host an AI-focused music industry symposium. The packed event drew producers, publishers, music technologists, lawyers, investors, and artists from all corners of the music industry.

“As far as focusing my ideas and strategizing with collaborators, I use AI for that,” Will said during one of the panels. “The thinking through how to put [a track] out in the world, what does it mean to the world? It’s more solution-oriented for helping with marketing, and I like AI for that.”

Photo Credit: UMG

Last year, Universal Music filed for a new trademark for a service called ‘UMusicLift.’ Now it appears they’re putting the finishing touches on launching a new music startup incubator. Here’s what we know.

The first appearance of the ‘UMusicLift’ brand appeared in a USPTO filing marked December 9, 2023. That filing appeared to be a broad reaching trademark for the UMusicLift name, spanning music education and information about the music industry. In short, a generalized trademark application to cover all potential bases for the name.

Now the official ‘UMusicLift’ website is online, which gives us a bit more idea about what Univeral Music has planned for the brand. The initiative is coming out of Universal Music Group’s Digital Innovation team and will serve as a new online hub dedicated to “supporting the next generation of diverse, music-related startups and entrepreneurs who aim to accelerate the next wave of digital transformation.”

So what will the music tech products look like that come from this model? It could be a copy-paste of the early-stage support we’ve seen in Silicon Valley time and time again. Or it could be a place for UMG’s Digital team to spin out its own emerging concepts.

UMG’s SVP, Digital Innovation Strategy & Business Development Kristen Cullen Bender spoke a bit about the new initiative, saying “you’re going to find tools for learning, news, spotlights, all these different resources and pathways to connect back into the business.”

The page itself only offers a splash screen with its ‘coming soon’ message and a place for users to sign up to be notified when the hub actually launches. So when will those finishing touches come? Who knows—the site is up after less than a month of the trademark filing going live so UMG is moving at a good clip here.

(l to r) TRAX co-founders Tom Stuart (CEO), Ollie Francis (CTO), and Henry Wilson (COO). Photo Credit: TRAX

Web3 superfan platform TRAX has announced a nearly $3 million “decentralized funding round.”

UK-based TRAX, which bills itself specifically as “a content aggregator and social marketplace helping artists build a digital space for” diehard supporters, just recently unveiled the $2.9 million raise.

As described by the startup, the capital was secured via the Internet Computer blockchain. Now, the entity is set to function “as a decentralized autonomous organization” (DAO), with its various $TRAX governance-token holders “democratically” controlling operations.

“The funds raised will be held in TRAX DAO’s treasury,” the company indicated, “allowing $TRAX holders to decide on how best to utilise them.”

Notably, between the late-December close of the decentralized round and the mid-January funding announcement, the initially mentioned $2.9 million tranche is said to have swelled (owing to a valuation boost for the underlying digital currency) to approximately $4 million.

“With our decentralized funding round complete,” CEO Tom Stuart communicated in a statement, “TRAX is seeking opportunities to maximize the benefit we provide to artists through partnerships, events, and other bespoke opportunities, in the UK and around the world.”

Previously, December had seen the TRAX head Stuart thank the operation’s backers, tease “some big announcements and updates in the New Year,” and double down on an ambitious goal of bringing “web3 technology to the masses through music.”

Expanding on the latter objective as it relates to TRAX’s core superfan-monetization ambitions, the business has emphasized its plans to help artists build lucrative fan communities offering exclusive content and shows.

As 2024 progresses – and a number of superfan platforms work in earnest to drive monetization – it’ll be worth monitoring the actual income advantages delivered to creators. As it stands, the likes of Tune.fm, Renaissance, We Are Giant, Sony Music-backed Fave, and several others are equipped with newly raised funds and looking to capitalize on the fandom of ultra-dedicated supporters.

Meanwhile, evidence suggests that superfan enthusiasm – a central component of each company’s model, of course – remains abundant. South Korea physical album sales exceeded a record 115 million during 2023, according to Circle Chart data, with Seventeen alone having moved an astonishing 16 million units on the year.

Additionally, streaming’s prevalence is growing dramatically in emerging markets including India, with the vast majority of MENA’s music revenue now attributable to streaming as well. In the long term, these and adjacent developments could well lay the groundwork for global superfan initiatives.

Digital Music News and longtime partner Reprtoir joined forces for a live-streamed panel to tackle some opportunities and challenges tied to AI catalog management.

On the occasion of Reprtoir and Cyanite teaming up to launch Audio AI — an auto-tagging and similarity research tool powered by artificial intelligence — we touched base on a few hot topics for the music industry companies managing catalogs and their challenges. Our esteemed panel included:

• Lara Angelil from Reprtoir
• Markus Schwarzer from Cyanite
• Juvénal Juarez from Gerencia 360
• Danny Dunlap from Beacon Street Studios
• Paul Resnikoff moderating from Digital Music News

From scattered assets and metadata across various platforms to the barrier for creation being considerably lowered these last few years, our panelists went over the main issues music professionals are facing and the best solutions.

All in all, we asked ourselves how to manage assets professionals already have at hand, while also adding new information, traing catalogs safely and creating one unique source of information for a company’s teams. Follow the discussion with the recording or grab the key takeaways here.

A Brand New Way to Think About Assets and Catalogs

Lately, catalog sales have been all around, everyone has heard about the vast amounts put into obtaining the most prominent artists’ rights. Catalogs are moving around more often than ever, but this trend necessitates a clear understanding of what assets are worth to negotiate. Companies like Gerencia 360 are regularly dealing with offers and potential sales. Juvenal Juarez took the time to explain how difficult a clear understanding and a full view of what you own is for music companies.

Knowing your entire catalog is impossible; there will always be a small portion of rights, or rights-holders identity, owners won’t be able to identify. Managing assets and their metadata the right way helps find the blind spots, adding new metadata in an already organized system when it’s possible and eventually reducing the liability to a minimum. In the end, a music business has to know how to do business, and using tools to understand what’s in a company’s roster is essential.

Beyond the business side, it’s also essential to ensure that the internal system makes sense to everyone. “One of the things we really took advantage of with Reprtoir and Cyanite is taking the subjectivity out of metadata tagging. We like to say ‘assets’ but we’re talking about music, it’s art. And because it’s art, there’s a certain amount of subjectivity.” said Danny Dunlap from Beacon Street Studios.

By integrating AI-powered tools, some standardization in the management of assets becomes possible, making workspaces like Reprtoir easier to collaborate on. This means that researching through a catalog becomes much more accessible and can go deeper than recent tracks or a few ideas popping up in one’s head. It becomes way more efficient and values a complete catalog.

Pulling the thread here, this changes how music professionals interact with their catalogs. Accessing the value of data levels the field; it’s not reserved to large companies with resources to tag and deploy searches anymore. “Anybody can now make their catalog work for them right now. You don’t need to spend years studying it to start to maximize on it.” noted Lara Angelil from Reprtoir.

AI as a Collaborative Tool for Music Professionals

On that note, our panelists have been giving feedback on their work with AI in catalog management. The impact is glorious; interfacing with a catalog (large or not) shifts completely as AI allows for surprising results, a complementary proposition through the whole collection of assets.

Markus Schwarzer, founder of Cyanite, expressed how they thought about the AI implication for music professionals: “We come from the fascination of music moments. This moment when music randomly fits perfectly to your situation, activity, mood, who you are at the moment. (…) Being able to speak in your own language, describe the sound you want to listen to and actually get it, is bringing us closer to these music moments than trying to translate your words into keywords.”

In the current context, in which Sync takes up a lot of space in music companies’ workload, AI is a must-have. Using smart tools to look for that right track at the right time, independently from the release date, is a big help. As Juvenal Juarez from Gerencia 360 said, “This is a great time for copyright owners to have these tools. We’re scratching the surface on this next-level tagging. Genres are easy to tag but now when you get into emotions that are very human, in the next 5 years, they’ll find a lot of gems for these placements, giving them a boost of energy and motivation.”

How Do We Integrate AI In the Music Industry?

So now the big question: how to regulate the use of such an important technological shift? According to our panelists, the big debate resides in content ingestion; are we allowed to drop an entire catalog into a massive machine-learning program to train it?

One rule has been set: a fully AI-generated content is not “copyrightable”. So how do we decide if a track has enough “human” in its composition to fall under copyright law? Will we have the right technology to know who or what composed a piece of music? Will it be a cat and mouse game?

More than composition, AI will unveil so much data on the performance of previous tracks that it might become trickier for new artists to match the potential to be used on social media, launch trends and make it a hit again. Indeed, there’s no lucky guess, it’s a way to recreate and inflate value (hence the various big catalog sales we’ve seen happening within the last years).

AI is, therefore, also used by some platforms to determine which tracks are more likely to become a trend based on previous data. The endgame here is to make sure tracks will “work” on platforms and content. As Danny Dunlap from Beacon Street Studios said, “when we get briefed, it’s not uncommon to receive ‘make it sound like TikTok’!”.

Will There Be Too Much Metadata in the End?

With more and more data, more and more creations and the ability to share even more information with it, will there be too much to deal with? According to Lara Angelil at Reprtoir, professionals will be able to manage it easily, as long as they gear up and get the right tools and give clarity on their activity: “scalability is key, with tools like Reprtoir it’s possible to grow with all influx of information (…) knowing your data and having access to you data makes it so much easier to create transparency.”

Dive deeper into our discussion with Reprtoir in the replay of our panel, available here!

l to r: Titan Content chief visual officer Guiom Lee, CEO Katie Kang, board chair Nikki Semin Han, and chief performance officer Lia Kim. Photo Credit: Titan

Titan Content, a self-described “multinational K-pop powerhouse” founded by former SM Entertainment CEO Nikki Semin Han, has officially launched with a goal of growing the genre’s reach on the global stage.

Los Angeles-headquartered Titan Content, which has a presence in Seoul as well, emailed Digital Music News today about its formal rollout. Billing itself as “the first U.S.-based music company totally committed to the thriving K-pop genre,” Titan says it intends to work towards “bridging the gap between East to West business and creative talent.”

Beyond developing artists in pursuit of the objective, the start-up has set its sights on expanding “to a variety of festivals and brands” in the long term. Also in the pipeline for Titan, which has tapped “true luminary” Katie Kang as CEO, are initiatives designed to complement components of “traditional K-pop business models” with Web3, metaverse, and artificial intelligence buildouts.

While concrete details about the latter as well as different areas of Titan Content’s operations are forthcoming, the K-pop business further disclosed an “initial seed round” led by blockchain investment firm RW3 Ventures and Stockholm’s Raptor Group, with Seoul-based Dreamus described as a “co-lead investor.”

Similarly, though Titan hasn’t shed light upon the precise size of this raise, it did identify as co-investors Animoca Ventures, “metaverse-native investment firm” Sfermion, Hayden Bell’s Bell Partners, blockchain platform Avalanche, Heros Entertainment, Web3 VC Infinity Ventures Crypto, San Francisco’s Scrum Ventures, and blockchain gaming company Planetarium.

Shifting to the executive side, the aforementioned Nikki Semin Han has signed on as Titan’s board chair, with 1Million Dance Studio’s Lia Kim as chief performance officer, former Prada sales head Guiom Lee as chief visual officer, and former SM Entertainment exec Dom Rodriguez as chief business officer.

In a statement, Titan Content’s CEO highlighted an ambitious vision for the business’s potential against the backdrop of a quick-expanding K-pop sphere.

“By connecting the East and the West, TITAN plans to lead the K-pop revolution on a global scale,” elaborated Katie Kang. “Not only will we utilize our vast experience and expertise to develop and create beloved K-pop artists and brands, we will also push the industry forward through savvy Web3 disruption.”

Titan isn’t alone in hunting for international K-pop results and/or looking to build upon K-pop success in different genres. To be sure, the Exile Music owner Hybe earlier in November revealed the final six members of the U.S.-based girl group, Katseye, that it formed in collaboration with Universal Music Group (UMG).

Additionally, Sony Music-partnered SM Entertainment is currently creating a “British boy group,” SM controlling stakeholder Kakao has scored a Sony Music tie-up of its own, and JYP Entertainment over the summer finalized a bolstered deal with UMG’s Republic.

Photo Credit: Aleksandr Popov

After partnering with Australasian music rights management organization APRA AMCOS last year, Music Recognition Technology (MRT) company Audoo has now announced an expanded rollout of its Audio Meters in the region. Audoo’s CEO reveals that the first tranche of installations in key Australian and New Zealand cities was a success — and ‘scaling is now the next step.’

DMN first reported on the initial phase of the partnership between APRA AMCOS and British MRT company Audoo in the summer of 2022. Now a year later, Audoo reveals that APRA AMCOS is committed to the tech’s early adoption. With a focus on that ambition, APRA AMCOS is significantly expanding the number of its devices installed in venues that are licensed for public performances.

Ryan Edwards, CEO of Audoo, explained that the extended rollout will exhibit a significant increase in Audio Meters being installed throughout Australia and New Zealand. “Australia is very populous around the edges, and this next phase will encompass all major cities and major metropolitan areas. We’re already dotted across the country,” Edwards relayed.

The Audoo and APRA AMCOS expansion will allow licensees to ensure that songs played in their premises are more accurately recognized, and paid for in compliance with copyright laws. Several years ago, Audoo partnered with DMN to accelerate its accuracy-focused mission.

Edwards relayed that the partnership and their Australasian model will potentially kickstart a global evolution of methodology for rights management organizations — switching from estimated public performance plays to actual play data.

For decades, the public performance royalty-collection process has been dominated by the use of proxy data and surveys. More recently, innovation-focused organizations like APRA AMCOS have sought out precise methodologies and technologies to enhance their distribution practices.

With Audoo, Edwards believes that rights management companies can implement better technologies to ensure even greater accuracy and transparency of play counts and rights holders’ payments. Focusing on that very aspect, Edwards says, “Audoo utilizes real world data to accurately digitize, streamline, and scale public performance data.”

Audio Meters allow Audoo to tune out the noise of busy public environments, and accurately recognize the music being played via ‘fingerprinting.’

Audoo’s Audio Meter is a multi-patented solution that monitors music played on commercial premises. The technology allows Audoo to tune out the noise of busy public environments, and accurately recognize the music being played via ‘fingerprinting.’ This data is then taken to Audoo’s cloud-based platform to streamline revenue disbursement for partner royalty societies. “Rights management organizations analyze this data alongside other music-use data sources. This is a complex, ongoing process,” says Edwards.

Edwards believes that public performance insights paired with global data will kickstart a new era of accuracy.

He also revealed that Audoo has already partnered with multiple rights management organizations, with more formal announcements to follow in the coming months.

According to Edwards, Audoo is uniquely placed because governments are now inquiring about the standards and quality of metadata across the music industry supply chain. “This is another step towards music modernization. We are now dealing with rights management organizations around the world and seeing different data standards and processes,” he added.

Generic insights involving most-played artists in different locations will also assist labels, publishers, managers, and organizers. By discovering which areas have the highest traction for a certain artist or music genre, Edwards says managers gain another data point to guide targeted promotions — and ultimately higher revenue. “As one example, artist tours could be planned based on higher geographical-based plays,” he relayed.

Edwards admits that this data already exists via social media and streaming numbers, but makes a case that Audoo insights are the missing puzzle piece that make data more usable and implementable. He added, “That’s what we’re plugging. We allow rights management organizations to harness data and use it.”

In July, Audoo also announced partnerships with PRS for Music and PPL for a large-scale UK rollout. Speaking about the move, Edwards said, “The take up from venues has been amazing. We’re getting into as many locations as possible.”

Photo Credit: Scottsdale Mint

Music distributor Too Lost will now feature a direct integration of beatBread — a funding platform geared towards independent artists, labels, and distributors. The two companies originally paired up in 2021, working together to advance millions of dollars of growth capital.

Too Lost is a long-term partner of Digital Music News. We’re excited to share this latest news from the company.

Building on the success of the two-year initiative, the integration brings beatBread’s chordCashAI automated advance customization tools directly into the Too Lost platform. Too Lost-distributed artists and label owners can now access fast-tracked advances, and customize their deal terms directly via their Too Lost account.

BeatBread offers advances between $1,000 to $2 million per artist, with even larger financing options offered via the beatBread investor network. According to Too Lost, available funding options will be updated automatically with each payment cycle. All advances will be repaid from a share of the artist’s streaming and airplay revenues, over a period of time chosen by the artist.

Speaking to DMN about the Too Lost integration, beatBread CEO Peter Sinclair relayed that Too Lost has been leveraging beatBread’s financial resources and technology to stimulate massive growth during the last two years. “We are excited to help Too Lost power the next stage of their growth journey.”

“We are always looking to help pro-artist companies grow. We provide flexible options that enable our partners to confidently deploy their own capital, beatBread’s capital, or a combination of both.”

Sinclair further said, “This embedded technology shows our commitment not only to fund independent artists and labels, but also to partner with innovative artist service companies who share our mission to accelerate the music industry’s rapid transition to creator independence.”

Too Lost helps independent music creators distribute, monetize, and protect their music across the globe. The indie distribution platform has distributed millions of recordings for over 250,000 artists and labels, generating over 5 billion streams per month for its users. On the back of those achievements, Too Lost has more than tripled its revenues during the last year alone.

Gregory Hirschhorn, cofounder and CEO of Too Lost, also commented on the platform’s beatBread partnership and integration, saying, “beatBread has been a significant growth catalyst for us, and we look forward to partnering with them to power this next phase of Too Lost’s growth. There’s even more coming out of this partnership in the future, so stay tuned.”

New York-headquartered music and technology company Too Lost provides SaaS solutions for indie musicians. Too Lost-distributed artists include Pink $weats, Ali Gatie, CG5, JT Music, Alina Baraz, YG, Aaron May, ILOVEMAKONNEN, and Dave East.

With the direct integration, Too Lost artists gain greater financing customization and control. beatBread’s technology allows independent labels, distributors, and artist service companies to provide deeper financial support to their artists under their own brand, and inside their own digital experiences.

The funds are advanced to artists on the basis of existing catalogs, newly-released music, and unreleased tracks.

Users can quickly sign up for the Splash Pro free tier, reveals Splash General Manager Tarika Wickremeratne.

Generative AI platform Splash just released its Gen-2 feature, allowing users to generate new music, lyrics, and vocals from a text prompt. Splash’s models are exclusively trained on a self-owned music library of loops composed by the platform’s music team — allowing Splash to offer broad and flexible commercial licenses to users.

Tarika Wickremeratne, General Manager at Splash, recently sat down with Digital Music News to explain how the generative AI platform transcends the standards set by other generative music companies that do not own their proprietary datasets.

Splash enlisted an entire music team that recorded hours of several musicians playing music and singing to create a fully generative AI music and vocals library. This in-house library trained their AI model to generate music and vocals via a simple text prompt.

“We own all of our music in our Splash library,” Wickremeratne relayed. “We want people to go out and monetize their creations, either by putting it on YouTube and earning money that way, or if they want to use it for their actual production work, video content, etcetera.” Just recently, Splash joined forces with DMN to further broaden awareness of its Gen-2 release.

Wickremeratne reveals that the company has published a comparison that shows precisely where Splash Pro stands in the competitive AI space, specifically with other text-to-music or generative AI platforms on the market.

Compared to features other text-to-music platforms bring to the table, Wickremeratne says Gen-2’s biggest flex is its ability to issue ‘very broad, very flexible commercial licenses to users.’

Wickremeratne says Google’s MusicLM and Facebook’s MusicGen cannot offer full commercial licenses. “They don’t have the rights to the music their models were trained on,” she explains.

Speaking about Stable Audio, she notes that even though the company is offering commercial licenses to users, ‘Stable Audio’s dataset has been licensed from an external production music company called AudioSparx.’ Wickremeratne relayed that Splash Pro’s datasets — on the other hand — are custom-created, so they can be tailored ‘to suit their customers’ evolving needs.’

Ownership of music libraries isn’t Gen-2’s only differentiating factor. The platform also offers proprietary text-to-vocal AI generation across multiple genres, using a Splash-exclusive catalog that is constantly expanding and growing.

“You can generate lyrics and get a generative voice that sings for you, choose whether that voice raps or sings. Even select different voices across different genres. As far as I know, we’re one of the only companies that do that,” said Wickremeratne.

“You can generate lyrics and get a generative voice that sings for you,” says Wickremeratne.

“Ownership and rights give us the ability to control our own destiny and not be at the mercy of legal complexities that come with partnerships and licensing agreements,” she adds.

Gen-2 also boasts an extensive list of genres that users can generate. Wickremeratne says they specialize in a Gen-Z and Alpha-inspired music catalog because, in the past, they ‘have always been a core audience of Splash.’ She adds, “A lot of EDM, hyperpop, lo-fi, funk, hip hop, trap, dubstep — those kinds of genres. We feel like that’s a key differentiator for us.”

This constant diversification and growth of the Splash catalog, according to Wickremeratne, remains one of the key goals for the company. “Our catalog is always growing because our music team’s work isn’t done. They are continuing to widen and expand the genres and music styles we offer.”

Wickremeratne says Splash Pro Gen-2 is all about more control and customization options— the intuitive user interface allows just that. “The platform is set out so that people get music that matches their prompt much faster than others — and they get a lot more choices.”

“Users can leverage many levers to tweak their music, whether it’s adding lyrics or changing the length of the song,” explains Wickremeratne, concluding with, “Splash brings many nuanced customization options for users.”

Elaborating on the tool’s ease of use, Wickremeratne reveals how users can quickly sign up for the Splash Pro free tier. “Users can experiment with unlimited track generations before deciding whether they need a paid version with more features.”

She adds, “You type in a description of the song you want to hear — say, a romantic ballad or a house track from the nineties. Add BPM, and add the genre you want. In just a few seconds, you’ll get five short samples that you can listen to that match your prompt.”

Users can extend these samples to different lengths. They can add lyrics, singing, or rapping to the track to create downloadable full-length songs in multiple file formats.

After multiple AI releases over the years, Wickremeratne shares that the biggest pivot for the company occurred after various breakthroughs in Machine Learning (ML) technology. “Our products are heavily inspired by companies like ChatGPT and Midjourney, which revealed to the world how powerful text could be as an input method.”

Wickremeratne explains that these ML breakthroughs ‘allowed us to achieve a longstanding, ambitious goal for Splash — to allow people to make music with AI.’ This shift led to Splash’s March 2023 release of Beatbot, a text-to-music experiment to gauge the usage of an AI music service with AI rapping.

Just three months later, in June, Splash launched Splash Pro Gen-1, calling it the tool that brings ‘AI-powered music at the speed of a text prompt.’ Gen-1 offered customization features such as BPM specification, generative and editable lyrics, 15 AI rappers and singers, as well as song length and arrangement options. Wickremeratne reveals that amateur DJs, creators, and bloggers on YouTube and TikTok had been early takers of Gen-1.

With the September release of Gen-2, Splash now boasts its fully generative music model, producing 44.1kHz stereo quality audio, with AI mastering tools, high-quality wav and stem downloads, and even the ability to create lyric videos.

The generative platform isn’t new to the AI business. Splash (formerly Popgun) first appeared on the music landscape in 2017, led by ex-Twitter alums Stephen Phillip and Richard Slatter, who also founded We Are Hunted. In 2012, Twitter purchased this machine-learning music discovery tool.

Splash went on to secure seed funding in 2018. By 2020, the ‘Splash — Music & Skate’ game had been introduced on Roblox, allowing players to create music and perform to live audiences inside virtual venues. The company then completed a $20 million Series A round in 2021 — co-led by Amazon’s Alexa Fund and BITKRAFT Ventures, with participation from Khosla Ventures and King River Capital.

Wickremeratne recalls how Splash focused on growing the Roblox game as the biggest virtual music festival, reaching over 4 million monthly active users. “We created the Roblox game to build our loop library. The game allowed players to perform music live on a virtual stage using a beatmaker instrument — a DJ pad with 48 buttons for different sounds that could be combined in different ways to make really cool music.”

Splash began building its ‘proprietary music catalog’ in 2019, ‘first for our app, then Roblox, and now for Splash Pro.’ Wickremeratne adds, “All the while, we’ve continued to invest in R&D to improve our music and voice generation and other AI capabilities.”

Wickremeratne relays that these efforts eventually led to the data that now underpins Splash AI training. The platform deployed this music across their Roblox game and mobile app while also training their AI models on it.

“There’s always been an engine running in the background,” Wickremeratne explained. “Splash has always been about democratizing music creation — putting really easy-to-use, simple, intuitive music tools in the hands of as many people as possible. There’s a real joy to creating music that you can’t get in quite any other way.”

Gen-2 has only been on the market for two months, so predicting the next developments is difficult.

As Splash’s AI model grows bigger and gains more sophistication, new sounds or even genres could emerge. It’s also inevitable that competitors will continue to innovate in the generative music space with gusto. However, with their models trained on entirely different datasets compared to Splash AI, will these new entrants bring completely unique sounds to differentiate themselves?

There’s also the possibility of text-to-music AI becoming mainstream. If producers start incorporating the sounds of Splash Pro into their work, it could signal a seismic shift in music creation and redefine what it means to ‘make’ music.

For now, Wickremeratne is closely watching how it all develops and adjusting Splash Pro’s roadmap accordingly.

Splash Pro subscription options include a Free tier, followed by a Starter tier ($10 per month) meant for creators looking to monetize their content. A Max tier ($49 per month) is meant for teams, developers, and companies. Splash also offers an Enterprise option for companies that require special API access or other advanced support.

Most artists end up juggling various platforms and multiple ‘dashboards’ during the production, distribution, and promotion of their music. Now, OmMuse is working to consolidate everything an artist needs into a central repository — the OmMuse Hub.

For artists, the process of creating, delivering, and monetizing music is a complex chore involving seemingly-endless partners. Apart from the countless nuts and bolts of music production, artists and managers need optimal organization and storage of files, advanced sharing capabilities, collaboration tools, royalty tracking solutions, and mastering tools that allow them to extract the most out of their work.

Most of these solutions are scattered across multiple platforms, forcing artists to coordinate a large number of endpoints. That’s a headache that OmMuse is aiming to solve with a consolidated service that allows every artist — on varying stages of their creative process — to simplify and optimize their creative process. Just recently, OmMuse joined forces with DMN to broaden awareness of their consolidated platform solution.

Company founder & CEO Vivek Patel outlined OmMuse’s vision to simplify music industry processes and propel musicians in their creative pursuits.

Patel adds that OmMuse will allow artists to ‘derive more value from their work by leveraging the latest tech in AI and blockchain.’ OmMuse CMO Chris Gertz-Rombach further explained that OmMuse primarily aims to facilitate accessibility, ease of use, collaboration, and discovery by utilizing tech to its absolute capacity.

The consolidated approach means that artists can tap into interactive creative tools to organize their entire catalog, discover collaboration opportunities, and distribute their music. For indie musicians, OmMuse brings elevated accessibility, a clean interface, and the ability to be discovered directly via the platform.

To keep the interface clean, OmMuse dashboard leads to only three tabs: My OmMuse Hub, Explore, and Artists.

OmMuse is in its late seed stage with a soft launch, and Gertz-Rombach reports that a few hundred early users have provided encouraging feedback. Gertz-Rombach also relayed a success story of musician Michael Alvarado, who is already collaborating with artists he discovered through OmMuse.

OmMuse is free to join ‘because a big part of our ethos is accessibility.’ Gertz-Rombach added, “We want anyone around the world to easily access OmMuse to create music, to distribute it by signing up for free.”

The platform’s cloud-based ecosystem is structured to assist in music-focused pursuits such as storage, organization, and collaboration. Gertz-Rombach says OmMuse was developed because other creative platforms were too ‘noisy.’

“There are way too many features and buttons on other platforms, so OmMuse is streamlined and simple. That’s our most positive feedback, too.”

OmMuse also aims to create simplicity throughout, instead of overwhelming artists with complex processes. Patel calls it the ‘grandpa test,’ adding, “If our grandpa can figure out how to add the songs and batch-upload tracks, then anyone can do it, right? OmMuse hub contains it in one place. It’s encrypted.”

Unlike conventional file storage platforms like Dropbox, OmMuse isn’t packed with music-irrelevant tabs and buttons. Dropbox’s free tier provides a miserly storage of 2GB, alongside a file size limit, which is unworkable for most musicians. The cloud storage giant also fails to offer the flexibility and navigation required for effective music collaboration. Also missing from Dropbox and its competitors are song-specific organizational capabilities, including metadata fields specific to music tracks.

“One of the big long-term plays we’re focusing on is the ability to organize huge sets of music data,” Gertz-Rombach shared. “Our tech automatically extracts metadata from tracks but also detects things like BPM and genre if not added manually. So labels and massive catalogs are organized and sifted through efficiently when uploaded and stored.”

Perhaps most importantly, non-music-specific platforms like Dropbox consistently fail to provide the vigorous privacy required for high-value music files.

To keep the interface clean, the OmMuse dashboard leads to only three tabs: My OmMuse Hub, Explore, and Artist. Users subscribed to the OmMuse free tier can create a profile, upload up to five gigs for free, and gain encrypted storage for large music files. Users can also employ more precise sharing and permission tools — better-suited for potentially lucrative music files.

“Any track you upload publicly will place you on the Explore page,” says Gertz-Rombach.

OmMuse artist profiles provide the spark to find the correct chemistry for collaboration. Gertz-Rombach says these discoverability features close the ‘search’ gap. He explained, “We found a lot of artists who want to be public with their music and get discovered. So any track you upload publicly will place you on the Explore page.”

Artists can also opt-in to become featured artists so others in search for collaborators can reach out and initiate a project. “It’s a way for other musicians, writers, or even labels to find artists.”

OmMuse’s mastering tool with Dolby.io.

Artist profiles can include everything from their work history, a link to their website, and their music. “It’s an additional way for artists to be discovered, and a way to find other collaborators,” Gertz-Rombach relays, adding, “Maybe you’re looking for a producer that can make beats for your next track or a writer to help with a hook? In some ways, it is like a bit of a social platform.”

OmMuse also integrates AI to facilitate music production, mastering, smart contracts, and other creative tools.

“OmMuse also partnered with Dolby, and users subscribed for OmMuse’s paid tier at $7.99 per month receive discounts for Dolby.io AI Mastering. You can preview [the mastered track] up to 30 seconds before you pay for it,” says Gertz-Rombach.

The startup also introduces proprietary smart contracts, with which artists can upload music projects and designate different royalties for multiple collaborators. Gertz-Rombach explained that users can also mint their music through the smart contract for distribution, adding, “We absorb all the minting fees if you’re subscribed to a paid tier.”

The technology company appears to have a major partnership on the cards. Without naming any names, Gertz-Rombach hinted at a prominent digital distribution tie-up for OmMuse. “OmMuse will be the first platform that uses ‘their’ backend API to go within our platform. We’re one of the first that will be able to leverage it.”

Gertz-Rombach says that with further future developments and partnerships, OmMuse will be able to distribute music to all streaming platforms.

(Also, exclusively for DMN readers, OmMuse is offering a three-month subscription to their Major tier for free. OmMuse Minor remains free for everyone.)

Here’s a more detailed overview of OmMuse subscription tiers:

Free Access: OmMuse Minor

• 5GB of Optimized Music & File Storage
• Basic AI-Based Music Organization
• Choose to Share Music Publicly or Privately
• Profile, Tracks, & NFTs Listed on Explore Page
• Full Price Dolby.io AI Mastering ($29.99/track)
• Full Price Music NFT Minting ($29.99/track)
• Unlimited Encrypted Messaging with Users
• Update Track Versions With Collaborators

OmMuse Major: $7.99 per month

• 500GB of Optimized Music & File Storage
• Enhanced AI-Based Music Organization
• Choose to Share Music Publicly or Privately
• Profile, Tracks, & NFTs Listed on Explore Page
• Discounted Dolby.io AI Mastering ($7.99/track)
• Discounted Music NFT Minting ($14.99/track)
• Unlimited Encrypted Messaging with Users
• Update Track Versions With Collaborators

OmMuse Studio: $14.99 per month

• 1TB of Optimized Music & File Storage
• Advanced AI-Based Music Organization
• Choose to Share Music Publicly or Privately
• Profile, Tracks, & NFTs Listed on Explore Page
• *Tracks & NFTs Added to “Featured Section”
• *Profile, Tracks, & NFTs Highlighted on Website
• *Social Media Promotion on OmMuse Socials
• Discounted Dolby.io AI Mastering ($4.99/track)
• Discounted Music NFT Minting ($9.99/track)
• Unlimited Encrypted Messaging with Users
• Update Track Versions With Collaborators

*Premium benefits only available to Studio users

A higher-end, customized Enterprise tier is also available, according to OmMuse.

A nighttime shot of Luxembourg, where ANote Music is based. Photo Credit: Cedric Letsch

European royalty-investment platform ANote Music has announced that it’s raised €3.3 million, and execs are now looking to draw further support from institutional investors with an offering that works “in a similar way to Bowie Bonds.”

Luxembourg-headquartered ANote Music, which bills itself as “Europe’s leading marketplace for investing in music royalties,” emailed Digital Music News today about the funding milestone and the institutional-investor expansion.

On the former front, “additional funding” has enabled the five-year-old blockchain business (which officially launched its platform in late July of 2020) to crack the initially mentioned €3.3 million ($3.64 million at the present exchange rate) in secured funding.

Within the total, the Algorand Foundation’s Algorand Ventures and Limewire stakeholder ACME Innovation are said to have contributed north of €500,000 ($551,235). Meanwhile, ANote Music likewise noted that it had obtained the Young Innovative Enterprise Grant from Luxembourg’s Luxinnovation “national innovation agency.”

This grant, higher-ups indicated, will allow ANote “to receive further backing from Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Economy.” In a statement, Luxinnovation senior advisor of start-up acceleration Sven Baltes reiterated that ANote had participated in Luxembourg’s Fit 4 Start acceleration program in 2019, with continued government support helping the entity “to grow and expand on an international scale.”

And in remarks of his own, Algorand Ventures EVP Ryan Terribilini added in part: “ANote Music is a natural fit for Algorand Ventures, as it represents a unique and exciting use-case for the tokenization of real-world assets, and offers a previously inaccessible asset class to our ecosystem. We are thrilled to see ANote leverage the lightning-fast speed, reliability, and security of the Algorand blockchain to facilitate the trading and distribution of payouts to investors and artists on their platform.”

Shifting to the institutional-investor side, ANote Music also took the opportunity to disclose its sponsoring of Music Royalties Enhanced Strategy Certificates (MRESC), which the company describes as a Bowie Bonds-like product designed “to meet the demand of ANote’s growing customer base of family offices and institutional investors.”

“This news reflects the growing interest that professional investors and family offices have in the music sector,” ANote founding director and CEO Marzio Schena said of the product, which has been designed for investments of over €125,000 ($137,604). “The second half of the year promises to be packed full of more news, as we plan to bring to market our first Asian music catalogue later this summer and launch the ANote Backstage Pass loyalty programme.”

At present, investors can purchase via ANote stakes in the IP revenue of metal artist Logan Mader, Justin Bieber collaborator Steve James, and German indie label Ever Ever Music, to name some, the platform’s website shows. Per the company, “90% of investors on the ANote platform are profitable, with average annual returns of more than 10%.”

Lastly, ANote is “on track” to top €500,000 in “total royalties distributed” by 2023’s end, with a current “active trading platform market cap of €25m,” according once again to the company. In other royalty-investment funding news, May saw anotherblock unveil the close of a roughly $4.4 million seed round.

Auckland, New Zealand, one of the cities where Audoo has deployed its Audio Meter. Photo Credit: Dan Freeman

Despite the widespread availability of detailed music consumption figures, royalties attributable to public usages have long been distributed based upon extrapolated data. And without precise play counts from the many bars, restaurants, stadiums, stores, and malls that operate around the globe, it’s difficult to tell what’s actually playing – a potentially glaring unknown when stream totals require only seconds to identify.

Perhaps international superstars like Celine Dion and Mariah Carey are in fact garnering the lion’s share of public plays today. Or, perhaps a slew of 90s grunge bands are being massively undercounted in specific countries, cities, or establishments.

There are also perplexing cross-territorial questions: artists based outside Europe, for instance, could be in heavy rotation in France and have no idea under the current system.

So what’s the solution to this quandary? Bucking a long legacy of rough reporting estimates is Audoo, a company working to optimize performance royalties with a simple device called the “Audio Meter.” Designed to monitor and identify (via digital-fingerprinting technology) all public plays, the Audio Meter is already being used in establishments from restaurants to shopping malls, according to the London-headquartered company. Audoo has been collaborating with DMN to further expand Audio Meter adoption and more accurately count public plays.

“Installing an Audio Meter in venues is just a matter of plug, play, set, and forget,” Matthew Fackrell, Audoo’s SVP and GM for the Asia-Pacific region, told Digital Music News. “Our Asia-Pacific rollout, which started in Australia and New Zealand across gyms, retail, dance studios, cafes, restaurants, and bars, has been really positively received.

“We’ve obtained the largest set of public performance data ever created, now surpassing millions of reports every quarter and bringing to life our mission of revolutionizing performance royalties through accurate play totals,” continued Fackrell. “We’re also making best-practice reporting easy for individual venues, which ultimately benefits performance rights and collective management organizations.”

With time, the Audio Meter could establish exact figures as the foundation of public play accounting. And along the way, more than a few musicians may learn that their work is entertaining a sizable number of fans in far-flung parts of the world – a possibility that’s not without historical precedent. 

The documentary Searching for Sugar Man introduced viewers to Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter who famously flew under the radar for decades starting in the 1970s. Unbeknownst to the Detroit native, his work had for years been making waves in South Africa. It’s estimated that Rodriguez has sold more albums in the nation than Elvis, but before the film, the artist had been unaware of his significant listenership figures.

These days, the odds of encountering a situation of a similar scope are exceedingly low. But the fact remains that lesser-known acts frequently go unnoticed – and potentially miss out on public play compensation. Without precise play counting, it’s impossible to know.

More broadly, for indie artists, smaller IP owners, and others without strong representation, global PRO connections, or proper metadata, the implications of undercounted plays extend well beyond royalties. Utilizing the insights associated with accurate performance data, musicians and rightsholders can better plan tours, promotional initiatives, and different career endeavors yet.

A musician with a UK top 10 song to his credit, Audoo founder and CEO Ryan Edwards has personally experienced the frustration of undercounted plays. 

And this firsthand understanding prompted him to create Audoo and help the industry put its payment problems in the rearview.

“Experiencing this frustration as a musician,” Edwards told DMN, “I delved into the wider ecosystem, looking to find a solution within public performance distribution with music royalties. The Audoo mission is simple: to have all songwriters and artists receive more accurate compensation with the most optimized data and transparent reporting.”

PROs are taking note. July of 2022 saw Audoo ink a song-detection agreement with Australian PRO APRA AMCOS, under which OneMusic-licensed businesses in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Auckland were equipped with Audio Meters. Evidence suggests that the pact will deliver potentially game-changing stats and payments while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a wider expansion.

Aside from clear-cut advantages on the data and compensation fronts, PROs as well as participating businesses and establishments are also benefiting from the Audio Meter’s simplicity and ease of use, Audoo told DMN. 

The Audio Meter takes just minutes to set up in any standard outlet and, by eliminating manual-reporting requirements, removes human error (including inadvertent omissions) from the equation. For business owners, the Audio Meter is likewise an important step on the multifaceted road to guaranteeing that royalties end up with those who actually created their patrons’ preferred music.

And with the tool’s growing prevalence, future consumption data appears positioned to become increasingly precise and accurate – ushering in potential upsides for both indies and key players.

As highlighted, for smaller rightsholders and acts without massive global followings, the perks of knowing about (and being compensated for) each public song usage go without saying. Tech-centered approaches to monitoring radio have in the past pinpointed indie plays that had fallen through the cracks.

But the industry’s biggest names and most popular tracks also stand to gain from a pivot to hard numbers and concrete data, including when it comes to understanding core listening trends and assuring that all the usages of today’s top songs are being counted.

Ultimately, making empirical stats the foundation of public play calculations is a matter of bringing fairness and accuracy to the forefront of the industry in the long run, regardless of where the cards fall in the short term.  

In an era where physical sales are tracked down to the unit and stream totals reveal exact personal-consumption habits in real time, proper performance tracking may be sorely overdue. That’s a memo being received by PROs and CMOs across multiple continents, with major upgrades and partnerships likely to emerge over the next few quarters.

“The Audoo mission has attracted support from a number of industry peers who believe it will change the landscape in this sector,” Edwards told us. “There are some influential investors too, including music and business icon Björn Ulvaeus, who believes our product ‘will change the music industry forever.’ We’re excited to demonstrate this to more music fans, players, creators, and executives.”

Photo Credit: Sara Larsson and Stephen Gyasi

Less than one year after securing $1.33 million from investors, “self-serve music licensing platform” Freshsound has announced a €2 million ($2.18 million at the present exchange rate) raise and set its sights on spearheading a global expansion.

Word of this newest round from Stockholm-headquartered Freshsound, which says that it provides “professional storytellers with commercially released music” in exchange for “fully transparent” licensing fees, emerged in several Scandinavian tech publications today.

Contrasting competing platforms like Epidemic Sound (which is also based in Stockholm), Freshsound according to its website charges “no subscription fees,” while the aforesaid licensing costs automatically adjust based upon the type of project and usage at hand. And upon pulling down $1.33 million in investor capital last summer, the sync startup tapped former Sony Music and Warner Music higher-up Helen McLaughlin to serve as head of catalog.

Stockholm’s Zenith Venture Capital and Aligned Ventures are said to have led Freshsound’s newest round, however, with participation from former Avito exec Erik Segerborg, Hipgnosis vet Shiv Prakash, Freshsound board member Kristina Tunkrans, Royal Streaming head Gustav Nordlindh, and film director William Olsson.

In a statement, Freshsound co-founder and CEO Stevie Gyasi indicated that the newly obtained capital will help his company “to build its pool of professional storytellers in advertising and production.” Additionally, the Värmeverket co-founder and AP Academy board member touched on the startup’s broader goal of transforming “the rights process for commercial music.”

“This investment round will help Freshsound to build its pool of professional storytellers in advertising and production, increasing the potential for music creators to make money and for the content creators to make even more impactful content,” communicated Gyasi. “We’re excited to continue on our journey into the next phase and bring more users to our cause.”

In other industry funding news, the past month or so has also brought multimillion-dollar raises for event management platform POSH ($5 million), indie distributor Magroove ($1.6 million), AI-powered musician-collaboration startup Myxt ($2 million), smart TV music video app ROXi ($8.7 million), and, earlier this week, AI music separator AudioShake ($2.7 million). Among the latter’s backers are Metallica’s Black Squirrel, AJR, Crush Music, and Peermusic.

Meanwhile, the stretch likewise delivered an almost $11 million round for AI sheet-music digitization service Enote (which counts as an investor the EU’s European Innovation Council) as well as the announcement of a $32 million raise from indie-focused IP-acquisition business Duetti (which Roc Nation, Presight Capital, and others have backed).

Photo Credit: Roc Nation

About four months after reportedly raising $7 million, indie-focused music acquisition company Duetti has formally announced a $32 million round that drew participation from Roc Nation.

New York City-based Duetti unveiled the multimillion-dollar raise – and detailed some of the deals that it’s wrapped thus far – this morning. Founded by former Tidal COO Lior Tibon and former Apple Music business-development exec Christopher Nolte, Duetti is said to have launched “in stealth” last summer.

Since then, the startup, which says that its “innovative model opens new investment opportunities for a previously untapped asset class,” has emerged as “an essential business tool for over 60 independent artists,” according to higher-ups. Including CVBZ, Sylvan LaCue, and Croosh, these 60 or so artists have inked deals extending to north of 100 total songs, Duetti indicated.

And on this front, prospective sellers can part with their “master catalogs, individual tracks, or even parts thereof,” the year-old entity communicated, relaying also that its facilitated acquisitions have paid artists as much as $400,000. Transactions on average require 30 days to wrap, Duetti disclosed, likewise emphasizing other benefits of its “highly scalable data-centered approach.”

Back to the initially mentioned $32 million raise, Herzliya, Israel-headquartered Viola Ventures (as well as Viola Credit), Untitled (presumably referring to London’s Untitled Ventures VC), and San Francisco’s Presight Capital joined Roc Nation in putting up the funds, Duetti specified.

Moving forward, the IP investor intends to use the cash to expand its team, scoop up additional song rights, and implement “new financial optimization opportunities for acquired tracks and catalogs.” Regarding the latter, Duetti touched upon the “range of innovative management and optimization tactics” with which it monetizes acquired works.

Addressing the raise and his business’s broader objectives in a statement, Tibon communicated in part: “In recent years, the trend of legacy A-list musicians selling their entire catalogs has left independent artists out of the equation. Now, artists at all stages of their careers can easily capture the potential of their tracks and catalogs to help them reach the next step of their journey.”

Notwithstanding a slowdown in blockbuster catalog plays, rising rates, and economic concerns, evidence suggests that ample capital is continuing to reach the music-IP sphere.

Armada Music announced last month that it (in collaboration with Pinnacle Financial Partners) would spend $500 million on song rights via BEAT, “the first-ever dance music investment company,” for instance. And amid a steady stream of deals from well-established players, emerging entities like Larrosa Music Group and AMR Songs have closed investments of their own to this point in 2023.

Photo Credit: Sebastian Herrmann

Following 2022’s “crypto winter” and the collapse of FTX, Web3 funding reportedly cratered by 82 percent year over year during the opening quarter of 2023, and the downturn could potentially be impacting all manner of music plays.  

The diminishing financial support behind Web3 (defined in this instance as startups operating in crypto and/or blockchain) just recently came to light in an analysis from Crunchbase. Per the source, the sphere’s venture funding totaled approximately $1.7 billion during Q1 2023.

While sizable in its own right, the sum reflects the aforesaid 82 percent year-over-year (YoY) decline as well as an approximately 30 percent falloff from 2022’s final quarter. Meanwhile, the same outlet relayed that the number of Web3 investment deals, 333, had continued to decrease during 2023’s initial three months.

The total had come in at 369 in Q4 2022 and at over 500 during last year’s first quarter, according to Crunchbase – with Q1 2023’s figure being the lowest since Q4 2020. Of course, it should also be highlighted that investors have likewise started pouring billions into artificial intelligence startups this year.

For additional industry-specific context, 2022 delivered a multitude of low-seven-figure raises for Web3 music startups.

The long list of entities that scored investor support on the year includes but isn’t limited to artist-investment platforms Exceed ($8 million in October) and anotherblock ($2.5 million in June), music NFT platform OneOf ($8 million around August), “Web3 music specialist” Public Pressure ($6 million in December), Web3 audio platform Tamago ($1 million in May), and artist-fan social metaverse Medallion ($9 million in May).

And despite the more recent rollout of a select few Web3 music startups – Snoop Dogg-founded livestream platform Shiller among them – time will reveal the precise impact of the broader sector’s investor-capital dip. Needless to say, the music industry, like the wider tech space, has grappled with a number of layoffs during the past six or so months.

But against the backdrop of cooling investor interest in Web3, it bears reiterating that big-funded music plays including Gimme Radio (which raised $3 million last May and permanently shut down this month) and Mandolin (which was shuttered this week, having raised $17 million total from investors) have ceased operating altogether as of late.

Expanding upon the latter, an abundance of capital poured into livestream startups during 2020, when lockdown measures and large-gathering bans prevented the vast majority of in-person concerts and festivals from taking place. Amid the gradual return of traditional live entertainment, however, VNUE closed its StageIt buyout in early 2022, Driift scooped up Dreamstage last September, and Sessions went dark towards 2023’s beginning.

Photo Credit: Tommy Diner

Amid classical’s much-publicized streaming expansion, digital sheet music startup Enote has announced the “first closing” of a nearly $11 million pre-Series A round.

Berlin-headquartered Enote, which arrived on the scene in 2018 and says that it boasts “an advanced AI system,” just recently unveiled the multimillion-dollar raise. Having launched an iOS app about 18 months back, the platform uses the mentioned AI technology to analyze “millions of static pages and critical findings to reconstruct a definitive digital version of each work,” according to higher-ups.

North of 70,000 musicians have tried Enote thus far, the company disclosed. And while the aforesaid iOS app is equipped with a free tier, its premium plan costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually, the appropriate App Store page shows.

Back to the initial closing of Enote’s pre-Series A round, though, Cologne’s Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures (DvH Ventures), the Rudolf Fuchs family office (which is a longtime Enote backer, its Crunchbase profile shows), and the EU’s European Innovation Council (EIC) put up the €10 million/$10.90 million at hand.

According to the startup, the capital will enable team members to continue building out “the accessible, affordable and interactive sheet music standard” that they’ve developed during the past five or so years. Additionally, Enote indicated that it intends to “bring new innovations to the app, empower educators, and give more musicians the chance to access our library” moving forward.

Expanding upon the latter point, Enote likewise emphasized that investors can participate in the forthcoming “second closing of our Pre-Series A funding round.” The EIC is set to match this raise “Euro for Euro,” per the business.

Addressing the round’s close in a statement, Enote co-founder and CEO Boian Videnoff, who’s also the chief conductor of the Mannheim Philharmonic, stressed “the enormous business opportunity that lies in the still undigitalized sheet music market.” And in comments of his own, DvH Ventures managing partner Peter Richarz highlighted the perceived significance of Enote’s “proprietary artificial intelligence.”

“We are excited to join the founding team in their dream of improving the lives of musicians through technology, making quality sheet music accessible and affordable to everyone, and transforming the music industry in the process,” said Richarz, who relayed on LinkedIn that his firm had led the raise. “Their proprietary artificial intelligence is the key to a unified digital sheet music format.”

During the past month or so, Apple Music has rolled out a standalone classical music app, Universal Music Group (which operates a classical streaming service of its own) has acquired Hyperion Records, and classical publisher Faber Music has purchased Manners McDade.

As the ruckus from Taylor Swift’s ‘Ticketmaster debacle’ simmers down, the ticketing space is quietly working on solutions. That includes VBO Tickets, which is road-testing a sophisticated queueing technology and finding early success.

Ticketmaster-bashing is now America’s favorite pastime — especially if you’re a Swiftie or a politician seeking re-election. But what are the solutions to managing hundreds of thousands of fans who are demanding tickets at the same time? That is now the million-dollar question challenging the industries of live concerts and ticketing.

Perhaps Ticketmaster’s headache spells opportunity for tech-focused ticketing players. Among these well-timed innovators is Silicon Valley-based VBO Tickets, which has been developing a queueing solution that neatly handles all-at-once crushes. The company has managed mass events involving over 100,000 simultaneous buyers and aims to scale those numbers soon.

VBO Tickets is a behind-the-scenes ticketing provider focused on small and mid-sized venues, artists, and events. Founded in 2012, the company has been powering built-in ticketing solutions for theaters, museums, comedy clubs, and music venues for years. Just recently, the company joined forces with DMN to further expand its footprint.

VBO has also been managing one-off events and festivals with an essentially ‘white-label’ solution that is typically invisible to the ticket buyer. Now, those events are getting bigger, showcasing the company’s technologies.

That includes its queueing solution, which has been handling increasingly-substantial crowds. VBO Tickets pointed Digital Music News to one recent success story in Europe, where the company’s queueing solution efficiently dealt with a crush of more than 140,000 prospective buyers within a two-hour timeframe. The company has also pressure-tested double that number in half the time.

“Our system performed flawlessly,” VBO Tickets founder and technology innovator David Boehme told DMN. “The thousands upon thousands of ticket buyers had a seamless experience. If a fan flies through their ticket purchase and nobody knows our name, we’ve made a happy customer for our client.”

Boehme said that while VBO Tickets could have tapped commonly used ticketing industry solutions to help it handle crowd crushes, the company chose to start from scratch. Boehme believes VBO Tickets has built a faster, more robust, and more secure queueing technology. This approach required more significant capital investment and resources, but resulted in a built-in feature immediately ready for client use while operating quietly in the background.

As soon as VBO Tickets identifies a high-load demand, Boehme says the platform’s queueing technology kicks in to manage simultaneous buyers.

This feature can handle surges without advanced preparations or additional per-buyer costs. “We have a 24-7 queueing system that’s always ready,” Boehme revealed. “We don’t need to be notified in advance, and there’s nothing to ‘turn on’ to start the queueing process.”

According to Boehme, another perk of the system is that queueing can be targeted to isolate specific buying subgroups. For example, if one promoter drives an unexpected surge of buyers without offering advanced notice, VBO Tickets’ queueing technology can isolate that surge without penalizing everyone else.

But is VBO Tickets ready for a Ticketmaster-level surge of purchasers? According to Boehme, the platform requires further testing in real ticket-buying situations.

“We can guarantee our capabilities to 95% of artists and venues. We can take care of most of the market,” Boehme continued. “We know we can handle the volumes that we’re aiming for. But right now, we’re looking at emerging to surging artists — not a Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift.”

Those are modest reflections, though VBO Tickets’ capabilities are growing. While its recent handling of more than 140,000 sessions sounds impressive, the company estimated that it could comfortably handle half-a-million simultaneous buyers.

Regarding throughput, VBO Tickets estimates it can process 2,000 ticket transactions every minute, translating into a smoothly sold-out amphitheater in roughly ten minutes. That same sellout would take a manageable forty minutes for a large-scale stadium. But Boehme points out that faster throughput can quickly scale if needed.

The company appears ready to flex its muscles on larger-scale events, which could further validate the robustness and security of VBO Tickets’ technology.

Meanwhile, Ticketmaster itself is undoubtedly working out better platform solutions. System crashes aren’t always bad news, especially when they involve record-breaking audiences. But getting grilled by legislators and regulators — many of whom are pushing for a reversal of the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger — is motivation enough to develop crash-proof systems and approaches in the future.

Photo Credit: Audoo

Audoo is a new music technology company that aims to revolutionize public performance royalties. Music publishing veteran Nigel Elderston has been appointed Chairman.

The following was created in collaboration with Audoo, a company DMN is proud to be partnered with.

Audoo now has a growing team of international music industry experts whose combined experience boasts 45 years in the music industry. This move helps form part of Audoo’s global business expansion, adding senior industry expertise in key territories to help the company implement its adoption and roll-out of its technology. Elderton bolsters a team, board, and senior experts from BMG, BMI, Bowers and Wilkins, Shazam, Spotify, and more.

Nigel brings decades of experience from both music publishing and PRO advisory and reform to Audoo. As company Chairman, he is tasked with steering and aiding the advancement of Audoo technology within the industry. 

Nigel is the European President of the global independent music publisher Peermusic and has held a number of industry positions including Chairman of PRS For Music (retired), Director of ICE Operations Berlin, Chairman of the Music Publishers Association (UK), Chairman of MCPS, Director of British Music Rights/UK Music, Founding Trustee of the PRS Foundation and President of the Music Publishers Association Ireland. Elderton also worked for EMI, MCA, and Polygram prior to joining Peermusic. 

His appointment follows the hire of ex-APRA executive Matthew Fackrell as SVP/GM APAC, and the adoption and widespread rollout of Audoo Audio Meters in Australia and New Zealand. 

“The Audoo mission is worthy, and its technology highly impressive,” adds Nigel Elderton. “Improving the licensing landscape and removing barriers to royalty processes is vital in rebalancing money that should be reaching music creators and performers. Audoo tech aids efficiency in these processes.”

“Early adopters are showing improvement in the accuracy of data collection and, ultimately, more of those owned will receive their optimum public performance payments. As a publisher representing the best interests of songwriters and a long-time colleague within PROs, I look forward to working alongside Ryan and the Audoo to advance this element of our industry,” Elderton continues.

“Having Nigel join is an honor, a true champion of the songwriter and music industry with unparalleled experience and expertise,” adds Ryan Edwards, Founder & CEO of Audoo. “We are excited to benefit from his guidance and continue on the mission of revolutionizing the public performance royalties space worldwide.”

Audoo is actively providing solutions to the challenges faced in public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution. That’s because the Audoo Audio Meter offers a unique insight that improves accuracy, transparency, and reporting in quasi real-time without burden for licensees, PROs, and CMOs. Ultimately music creators and rights holders both benefit from more accurate data collection. 

The Audoo Audio Meter is a discreet plug-in solution that can cut through foreground noise to fingerprint music being played. It takes a digital, GDPR-complaint fingerprint to match track data and report the play to PRO and CMO partners. Audoo raised £5.2 million in its 2020 Series A funding round and £7.2 million in its pre-series B funding round in 2021. Financial backers for Audoo include MPL Ventures, Tileyard London, Steve Sidwell, and Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA/CISAC). 

Unhurd founder and CEO Alex Brees. Photo Credit: Unhurd

AI-powered music-marketing startup Unhurd (stylized as “un:hurd” as well as “unhurd”) has officially announced a seven-figure seed round.

London-based Unhurd, which raised £250,000 two years back and launched its app last year, unveiled this latest round via a formal release today. Founded by former Universal Music artist-insight analyst Alex Brees, Unhurd says that it utilizes “proprietary technology and AI to turn music & social data into impactful promotional campaigns” for north of 25,000 acts from 129 nations.

Though the platform hasn’t publicly identified the precise sum associated with the seed raise, it did confirm to DMN that investors delivered capital in the low-seven-figure range this time around.

Jagermeister’s Best Nights VC (also a backer of Barcelona-headquartered events startup Xceed), SoundCloud VP of music intelligence Hazel Savage, and Kobalt Capital CEO Johan Ahlström are said to have participated in Unhurd’s seed round, which was led by Kobalt Music founder Willard Ahdritz.

Additionally, Ahdritz has joined Unhurd “as a lead investor and advisor.” The startup intends to use the newly received funding “to build out its suite of tools and services” as it works to assist artists in expanding their followings. During 2022, the business “helped generate over 10 million streams for artists,” according to higher-ups.

“The next 12 months will be all about developing the technology at unhurd to ensure every artist that uses the app receives fantastic value from the product,” indicated Unhurd, which counts as clients acts including Emmavie and D’banj.

Addressing his company’s seed capital in a statement, Unhurd CEO Alex Brees said in part: “Our product has made strong progress over the last 18 months with a lean team. We’ve learnt a lot about what artists really want and we now have the opportunity to build upon our initial product launch with some really exciting new features.

“Our mission has always been to empower artists from around the world with a data-led, best in class marketing platform and I now see this mission as being supercharged with years of industry knowledge thanks to this new fundraise,” concluded the former Keakie and Carwow exec Brees.

And in remarks of his own, Ahdritz emphasized Unhurd’s perceived significance for indie and emerging creators.

“It’s incredibly difficult for artists to continue to be creative whilst also expanding and nurturing their fanbase as entrepreneurs,” the Kobalt Music chairman communicated in part. “Great tools that make an artist’s life easier is exactly what’s needed and I believe un:hurd will become an essential partner to independent artists around the world.”

Earlier this week, as artificial intelligence continues to play an increasingly far-reaching role in the music industry and beyond, Character.AI reportedly raised $200 million or so at a $1 billion valuation.

Photo Credit: HiLife Music Group

HiLife Music Group’s subsidiary label, A-Grade Music, is allowing artists to ‘Purchase a Record Deal‘ — aiming to change how label deals are done. Artists can now get ahead of the curve by buying a deal that comes with every perk that a conventional record label would provide.

Despite the multitude of label models in the music industry, the landscape is still rife with talented musicians spending a lifetime looking for a deal they’ll never procure.

Distribution-label hybrids like AWAL, Empire, and Create Music have up-ended the traditional label model while giving artists more favorable terms and options. Nonetheless, a recording contract continues to be a divine blessing that labels choose to bestow upon artists they consider a lucrative financial investment. Traditional labels also remain painstakingly cautious about offering a deal — and all the resources that come with it.

Now, A-Grade Music, a division of HiLife Music Group. is handing the strings of artist success to artists themselves. With their ‘Purchase a Record Deal’ model, the company is creating opportunities for artists to bypass the process of looking for a conventional recording contract. Instead, musicians can simply buy one. Just recently, HiLife joined forces with DMN to further expand the innovative concept.

A-Grade Music is establishing a unique system for musicians. They can purchase complete options for production, branding, campaigning, project teams, and release — with no strings attached.

CEO Adrian Fife spoke to Digital Music News about how A-Grade Music is changing significant aspects of traditional record deals. “There are a lot of talented artists out there, but to get a conventional recording deal, you need a lot more than talent.”

For artists stuck in the loop of waiting for a record label to give them a toehold in the industry, Fife believes this is the perfect way to get ahead. “There are millions of people worldwide looking for record deals. Rather than waiting, we’re empowering artists to kick start their careers on their own terms.”

According to A-Grade, even if an artist sells a million records, they keep 95% of revenue from sales. The company merely retains 5% for the artist fee, which includes administrative costs.

It’s no secret that for every artist that has procured a conventional record deal, tens of thousands have fallen by the wayside.

There are far too many artists and not enough opportunities. And thanks to consolidation among major record companies, even fewer acts are getting signed.

Fife spoke about one of the biggest reasons why record deals are hard to come by, saying, “It’s risky for a record company to break a new artist. They’re putting all this money behind an artist—money they’ll have to recoup. For an independent label, it’s an even higher risk than a major. So why not take all that risk out of the equation and turn it around?”

Fife clarifies that A-Grade Music isn’t signing artists, so the company doesn’t own IP — unless it collaborated on tracks with songwriting or composing. “Artists have the freedom. We’re not here to hold them back. They own the IP of any completed tracks and videos they want to get out there.”

Moreover, artist managers and mid-tier labels can utilize the expansive gamut of services that A-Grade Music brings to the table. ‘Purchase a Record Deal’ could be the missing piece of the puzzle that propels their artists to the next level.

Clearly, ‘Purchase a Record Deal’ isn’t just for early-stage artists trying to kick-start their careers. It’s also a fit for musicians wanting to re-enter the scene after a successful run in the past. That includes seasoned artists, allowing them to eat their cake and have it too — by retaining ownership of their IP and keeping all proceeds from sales.

‘Purchase a Record Deal’ makes sense for artists who are confident in their future prospects, and willing to invest in their talent and career.

Some labels now exclusively sign artists with established track records, existing fanbases, or a seriously viral moment. Against that reality, many musicians are seeing A-Grade Music as a stepping stone toward a conventional recording contract. With A-Grade’s professional services, artists can demonstrate their talent, popularity, and sales potential to mega-players in the industry.

For musicians who believe they can venture out on their own, their DIY fantasy typically underestimates the amount of time, money, and effort that goes into a label’s role.

A-Grade aims to fill that role for a lot less upfront cash compared to what artists will ultimately pay for studios, mastering, video production, promotions — and everything else that must be done for track production and release.

Fife explains how economies of scale allow the label to get things done cost-effectively for artists. “We’re not outsourcing anything. Recording studios, marketing, promotions, everything’s in place already. We’re doing everything any major record company does, and we have the infrastructure to tackle it all.”

A-Grade Music can take over everything from creation, marketing, release, distribution, and promotion of completed songs and videos — depending on the package purchased by an artist. With a multitude of features, artists get a chance to showcase their talent to the world from A-Grade Music headquarters based in the UK.

Every musician purchasing A-Grade Music’s record deal is assigned a creative music production team, which works alongside the artist to help maximize their artistic potential. With artist branding services, musicians develop their own brand of the desired style and sound to differentiate themselves from other artists. Moreover, merchandise and products are produced, marketed, and distributed via A-Grade Music websites and subsidiary outlets. ​

The label also combines a portfolio of campaign tools, including photography, video, image consultancy, recording studio, vocal coaches, web pages, social media, official channels, and promotions.

An extensive project management team supports every stage of an artist’s music journey. All music releases comply with UPC barcodes and international standard recording codes (ISRC), ensuring that all sales figures are reported to the Billboard charts, allowing artists to enter.

Speaking about what happens after an artist purchases a record deal from Grade-A Music, Fife explains, “You’d be given your schedule and tour manager. You’d get your track and video recorded. For the duration, you would have your accommodation, go to the recording studio, have an image consultant and a marketing team to get your social media profile up to where it’s meant to be. It is across the board, depending on what you purchase.”

Despite its ability to thrust artists into the spotlight, the company emphasizes that musicians are under no binding commitment to stay with A-Grade Music.

Fife is excited about the exposure and revenue artists can earn by taking charge of their careers, saying, “We’re not looking to tie an artist. The artist is a free agent.”

With ‘Purchase a Record Deal,’ A-Grade Music appears to be opening the doors to a one-of-a-kind opportunity for artists. It allows musicians to get ahead of the curve, and according to Fife, “That has never been done before.”

Photo Credit: Side Door

How artists and hosts can utilize Side Door’s live music booking platform and more on their efforts to support underrepresented voices this festival season.

The following comes from Side Door, a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.

Touring has become a costly part of doing business as an artist today: inflation, skyrocketing travel, production costs, staff shortages, supply-chain issues, one positive COVID test away from derailing the whole thing, and a flooded market for venues — the ones that are still able to keep their doors open. This has led to a long line of artists publicly sharing that they are simply unable to make getting out on the road profitable.

While these challenges are echoed throughout the industry regardless of the size of the artist, how is the current touring model sustainable? How do artists make a living and grow their fanbase when they take home less than they need to spend? Especially considering the majority of an artist’s cut of the ticket sales at some traditional venues doesn’t even cover the gas money to get there. 

Live performance remains an integral part of an artist’s career, but a new alternative approach is necessary to ensure that live music is sustainable and successful.

Reducing the overhead of shows is an important first step. For example, doing house concerts in secondary and college markets between big city plays can become a profitable component of any touring strategy. A second step is providing elevated experiences for super fans, like doing an intimate listening party in a record shop.

There are many underground, regional networks and DIY promoters who create these kinds of shows. But what if artists could access hundreds of spaces like this in one spot?

Co-Founders Laura Simpson and Dan Mangan

Side Door is an innovative marketplace that connects artists with presenters to turn any space into a music venue, like backyards, libraries, breweries, etc., giving agency and access to anyone who wants to perform or curate live performances. 

Side Door was formed in 2017 by entrepreneur Laura Simpson and indie artist Dan Mangan. Mangan, a two-time JUNO award-winning artist who just received his sixth JUNO nomination for his sixth studio album, Being Somewhere, got his start playing living rooms and backyards. Simpson, an experienced house concert host and industry professional, says, “the dream is to make a more accessible and sustainable live touring ecosystem.” 

Show Calls feature

Artists can post Show Calls on the platform, announcing where and when they want to tour. Available hosts can respond to those requests or post Show Calls of their own. The platform supports matchmaking between artists and hosts, an intuitive booking flow, ticketing and payout tools to complete the process.

Creating a profile is free and you can start planning your first show in just a few clicks.

Side Door offers show guarantees with a new US touring program.

Side Door recently announced its new program, ‘On The Road with Side Door.’ A US touring program open to artists showcasing at Folk Alliance International in Kansas City or South By Southwest Conference & Festival in Austin. Artists playing ticketed Side Door shows between January and March 2023 can apply for a $500 guarantee in addition to the ticket split from the shows. 

The program aims to help independent artists minimize the financial risk associated with live touring. To introduce the concept of touring in alternative venue spaces as a viable option and fully align this program with Side Door’s values, the guarantees in the program are issued on a first-come-first-serve basis, with applications that have diverse, under-represented voices being prioritized. 

To apply or learn more about On the Road with Side Door, visit here. 

Side Door’s part in festival season 2023

In addition to the touring program, Side Door announced its 2023 South By Southwest panel, ‘How To Tour in 2023 Without Going Broke.’ This panel will give independent artists a better look into leveraging Side Door’s platform to find meaningful shows without the fear of a huge financial setback. 

The panel will be an open conversation between four music industry professionals: Dan Mangan, artist and co-founder of Side Door; Andrew Lieb, artist manager at Red Light Management; Brighid Fry of Housewife; and tour and merch manager Abbey Simmons.

“Touring can be a double-edged sword full of life-giving and/or soul-sucking results, depending on how you execute. Strategic planning is crucial to yielding a successful tour, and it starts with learning the landscape, thinking about the bottom line from day one, and focusing on the why,” says Andrew Leib, artist manager at Red Light Management.

Panelist and singer-songwriter Brighid Fry of Housewife, who saw live shows grind to a halt during COVID, says this is undoubtedly an uncertain time to be an artist. “It is scary to be stepping into this career at a time when the costs of touring are spiraling out of control and when there is so much uncertainty. As a climate activist, I want to be able to work on cutting down the carbon footprint of my tours, but it is increasingly hard for us emerging artists to do so when we have to work so hard just to make sure we don’t lose money on touring.”

 Side Door will also hold a showcase at SXSW with six bands who used its tech platform to book shows on their way to Austin. 

Photo Credit: GigFinesse

GigFinesse secures $3.6 million in a seed funding round with Bessemer Venture Partners and Cosmic Venture Partners on board.

GigFinesse, a platform to connect live music venues with artists, announced a $3.6 million seed funding round from investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Cosmic Venture Partners. Additional backing came from Matthew Rutler, Executive Vice President at Masterclass, and many others.

GigFinesse works with entertainment venues in major metropolitan cities and musical artists to take the hassle out of booking shows. GigFinesse is transforming the antiquated talent booking market to make it easier for artists and venues to collaborate on live entertainment experiences. The platform optimizes the booking process by eliminating the middleman to create a more robust matchmaking process.

The seed funding round will aid the company in scaling across different cities where the demand for its services has increased. The team will continue to work on new technology to facilitate the most optimal artist-venue fit.

“GigFinesse is committed to helping artists and venues around the nation connect and book performances, as well as analyze unique fan data and enable frictionless experiences,” says Mir Hwang, co-founder and CEO of GigFinesse. 

“We are proud that our technology is playing a pivotal role in the entertainment venue space and putting more power in the hands of the music world.”

“GigFinesse has built a product that is streamlining how venues discover and book entertainers,” says Jeremy Levine, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We look forward to partnering (with GigFinesse) as they change the antiquated booking market and turn it into an incredible opportunity for artists and venues alike.”

“GigFinesse has managed to maintain an incredible business even throughout the pandemic when most businesses had to close their doors,” adds Michael Montero, founder of Struck Studio & Montero Ventures.

“Over the last several years that I’ve worked with GigFinesse, I’ve been able to see firsthand the value, power, and ease of its platform. The way GigFinesse approaches the management of venues and events makes the experience more tech-driven and satisfying — which is why so many people have opted to use its system as live entertainment and events return to normal post-pandemic.” 

“GigFinesse is reinventing how musicians and venues book live events,” concludes Matthew Rutler, Executive Vice President of Masterclass. “Their technology enables more opportunities for artists to play live and make money, and it helps venues fill up their calendars faster.” 

“GigFinesse provides metrics in advance that inform venues of important details like what drinks to stock up on per night and how to staff the evening properly, which is imperative to maintaining a seamless business,” Rutler continues. “As a musician, I can speak from experience that having this type of platform would have been incredibly beneficial to me in the earlier days of my career.”

Photo Credit: Wes Hicks

Collaborative music platform Drooble is shutting down in December. The social media network was created by musicians for musicians to meet and collaborate together.

Drooble was founded in 2013, back when Facebook and Twitter were still experiencing explosive growth. Drooble never reached mainstream success, but it does have a userbase of around one million musicians from all over the world. CEO and Founder Melina Krumova announced the decision in an email to platform members.

“This is one of the most complex decisions I have ever made, but it’s now time to say goodbye to Drooble,” Krumova writes. “I gave all my heart to this endeavor, but now my life has taken a spiritual direction, and I need to shut down the platform.”

“For more than seven years, my team and I have been bootstrapping this project. We spent tremendous amounts of effort and resources to develop it. It was hard work all the time, but it was also fun. Building this platform from zero to one was the best time of my life,” she continues.

So what will happen next? Krumova says if there is no interest from anyone else, she will shut down the platform on December 28.

“I’d be more than happy to leave Drooble’s assets to the most suitable successor who will take the network to the next level. If you believe you are willing to step in and allocate resources, time, and effort, please mail me. I am sure there is enormous potential for growing the community. Should no developments occur till the 28th of December, then from that day on, Drooble will no longer be available.”

It’s unfortunate, but online collaboration tools have evolved heavily since 2013. This seems like a case of not having the resources to compete with other major players in the space, especially since collab tools like Zoom have taken off to facilitate easier virtual meeting spaces.

Photo Credit: Country Radio Seminar/Kayla Schoen

Anyone in the music business with a small stake in the country genre should check out Country Radio Seminar (CRS) this year. The 2023 CRS event is slated for March 13-15 at the Omni Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. The event has a 52-year legacy of bringing together all segments of the country music industry for education, entertainment, networking, and idea sharing. 

The following article was created with Country Radio Seminar (CRS), a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.

Country Radio Seminar was originally created to bring the radio and record industries together to help both sides achieve success. But as the music industry’s dynamic business model has changed alongside evolving technology, so too has CRS evolved to keep up. 

In 2021, CRS expanded its three-day education curriculum to include an exclusive one-day tract focusing on streaming and digital education initiatives. That program was so successful for CRS 2021, that the event’s agenda team has challenged itself to broaden the digital experience for CRS attendees. Now branded “Digital Music Summit at CRS,” the content planned for Monday March 13 will go beyond just streaming to include the metaverse, web3, NFTs, and other next-gen platforms that are emerging. 

The Digital Music Summit will serve as the kickoff to the annual, three-day CRS experience. In addition to a robust and progressive educational agenda, attendees will enjoy dozens of music showcases and endless networking opportunities with music industry leaders, peers, and aspiring music professionals. 

In addition to instructive sessions, the one-day, all-day Digital Music Summit will kick off CRS week by featuring a networking breakfast, the Warner Music Nashville kickoff luncheon featuring a large part of its artist roster, an interactive conversation with Garth Brooks, the Amazon ‘Country Heat’ showcase, and making its debut on the opening night of CRS the third annual ‘Paddle Royale’ ping-pong tournament. Country artists will face off against high-profile industry leaders for a spirited game. 

The three-person agenda team for Digital Music Summit at CRS is led by Tim Foisset of Warner Music Nashville, who succeeds UMG Nashville’s Annie Ortmeier in that role and includes Emily Cohen of Amazon and Beville Dunkerly of Pandora. 

“It’s been an incredible experience to see the lineup for 2023 come together, ” adds Tim Foisset. “Our Digital Music & Tech Summit team challenged ourselves to ensure that this year’s summit reflects the continuously evolving landscape of our digital music business. The talented experts in every session are pushing the boundaries of our industry, bringing new perspectives and ideas that will carry us into the future. We’re proud to present a conference day you won’t want to miss.”

CRS is proud to welcome a new collaborator for the 2023 Digital Music Summit. The team at Digital Music News, including publisher Paul Resnikoff and Noah Itman have provided valuable input, with Resnikoff set to moderate at least one session on Monday the 13th. 

Photo Credit: Country Radio Seminar

Confirmed Speakers for CRS 2023 Digital Music Summit

• Cameo Carlson | M Theory Nashville
• Chris McMurtry | Pex
• Clark Mims Tedesco | Warner Music Nashville
• Debra Herman | Apple Music
• Doug Phillips | Q-Prime Nashville
• Emily Cohen Belote | Amazon Music
• Jade Driver | Crowd Surf
• Johnny Chiang | Pandora
• Katie McCartney | Monument Records
• Lucia Kaminsky | Sandbox
• Noah Itman | Digital Music News
• Rachel Whitney | Spotify
• Rahul Sabnisis | iHeartMedia
• Robert Carlton | SmackSongs
• Sean Peace | SongVest
• Tim Foisset | Warner Music Nashville
• Zach Blair | VNUE

Photo Credit: beatBread

About nine months after closing a $34 million seed round, artist-advance startup beatBread has officially inked “a $100 million institutional funding agreement.”

Two-year-old beatBread announced the $100 million tranche today, via a formal release that was emailed to DMN. Variant Investments, a Portland-headquartered alternative asset fund that says it explores “the remote, less crowded corners of the investment universe,” fronted the capital, according to the involved parties.

beatBread intends to use the “extended financial firepower” both to bankroll the careers of emerging professionals – advances are issued in part based upon applicants’ presence on streaming platforms – and “to offer multi-million dollar deals to some of the world’s biggest artists,” execs made clear.

On the latter front, beatBread in June finalized a seven-figure deal with Elley Duhe, whose “Middle of the Night” has racked up north of 633 million streams on Spotify. Furthermore, the advance service disclosed today that it’s provided payments “to more than 500 artists and labels across multiple genres, six continents, and a broad range of career stages.”

And while the size of beatBread’s advances range from $1,000 to $2 million, higher-ups also took the opportunity to reiterate that October had brought with it the rollout of “an exclusive invite-only investor network” consisting of music companies and distributors as well as “high net worth individuals.”

This “investor network,” for its part, can approve “even larger advances” than those issued via beatBread itself, with an overarching goal of equipping independent labels and distributors with “the financial capacity to compete for major artist deals.”

Building upon the idea, beatBread co-founder and CEO Peter Sinclair in a statement emphasized his business’s broader objective of affording indie labels and artists “better economic terms and the freedom to choose their own partners and maintain creative control” in the long run.

“Our initial artist fund powered more than five hundred advances to artists and independent labels, keeping ownership in the hands of artists and creators,” said the former Universal Music Group ecommerce exec Sinclair. “Now we’re scaling our capital sources to fund the next 1000 deals, and expanding the size of our advances in the process.

“Major label deals are no longer the only option for artists seeking to fund their careers. Our mission is to empower artists and independent labels with better economic terms and the freedom to choose their own partners and maintain creative control,” he concluded.

Last month, Stability AI revealed a $101 million seed raise, whereas BeatConnect announced that it had obtained $2.2 million from investors.

Photo Credit: Vampr

Downtown Music has officially invested in six-year-old music networking platform Vampr as part of a broader partnership deal.

New York City-headquartered Downtown Music unveiled its investment in and agreement with Henderson-based Vampr this morning, via a formal release that was emailed to Digital Music News. On the former front, Downtown indicated that it had backed the “LinkedIn for creatives” specifically through a recent “Seed-3 funding drive.”

Though the companies haven’t publicly identified the precise size of Downtown’s contribution, they did state that the associated capital will be used to fuel “vertical expansion and to integrate in-platform transaction functionality.” For reference, Vampr has also raised north of $2.1 million from its user-investors since arriving on the scene.

Regarding the nuances of the initially mentioned partnership, Downtown’s Found.ee “integrated marketing services company” is now set to “power” Vampr Marketing. According once again to the involved parties, the new offering “will bring unique marketing tools and access to premium sites” to Vampr’s 1.2 million or so users.

(Vampr published a blog post about the marketing offering, which, when clicked through on the social service, takes one to a dedicated landing page on Found.ee itself.)

Next, Vampr reiterated that it had rolled out a publishing division towards 2020’s conclusion. Moving forward, the more than 60,000-track catalog of Vampr Publishing – which is said to be “growing at a rate of 21% month over month” – will be administered by Downtown’s Songtrust.

Addressing the deal in a statement, Downtown chief commercial officer Tracy Maddux, whose company made layoffs at its CD Baby and Soundrop distribution services five weeks ago, touted Vampr’s “real potential.”

“Vampr has carved out an important niche in our industry that fosters connections between music creatives,” said Maddux, who was CEO of CD Baby itself for a decade. “We see real potential in Vampr as a platform which is why we’ve not only invested, but are bringing our expertise via Found.ee and Songtrust to help them continue to grow.”

And in a statement of his own, Vampr CEO Josh Simons said: “We are thrilled to extend our relationship with Downtown Music and its stellar group of brands and services. Their investment is a bona fide industry endorsement of the highest order that Vampr is making all the right noises in our mission to help early stage musicians thrive in a crowded industry.”

Last month, Montreal-headquartered musician-collaboration platform BeatConnect, which enables users to create “music with up to four people in a real-time shared environment,” revealed a roughly $2.2 million raise.

And over the summer, Creative Intell, a self-described “artificial intelligence-powered dealmaking platform for the music industry,” announced a $3 million round.

Photo Credit: YOOM

YOOM raises $15 million in a star-studded round of investment from the likes of Finneas and Jimmy Iovine.

YOOM, founded in 2016 by Dr. Miky Tamir and Micha Birnboim and known initially as Tetavi, has raised $15 million from its star-studded investor list. Among the investors was Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics; Grammy Award-winning producer-singer-songwriter Finneas; CEO of The SpringHill Company, Maverick Carter; CEO of the Darkroom, Justin Lubliner; and Paul Wachter, founder and CEO of Main Street Advisors.

The company’s volumetric technology enables the creation of photorealistic digital content in web3 for the Metaverse. To date, YOOM has raised $50 million and employs 70 people between its headquarters in Tel Aviv and offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo. 

YOOM also announced its first non-founder chairman: Aaron Stone, former senior partner and head of Media, Entertainment, and Communications. Stone is also the current advisor to Apollo Global Management and was a seed investor in YOOM, partnering with the company’s founders and senior executives to help develop the organization’s structure.

“We are at the inception of a period in which new technologies will revolutionize the way we create and experience content, and interact socially,” says Stone. “YOOM will partner with artists to create content that can engender enhanced feelings of presence, enabling new and different ways for people to emotionally engage and connect.”

“I am always looking for new possibilities that advance entertainment and move the culture forward,” adds Jimmy Iovine. “YOOM is going to bring artists and brands into the Metaverse and Web3, and that feels really exciting. This team and the proprietary technology they’ve built levels the playing field for creatives and widens the space where communities can grow. I’m inspired to help define what the future of entertainment can look like.”

YOOM partnered with the Los Angeles Kings earlier this year, making them the first NHL team to enter the Metaverse. The company hopes to soon introduce its first major projects in music, gaming, television, and location-based entertainment.

Photo Credit: Ken Lund / CC by 2.0

The Music Acquisition Corp. (TMAC.U) is seeking shareholder approval to liquidate its trust early.

The SPAC doesn’t have a completion deadline until February 5, 2023, but the board believes market conditions make it unlikely to secure a business combination before then. A 1% excise tax on domestic corporations repurchasing stock is the main reason for seeking early liquidation.

“While not free from doubt, absent any further guidance, there is significant risk that the Excise Tax will apply to any redemptions of our public shares after December 31, 2022, including redemptions made if we are unable to consummate a business combination by or before the Original Termination Date.”

“The application of the Excise Tax to any redemptions we make after December 31, 2022 could potentially reduce the per-share amount that our public stockholders would otherwise be entitled to receive,” the proxy statement from TMAC reads. 

TMAC will hold a special meeting in November seeking shareholder approval to amend the charter to change its termination date to one before December 31. 

If the amendment is approved, TMAC will cease all operations immediately after the shareholder meeting and promptly complete redemptions. The NYSE has delisted warrants of TMAC while trading of the stock continues. 

“NYSE Regulation has determined that the company’s warrants are no longer suitable for listing based on ‘abnormally low’ price levels, pursuant to Section 802.01D of the Listed Company Manual. The Company also disclosed in the Preliminary Proxy that there will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless upon liquidation of the trust account,” the NYSE statement reads. 

The SPAC market appears to be the latest casualty of Wall Street, following the ICO explosion for crypto in 2017. SPAC Insider reports at least fourteen other SPAC to have a shareholder vote to move up their completion deadline to liquidate early. 

The Music Acquisition Company announced its $200 million IPO in February 2021. It is led by Chairman and CEO Neil Jacobson and COO Todd Lowen, with the goal of combining with a business within the music industry that has long-standing relationships in place.

Photo Credit: Markus Winkler

Exceed, a three-year-old fintech company that offers “fans a broad range of investment opportunities from musical artists” and others, has announced a newly completed seed raise as well as the appointment of Anthony Martini as president.

Exceed revealed the funding news and the executive hire today, via a formal release that was emailed to DMN. The platform affords investors benefits beyond “royalty-related income,” its website claims, including by allowing users to take stakes in “live performance, physical sales, merchandise, advertising & sponsorship, and a variety of other talent income sources.”

Building upon the point, Exceed enables investors to purchase interests in several musician-specific revenue categories (streaming and publishing royalties among them); interested individuals will receive any owed compensation quarterly, and the amount that each user can invest is limited by Exceed depending on his or her “net worth and annual income,” per the service.

Back to the marketplace’s funding, however, Exceed indicated that it had raised $8 million in seed capital.

Tel Aviv-headquartered investment fund BRM Group led the round, which also drew support from OurCrowd; execs at the latter describe their business as “the most active venture investor in Israel.” Moreover, Exceed communicated that it “has already invested $5.3m in talent pre-launch.”

As mentioned, Exceed has likewise tapped former Royalty Exchange CEO and Jingle Punks partner Anthony Martini to serve as president. In a statement, Martini touted the perceived long-term benefits of Exceed’s model for artists.

“Throughout my career, I’ve sought new opportunities for artists to express themselves without limitation, financially or otherwise,” said Martini. “By partnering with Exceed, artists maintain ultimate control over their careers while sharing a piece of it with their fans. They gain access to new revenue streams while building deeper connections with people who care about their success. It’s like the Robinhood of talent, and it’s game-changing.”

And in a statement of his own, Exceed CEO and Cognitiv Ventures general partner Yori Nelken highlighted Martini’s professional relationships with high-profile music industry acts.

“We are excited to have Anthony on board because his unique experience with talent and fans compliments [sic] our team of high-tech entrepreneurs, investment bankers, and securitization experts,” communicated Nelken. “With Anthony as part of our team, we look forward to offering participation opportunities with some of the world’s top talent.”

Exceed’s app is currently available to download on iOS and Android, and execs say that the entity “will utilize web3 elements to enhance fan engagement and gamification while maintaining adherence to the SEC by also offering bonafide securities.”

In July, a federal judge rejected Universal Music Group’s preliminary injunction request in its lawsuit with investment platform Republic.

Photo Credit: Techivation

Montreal-headquartered musician-collaboration platform BeatConnect has announced a roughly $2.2 million raise that drew support from Triptyq Capital.

Two-year-old BeatConnect just recently unveiled the multimillion-dollar round, which consists specifically of CA$3 million (currently $2.17 million). Montreal’s FICC led this latest investment in BeatConnect, which also counts as backers Anges Québec (self-described as “the largest group of angel investors in Canada”) and the aforesaid Triptyq Capital (which arrived on the scene with $40 million in June).

BeatConnect itself centers on enabling musicians to collaborate remotely, as noted, crafting “music with up to four people in a real-time shared environment” that supports various DAWs and features “a shared sequencer, cloud storage, video chat and more,” per the platform’s website.

A brief video demonstration of BeatConnect shows that users work together via “studios,” each of which saves its invited members and their projects. Consequently, musicians can quickly switch between collaborations and tracks, according to the clip.

Higher-ups intend to use today’s windfall to continue building out the core offerings of BeatConnect, whose co-founder Nicholas Laroche addressed the raise in a statement on LinkedIn.

“It’s been about two and a half years since I scribbled that vague and weird drawing in Balsamiq for the first version of BeatConnect,” penned the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation veteran Laroche, “and it’s already way way beyond what I expected. We have ambitious plans, and this is just the first step into what I truly believe will be a musical revolution centered around Collaboration powered by BeatConnect.”

BeatConnect’s $2.2 million funding round follows a high-profile partnership between SoundCloud and Session, a credits and collaboration platform founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. Meanwhile, 2021 brought with it a $7 million round for Roar Studios, which says it’s developing a “music metaverse” for collaboration and creation.

In related news, customer relationship management platform Laylo today announced a “strategic investment” that has upped its total capital raised past the $8 million mark. Eldridge (which in November of 2020 bought The Killers’ publishing catalog) led the round, which also secured participation from POAP’s Patricio Worthalter, Create Music Group’s Jonathan Strauss, HiFi’s Damian Manning, and Method Music’s Sam Evitt.

According to company officials, Laylo counts as “customers” Sam Smith, ODESZA, Kodak Black, Dixie D’Amelio, and The Black Keys, among several other members of the music community. Laylo says that it will put the tranche towards tripling “down on our mission of building the Creator CRM by growing the team, expanding to new verticals and launching new features faster.”

Photo Credit: Supertone.ai

Hybe has acquired AI tech startup Supertone in a deal worth an estimated $32 million. Supertone synthesizes realistic voices that can sing.

According to Korean media, the deal follows a 4 billion won ($2.8M) investment to acquire an 18% stake in the startup last year. Now media reports say Hybe finalized a deal to buy out Supertone completely.

Supertone was founded in March 2020 and debuted in singing voice synthesis (SVS) tech soon after. The SVS tech allows the computer to sing a song by combining lyrics, melody, and beat information. It can also separate a singer’s unique singing stole, and tone color from the human voice included in any music sample. For example, it can recognize male singer Yim Jae-beom singing with the style of a female singer.

“Sources say Hybe made the latest investment on expectations for synergy between its IP and Supertone’s technology in content production,” a Korean outlet reports. “Regarding the earlier equity investment last year, the management team said it was looking forward to synergy, vowing to create digital content that can convey comfortable and emotional to fans.”

The technology was used to ‘resurrect’ the voice of South Korean folk superstar Kim Kwang-seok. The AI-generated voice appeared on a Korean television program, Competition of the Century: AI vs. Human. The feat was achieved by learning 100 songs by 20 singers to refine its style–then learning 10 specific songs by Kim Kwang-seok himself.

Supertone COO Choi Hee-doo says he sees many applications for this technology. One example he provides is groups like BTS utilizing the technology to record voice lines for movies, TV dubbing, animation, and more. The SVS tech could be used in place of recording the audio live in-person.

HYBE is highly dialed into opportunities where its artists can make money without needing to be involved directly. Its ‘Artist Indirect’ revenue was up $640 million last year–an increase of 72.8% year over year. Supertone’s technology could help boost that bottom line number significantly over the next decade.

Photo Credit: Eric Tompkins

The debate over songwriter compensation is unlikely to end anytime soon — though fast-evolving technology will play a big role in the discussion moving forward. Case in point: Audoo is working to improve songwriter pay by optimizing performance data from public establishments. The resulting changes could be dramatic.

Songwriter compensation has become a particularly hot topic in 2022. In the wake of multibillion-dollar bets on song rights, the imbalance between publishing and recording payouts has assumed greater importance. And the late-August announcement of a long-sought royalty-rate hike on streaming services is part of a years-long battle over who gets what.

With signs pointing to a streaming plateau ahead, Hipgnosis Songs founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis recently reaffirmed his bullish vision for the segment. But songwriter payouts remain a touchy subject.

“When I presented [the Hipgnosis] investment case to the financial community, I told them that this was going to be a great way to make money, because Spotify and streaming was going to go from having 30 million paid subscribers to having 100, 200, 300, 400, now we’re at 500 million,” said Mercuriadis. With that rise, Hipgnosis’ hit-heavy holdings are poised to enjoy a material revenue jump.

But Mercuriadis warned that shorting songwriters could come with a cost. Recent dips in Spotify’s subscriber growth, far from being indicative of a plateau in the wider music streaming market, only reflect deficiencies in the company’s business model and approach to songwriters, Mercuriadis relayed.

“I think what is plateauing [for Spotify] is because of the negative stance that they’ve taken on songwriters – and because of being preoccupied with some other things. I think Spotify perhaps isn’t going to end up with the same share of the global market that I expected them to have.”

Meanwhile, National Music Publishers’ Association president and CEO David Israelite promptly touted the 15.35 percent headline royalty rate that streaming services agreed to pay songwriters and publishers during the 2023 to 2027 stretch.

“This historic settlement is the result of songwriters making their voices heard. Instead of going to trial and continuing years of conflict, we instead move forward in collaboration with the highest rates ever, guaranteed,” Israelite stated of the deal.

Conspicuously absent from these and other streaming-focused assessments is a mention of accurate data captures, which could well be the most important component of songwriter compensation in the contemporary music industry.

Audio-recognition companies including Audoo have arrived on the scene with the ambitious goal of delivering technology to identify every song played in public spaces — and assure that music professionals receive the entirety of their owed pay. It’s a simple concept, but one that is far from being actualized.

Instead, methods for counting public plays are shockingly outdated. The song-recognition model currently utilized by performance rights organizations (PROs) centers on extrapolating play data from estimates and limited samples. Royalties are distributed accordingly — often to the benefit of superstars and the detriment of those without a massive following. Earlier this year, DMN joined forces with Audoo to bolster their vision of improving song IDs and resulting payouts.

“In the U.S. last year, across all four PROs, I think there were less than a few thousand samples. What are they distributing between them a year? $3.5 to $4 billion. And they’re doing that off of small samples. You’ve got to get your data set bigger – you’ve got to get it accurate,” Audoo founder and CEO Ryan Edwards told Digital Music News.

Employed on a global scale, a reliable data-capture infrastructure for public establishments – from small restaurants that occasionally flip on the radio to department stores that play music for the better part of 24 hours per day – would paint a far clearer picture of actual consumption.

“We’ve seen that in a U.K. test where an artist saw a lot of streams. She had about 2,000 followers on Instagram, and she’d never earned a [performance] royalty in her life. We reached out to her and said, ‘Hey, we just wondered how much you’re earning? Because this is what we do.’ And she said, ‘No, I’ve never ever received a royalty payment.’ She’d been PRO registered for two years.

“Can you spot [the use of tracks] if every nightclub suddenly starts to play a song that’s never been played, or hasn’t been played recently? We can inform that, and that’s what this data will do,” Edwards continued.

Now, Audoo is looking to make the fully automated (and far more accurate) logging of public plays a reality with its inconspicuous ‘Audio Meter.’

The four-year-old company last spoke to DMN about the hardware – a compact product that plugs into any standard outlet and then identifies and recognizes any song played  – and its broader objectives back in March. That followed a nearly $10 million funding round to close out 2021 and a partnership with Japanese PRO JASRAC.

Since then, Audoo has recorded several high-profile victories in its quest to reshape the song-identification process, including a July agreement with Sydney-headquartered PRO APRA AMCOS. To start, the pact has brought the Audio Meter to businesses in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Auckland.

That same month, Audoo partnered with entities including the Music Venue Trust (which represents hundreds of grassroots venues in the U.K.) on a campaign called “Recognize the Music.” As its title suggests, the initiative aims to bring reliable and accountable music recognition technology to public establishments. Edwards told us that the undertaking is achieving the desired result, prompting some participating businesses to register with PROs for the first time.

“We had thousands of sign-ups in less than a week,” Edwards said of Recognize the Music, which has framed the Audio Meter as a straightforward way for business owners to compensate their favorite acts directly. “We also have a toggle switch to see if they [public establishments] have a license. About 30 percent didn’t!”

“I think the PROs struggle to market particularly well to new potential licensees,” Ryan continued. “Whenever we have articles, anything about us as a business or about the campaign, people are like, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t know I needed a license to play music. Where do I go?’”

With several European PRO deals in the works, the continued onboarding of clients, and conversations with stateside performance rights organizations, Audoo intends to keep delivering the use of Audio Meter globally.

The big vision is also a granular one. If every song played is properly identified, then every rights owner, artist, and publisher is paid properly. That could actually mean more for some superstars who are currently overcompensated by their PROs. Or, it could translate into smaller paychecks for others. But at least the checks would be closely aligned with reality.

According to execs, every identified play – and every bolstered paycheck – is a step towards making songwriter compensation as accurate and equitable as possible in the long term. That’s good news for artists who aren’t getting paid properly, but also a big step toward crafting better valuations around song catalogs.

After years of high-flying music acquisition prices, that’s also good news for investors looking for more accurate valuations.

Photo Credit: Robot Food

More than 1,000 investors are set to lose $750,000 collectively as Awesome Merchandise in the UK enters bankruptcy.

The Leeds-based merchandiser previously raised £654,000 from 1,064 investors via the crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube. Awesome Merchandise entered administration yesterday, the UK equivalent of bankruptcy. The business was immediately sold to a newly-established business called Print.Inc Group Ltd. The only director of this new company is Luke Hodson – who founded Awesome Merchandise in 2009.

All of Awesome Merchandise’s business and assets have been sold to the new company. According to administrators, all 94 employees in the company’s Leeds-based office will move as part of the sale. Interpath Advisory says the decision to put the company into administration came down to its reliance on live music and events. Hodson told investors on Crowdcube that the move allows the factory to remain open and for customer orders to be fulfilled.

“I am deeply sorry that I was not able to carry Awesome Merchandise and its investment from the Crowdcube community to a successful exit or return on investment,” Hodson told his community of investors on the Crowdcube platform. “Many investors big and small are close friends and family. Many others are long-term customers, partners, and suppliers. Awesome Merchandise has been the almost sole focus of my life for 17 years.”

“There are a lot of factors that contributed to the administration and a more detailed report will be made by the administrators,” Hodson says. When Crowdcube investors began pushing back on the initial statement, Hodson says he didn’t simply ‘buy back’ the company.

“Despite what is being said, I didn’t simply ‘buy back’ the company with my own funds. Over the years, other than the Crowdcube raise, nearly everything generated by Awesome has been re-invested into the business. The UK business in reality saw virtually £0 of the Crowdcube raise because it was profitable and self-sustaining pre-pandemic.”

“The funding for the new company cam externally from family, after every other avenue had been exhausted. I am extremely grateful that my family helped at the last minute to give a chance for me to continue working in an area I am passionate about and I believe I have helped benefit the UK print and creative markets on the whole. The belief my family has shown, ultimately has helped to save over 90 people’s jobs.”

Crowdcube investors won’t see any return on their initial investment because the company entered administration, as confirmed by Interpath. “Crowdcube funders as equity investors will not form part of the unsecured creditors,” an advisor told the Yorkshire Post.

Trolley leadership team, from left, Jordan Cohen (VP Sales), Sasha Kossovsky (VP Engineering, Vincent Guérin (VP Marketing), Tim Nixon (CEO & Founder), and Natalie Loop (VP People & Culture). Not pictured: Andreas Farina Vaz, Annalisa Ceccarelli, Barnett Klane, and Shahina Ali (Photo: Trolley)

Between today’s many royalty streams and their distinct tax implications, music industry payments are more complex than ever. Now, with a new name and a multimillion-dollar Series A under its belt, customizable payout platform Trolley is looking to optimize the royalties space.

It’s been a breakneck year for Trolley – the fintech company formerly known as Payment Rails. Since late 2021, Trolley has doubled its workforce, changed its name, and secured a hefty Series A led by Pace Capital. In April, Trolley launched a feature called Invoices, billed as a “line-by-line payout categorization and consolidation tool.” By May, Trolley had announced a major payables contract with one of the biggest companies in the music industry — CD Baby. And last week, Trolley was named to Forbes’ Cloud 100 Rising Stars.

Finances are hardly the sexiest facet of the music industry, though fintech innovations like Trolley’s Invoices are game-changers nonetheless. Designed to simplify payments by enabling companies to group together multiple “line items” into a sole payout with multiple categorizations, Trolley indicated that the straightforward Invoices option can reduce transaction fees and, as every income category is taxed differently, make tax compliance easier.

“Business relationships are not black and white; the type of income an artist receives is nuanced based on what type of activity it’s associated with,” Trolley VP of Product Barnett Klane told Digital Music News. “Businesses have needed to either turn a blind eye or send segmented payouts, creating poor recipient experiences with less-than-accurate reporting or requiring the reconciling of many payouts per payday. Invoices offers the best of both worlds – a single payout per payday but segmented line items with details on how each part of that payout should be accounted for.”

The bigger picture is even more daunting. Once upon a time, the biggest labels and publishers sifted through thousands of line items with dedicated accounting teams. Now, in the streaming era, ‘thousands’ has quickly turned into ‘millions’ – or hundreds of millions – of line items. That is overwhelming nearly every sector of the music industry.

“Saying the music industry is complex is an understatement,” Trolley founder and CEO Tim Nixon told us. “When it comes to payments, it’s definitely more complex than other types of entertainment because we’re talking about myriad distribution channels.”

Digital Music News recently joined forces with Trolley to highlight just how complicated this space has become. The word ‘dizzying’ comes to mind, a trend that is forcing major companies to examine their current processes for payables and evaluate where they can fit in tech and automation. Nixon is leading the charge to fill that urgent need, with the type of zealotry that eludes most creative types.

“Music has always been a multi-channel medium, but it’s gotten even more complicated over the last decade,” Nixon said. “You still have physical and digital sales, and radio plays. You also now have dozens of streaming platforms, each with its own rates and royalty structures. And, on top of all this, there are TV, film, and now social sync royalties. A single piece of music can be earning royalties in so many places at the same time.”

Those license types are then mapped against varying license payout schedules, further deepening the complexity. “While it’s easy to talk about the music industry as a monolith, ‘music’ is a broad term and is widely varied in terms of payment processing,” Nixon continued.

“You have payers who pay regularly (bi-weekly or monthly), quarterly, bi-annually, and annually – all depending on the different types of royalties they’re paying. When we talk about payments, it’s an essential part of the business, and it’s also a point of inefficiency that can be optimized and streamlined in any organization needing to pay musicians.”

This streamlining, Nixon proceeded, will ultimately benefit artists as well as businesses. But as payables assume greater complexity, so do the tax implications. In a global industry, it isn’t just Uncle Sam demanding a cut.

“What spins off from payments, and is equally complex, is IRS compliance,” he said. “Artists are not like your standard freelance writer or marketplace seller because they can earn many categories of income: CD sales, streams, merchandise sales, ticket sales, and more. Each potentially comes with its own different tax implications.

“The end of the year for an accountant or controller in a music organization is a very stressful time. Compound that with the fact that not all artists are American and therefore as a foreign person, they could require tax withheld throughout the year and a completely different format for reporting — it’s exponentially complex.”

The potential applications of Trolley’s Invoices feature are particularly beneficial in the music industry given these numerous artist payments, according to the Trolley execs, who said that they developed their platform after discussions with industry professionals.

“In our conversations with those in the industry, we heard of limitations in existing solutions, for example, the need to make multiple payments to individuals to account for domestic and international royalties,” Klane relayed of Invoices’ music industry role.  “But as we obsessed on the recipient experience, we found that this was needless and something we could focus on fixing.”

Furthermore, Trolley higher-ups communicated that their multi-industry operations have equipped them with the experience and resources to handle company-specific integration challenges and concerns.

“There’s a segmented and constantly changing landscape of processes and tooling used across the industries we work with,” elaborated Klane. “Ultimately, we try to stay up to date with a mix of customer-focused, market, and competitive analyses that help us make decisions on where to focus our efforts.

“At this point we mostly see integration challenges fitting into one of three buckets: reconciliation, payout enqueuing, or data management. We’ll initially be focused on reconciliation, helping accounting teams keep track of the payouts within their ledger. From there we’ll expand to a slew of partners with a variety of workflows supported.”

Trolley’s skillset is now being put to work by distribution giant CD Baby, which previously announced that it had paid out a cumulative total of more than $1 billion to its community.

By enlisting Trolley to power payments for over 1.2 million artist users – and leveraging Invoices to consolidate a multitude of revenue streams into single payouts – CD Baby said that it was able to cut transaction costs by about 40 percent. Besides CD Baby and its subsidiary, Soundrop, other customers in the music space including sync library Crucial Music, Italy’s Musixmatch, and BeatStars are all taking steps to stay ahead of the curve in payments and taxation, Trolley stated.

Building upon the high-profile CD Baby deal and the associated experience, Trolley intends to expand Invoices during the remainder of 2022, with an emphasis on the inherently complicated puzzle presented by international tax compliance.

“A lot of times, a U.S. music company doesn’t think about foreign tax withholding – we’re talking W-8s and 1042s,” Nixon said. “As companies source more and more non-U.S. talent, they need to get a handle on this issue. For many of our customers, priority number one is getting all taxes (international and domestic) sorted ASAP.”

“We are going deeper to solve tax than anyone else in the industry,” added Klane, whose company can manage payments from north of 215 countries and in some 135 currencies. “We are taking full ownership in solving global tax compliance in relation to payouts.”

“From helping our customers gain compliance to navigating the constantly changing environment with new forms and changes in requirement, we are doubling down on our tax solution with the expansion of support for 1099-K and Europe’s DAC7 later this year.”

Longer term, by producing and updating payment (and payment-adjacent) solutions, Trolley will look to simplify the industry for companies and lay the groundwork for continued growth in both talent and revenue – especially as streaming becomes increasingly popular in developing markets.

“Artists can distribute their music far more directly to consumers today than they ever could. But alongside their freedom to distribute, tax-reporting and withholding rules still exist,” Nixon told DMN. “This can be a major sticking point for an intermediate like a streaming DSP. And there are a lot more of those intermediates today. They need to scale while remaining compliant, and it’s tech that’s going to have to step up to solve this.”

From a broader perspective, the creator economy’s explosive growth in recent years means that a large number of professionals, from all manner of different countries, are using their unique skills to earn a living over the internet.

For current and future members of this creator economy – and the international music industry – access to a capable financial infrastructure is therefore a must. Trolley said that its payment-optimization efforts, in addition to affording companies and DSPs savings and perks, ultimately benefit the very individuals who make excellent music as well as the talented individuals who will begin doing so down the line.

Trolley officially changed its industry-insider original title, Payment Rails, late last year, and the pivot – along with the mentioned multimillion-dollar raise – reflects the company’s widening role in the creator economy and the contemporary business landscape.

Since its 2015 founding, Trolley has evolved “from a mass-payout solution to a global payouts ecosystem,” Nixon explained, also noting that for clients, the business has become “a vehicle for them to grow their businesses.”

And at the intersection of efficiency, convenience, and accessibility, Trolley is ultimately striving to tear down prohibitive entry barriers through its offerings, Klane and Nixon told us.

“All of these businesses depend on their artists, and artists who are receiving regular and accurate payments are happy artists,” said Nixon. “From the artist point of view, it can seem a pretty simple one-to-one relationship. For the business paying them, it’s a one-to-many problem, and it’s easy for a streaming or licensing platform to get bogged down making tens of thousands of payments on a regular basis.

“At the end of the day, issues like compliance are barriers to entry,” he concluded. “By offering a tool that can help everyone stay compliant, it makes the industry more equitable to everyone involved.”

Photo Credit: Andrey Metelev

MetaSing, which bills itself as “the first decentralized music platform to combine a gaming model with web3 music streaming,” has announced the completion of a $3 million seed round.

MetaSing, a self-described “unicorn startup,” just recently detailed the multimillion-dollar raise via a formal release. The “team” section of the entity’s website shows that former employees of Meta (blockchain developer), Spotify (software engineer), Twitch (fullstack engineer), and Amazon Music are part of MetaSing.

And according to a white paper that’s also live on the multifaceted startup’s website, MetaSing functions as “a Web3 lifestyle platform” and enables players to “equip themselves with NFT in the form of microphones, headsets and music arena.”

Moreover, the company utilizes two tokens, $DJC (which has an “unlimited supply”) and $BEAT (with a “total supply” of 6 billion), according once again to the MetaSing site, which relays that “players equipped with MetaSing NFT can earn token rewards by singing songs, listening to music and creating music NFT.”

On the artist side, MetaSing emphasized in the aforementioned announcement message that it plans to achieve a “fairer redistribution of the results of artists’ work,” referring to delivering a larger portion of revenue to the professionals responsible for creating music.

Moving past these operational specifics and refocusing on the $3 million raise, MetaSing said that the UK’s Pleiades Capital led the round.

In terms of the funding’s uses, MetaSing unveiled a far-reaching roadmap earlier this month, communicating therein that it intends to debut an app on the Play Store and the App Store (besides pursuing a “record label collaboration”) in Q4 2022 before launching a music NFT marketplace as well as a series of “in real life” concerts in 2023.

Lastly, regarding the startup’s objectives, the business’s release discloses that “MetaSing seems to be more interested in being the first to become the opensea of the music NFT trading market.”

In any event, time will reveal the precise music industry role of NFTs, which have struggled amid a broader “crypto winter” during 2022.

Notwithstanding this downturn, though, capital – and major-label support – is continuing to reach music NFTs and platforms. To be sure, Warner Records partnered with Bose on a merch-backed NFT project in July, when Universal Music’s notoriously media-shy digital group, Kingship, is said to have sold through an entire NFT collection.

To kick off August, OneOf announced the close of an $8 million round, while Meta expanded Instagram’s NFT support to 100 countries.

Photo Credit: Vampr

There’s no ‘perfect’ time to be a music tech startup, but recent events have presented more challenges than ever. Supply chain constraints, contracting economies, shrinking profits, and layoffs are hitting the tech sector hard. Businesses are being advised to hoard cash and adjust to a climate where raising money isn’t as easy as it was in the past. 

The following was created in collaboration with Vampr, a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.

Part of staying nimble as a music tech startup in 2022 means having the vision to navigate these challenges as they arise. A revenue model that is scalable and resilient means the company has more resources to stretch further. It also means having a founder that is equipped to drive the company and prepared to get their hands dirty.

Discipline is one of the most essential aspects of maintaining a startup in this economic climate. Companies who can’t adapt to this new way of operating must feel a degree of whiplash. Look no further than Mark Zuckerberg’s address to employees at the Meta town hall meeting last month. 

Social networking startup Vampr is well-positioned to weather the storm as it runs a small and frugal team, with senior members wearing multiple hats. The company has been able to survive and grow for over six years now, stretching $3.5 million of capital investment across the same period. Vampr has a team of 30 people who are working together to achieve new revenue goals each month, despite the current state of the economy. 

Vampr’s fundraising journey has been a colorful one. The company raised capital from two early-stage venture capital firms, angel investors, family and friends, and community-funding rounds. So far, Vampr has raised around $2.1 million of its total funding from its user-investors.

The company’s first Reg CF round was launched with the vision of relaunching the company based on all its learnings to-date. Call it a slight pivot. Vampr says it was a risk that paid off, once its community of user-investors were on board. “We learned from that first experience that the real value in crowdfunding was converting users into lifelong brand ambassadors who had skin in the game and a vested interest in the company’s success,” says Josh Simons, Founder & CEO of Vampr.

Because Vampr focused on its community of user-investors, they’ve enjoyed consistent customer input when shaping their product roadmap. One example of this is the launch of the company’s Vampr Academy, which is a Masterclass-style series of courses that address the knowledge gap observable in early-stage creatives. Vampr Academy is accessible for only $19/month and provides guidance to creatives without the overhead expense of a university education. 

Vampr plans to build out the Academy over time around its user’s feedback. The company plans to experiment with celebrity presenters and music professors until it finds a unique balance that its users appreciate and value. 

Success stories for users of Vampr come in all shapes and sizes. One shared with Digital Music News is the UK production duo Saltwives. The duo frequents the Vampr app to scout for writers and topliners for collaboration. David Phelan spoke with us about how they use the platform.

Photo Credit: Vampr (Pictured: Saltwives)

“I appreciate collaborators who have complementary skill sets, creative honesty, and people I enjoy hanging out with. People who take personal responsibility for what we are making,” Phelan told Digital Music News. “Also sometimes when I’m working with new writers and artists, they can lean back a little and expect the more experienced people to take care of making sure the song is great. You should always aim to take responsibility for the song you are working on, even if you are a first time songwriter with the world’s biggest hitmaker – people really appreciate that effort.”

Vampr says collaborating with other businesses in music tech is much the same, with many of the same challenges. Part of staying nimble in this business means building a network of supportive, two-way relationships with other businesses.

“We placed importance upon this when it came to finding a sub-publisher for Vampr Publishing,” says Baz Palmer, Co-Founder & Head of Product at Vampr. “We went slow in our approach because we wanted to find a partner with a compatible culture and who supported our artist-first publishing model where Vampr only gets paid if we deliver results for our artists.”

Vampr is working with Songtrust and Think Music on the sync side of the business. The company is about mid-way through its biggest funding round yet, working with Keiretsu Forum to raise an additional $3.5 million to accelerate revenues and user adoption of the platform. This puts Vampr in an excellent position moving forward, even in these economically uncertain times.

British startup Audoo inks song detection deal with APRA AMCOS in Australia and New Zealand.

Award-winning public performance royalty technology start-up Audoo has partnered with the leading Australasian performing rights organization, APRA AMCOS. The partnership helps ensure fairer and more accurate royalty payments from public performances in Australia and New Zealand. 

Businesses licensed by OneMusic will be equipped with Audoo’s revolutionary Audio Meters, rolling out first across six major cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Auckland. According to Audoo, the Audio Meters provide previously unseen levels of accuracy and transparency when recognizing music played in public to help ensure members and affiliates receive proper royalties. 

The world-first partnership will lead to the technology’s presence across commercial businesses like bars, cafes, dance schools, gyms, and retail stores. The ability to recognize the music played in these locations help APRA AMCOS members get paid for the music they write.

OneMusic is an initiative from APRA AMCOS and the recorded music rights management organization in both countries (PPCA and Recorded Music NZ, respectively). It represents an overwhelming majority of commercially released music worldwide and provides licensed access to millions of songs to businesses in Australia/New Zealand. APRA AMCOS represents over 111,000 composers, publishers, and songwriters across the two countries.

Accurate royalty payments for public performances are one of the biggest challenges in the music industry — businesses that utilize OneMusic’s content and affiliates seek more accurate data collection methods. 

Dean Ormston, APRA AMCOS CEO, said, “This first stage rollout will help ensure our music creators are more fairly and accurately remunerated for the use of their music across all sectors. We are evolving in step with new technologies and are thrilled to be working with an innovative company like Audoo. 

“Our teams already manage hundreds of billions of performances each year from traditional and digital mediums — TV, radio, streaming, and user-generated content services and the like — and to be able to improve the accuracy of data from Australian and New Zealand businesses on this scale is unprecedented (and) very exciting.”

Ryan Edwards, Audoo’s founder and CEO, added, “We are committed to delivering the most accurate data possible to Performing Right Organizations across the world, to ensure artists and songwriters are paid fairly after years of missing out due to outdated monitoring processes. This mission is everything to us. 

“We’re delighted to roll out our technology in Australia and New Zealand in collaboration with the team at APRA AMCOS. Our vision is to have our audio meter technology in place in licensed premises across the globe, and Australia and New Zealand are world-firsts. We will know- with certainty and in detail- exactly what people are listening to, and in doing so, we will collect and report the biggest set of public performance music data ever created.”

The world of music licensing is about to change dramatically, thanks to some groundbreaking developments in the AI space. Now, APM Music — owned by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group — has inked a major licensing partnership with AI-focused music upstart XdMind.

Production music heavyweight APM Music — owned by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) and  — is now taking its catalog into relatively uncharted waters. The company has just finalized an agreement with AI upstart XdMind, one that will open APM’s massive song library to AI-powered, ‘adaptive’ use for dynamic environments like games, short-form video snippets, the metaverse, and other fast-rising formats. 

The tie-up would see APM Music’s entire catalog of more than one million songs made available for transformation by XdMind’s AI-powered, adaptive music technology. Instead of more traditional licensing arrangements in which APM’s songs are licensed for specific, predictable start-to-finish uses, the partnership with XdMind would allow songs to be sliced-and-diced within fast-moving, unpredictable formats like games and TikTok videos.

XdMind’s AI-based technology can intelligently dissect the rhythms and changes of video environments, including those that involve dynamic, player-generated changes. Audio tracks are intelligently selected to match specific video environments, then reshaped to fit the unfolding action. For APM, the result is that deeper catalog cuts will suddenly gain new exposure if they represent a solid match.

“We are extremely honored and delighted to have APM, the world’s number one production music company, as our very close partner,” said XdMind co-founder & CEO Linda Bernardi. “Today, APM provides the best catalog music choices for production purposes and XdMind will have full access to all of APM’s music to make available in gaming and all aspects of the metaverse.”   

APM CEO Adam Taylor pointed to a vast, expanding arena of licensing involving adaptive formats. “APM Music’s catalog has been licensed into every conceivable corner of the media world, from Super Bowl ads and blockbuster movies to Netflix shows and everything in between. Now, we’re taking things a step further with XdMind to enable dynamic, variable song playback within fast-moving, highly-variable video games in their current formats and in the emerging metaverse.”

Taylor also pointed to expanded opportunities for APM composers and artists. “Suddenly, there’s a lot more content out there – so we’re excited to bring more artists and music to the licensing table. We aim to broadly increase the discovery and usage of our vast catalog and their creators through this partnership.”

Back in April, we first profiled XDMind’s adaptive, AI-powered music technology, which was first deployed within mobile games like Subway Surfers. The company’s core technology can modify a song in real-time to fit the action of games and a range of other dynamic platforms and environments. XdMind, which has initial seed funding and is pre-Series A, first partnered with DMN during its pre-launch stage.

According to Bernardi, APM’s song catalog is well-organized and solidly-matched to XDMind’s adaptive AI. “Not only do we find APM’s music library very impressive, but the technology, filtering and accurate access to music makes APM a critical partner to us in dynamically adapting music to gaming and the metaverse,” Bernardi shared.

For XdMind’s Linda Bernardi, a longtime tech disruptor, the APM Music deal is an early victory. XdMind quickly emerged as a player in the nascent AI music space by tackling challenges found within unpredictable gaming sequences. By slicing-and-dicing music and allowing songs to shift according to the real-time action in a game, the duo opened a brand-new possibility in music licensing.

“Since the inception of time, music listeners have been passive participants,” Bernardi explained. “The biggest disruption in the worlds of gaming, short-form video and the metaverse will be the role that AI will play to make sure that you have a choice of what you consume. The result will be a more dynamic, delightful and enhanced experience for music listeners, composers, and artists.”

“This disruption will change how music will reach and be consumed by the billions of end users out there,” Bernardi continued. “XdMind is playing a front-and-center role in this.” 

Already, XdMind is plotting a path from gaming into the metaverse.

The company’s initial work within mobile gaming could bring more gamers back into a game’s original soundtrack. Although specific numbers in this area aren’t documented, a large percentage of gamers press mute while playing their own playlists to accompany a game’s action. Spotify has even devoted an entire playlist category to gaming soundtracks, a strange side economy that highlights broader disinterest in in-game music.

Now, XdMind’s underlying IP is being extended into new arenas. That includes the emerging metaverse, where action sequences will be equally unpredictable and dynamic.

For the music industry, dynamic platforms represent a potentially large revenue expansion. Currently, streaming music subscriber growth appears to be flatlining in higher-income countries like the United States, though arenas like dynamic licensing could potentially produce billions in fresh annual income.

That is likely to spur more deals ahead for XdMind. The company is currently in advanced talks with at least one other major music company, according to preliminary details shared with DMN.

Photo Credit: Madeleine Ragsdale

Fanimal, which bills itself as a “live events platform and zero-fee ticket marketplace,” has announced a $4 million funding round amid the ongoing return of crowd-based entertainment.

Venice, California-headquartered Fanimal, which formed in 2019 and aims “to make ticket buying a more social and risk-averse experience,” just recently unveiled this latest multimillion-dollar raise. One Bullpen Capital led the round, which also drew support from Sensor Tower stakeholder Pear VC and Burst Capital. (Fanimal “was built out of the Pear VC accelerator program.”)

Fanimal has now raised a total of $6 million since becoming available to users at 2020’s beginning, and higher-ups relayed that their startup had achieved “explosive growth of adoption among fans” in 2021. Execs attributed the purported hike in customers to “Fanimal’s price transparency and unique group purchase model.”

And on this front, the business dedicated much of its formal release to touting the perceived significance of said “patented” group purchase model, which eliminates “the need for one person to bear the financial burden of buying a bunch of tickets up front,” according to Fanimal.

A quick examination of Fanimal’s website shows that four-day general-admission passes to the forthcoming Lollapalooza will cost $355 apiece (against a $350 base price and $64.64 in service charges directly from organizers) if purchased alone, besides $15 for shipping. However, upping the transaction’s passes to three reduces their price to $348 each, whereas a group of eight would pay $332 per pass when buying together, reflecting the maximum discount, the website states.

Back to the funding announcement, the three-year-old company likewise emphasized the broader goal of rendering the ticket-purchasing process more social, as mentioned, including through “a messaging product that allows group members to not only coordinate logistics surrounding the event itself, but also send each other GIFs and discuss all the other details of their unforgettable experience.”

Regarding Fanimal’s plans for the capital, the multimillion-dollar tranche is expected to help accelerate product development, with “a set of event organizer tools” poised to roll out sometime in the future.

Tellingly, cofounder and CEO Jonny Halprin in a statement doubled down on the social element of his platform – opting not to highlight the “zero hidden service fees” and discounts involved with buying passes despite the years-running criticism of competing ticket services’ own fees.

“Nobody goes to live events alone, but the only way to buy tickets is alone,” said the former Boston Consulting Group team member Halprin. “We’ve changed that. Our group purchase technology has made buying tickets part of the social experience, less about the transaction and more about who you’re going with.”

After arbitrary lockdown measures and large-gathering bans decimated live entertainment in 2020 and 2021, crowd-based happenings appear to be returning to form in 2022. Moreover, a considerable number of fans and artists are looking to make up for lost time, if ticket sales and tour schedules are any indication, and it’ll be interesting to see whether a new player with an innovative business model (and without a trail of negative press) can establish a foothold in the space moving forward.

Photo Credit: Sam Moghadam Khamseh

Are you leaving money on the table as an artist, producer, songwriter, label, or publisher? Mismanaged metadata is one of the biggest problems plaguing indie artists and the broader music industry today — but it doesn’t have to be. Now, solutions like Session are finally tackling the metadata headache and dislodging billions in missing royalties.

In a nutshell, metadata is all the underlying information tied to any released song or album. That includes everything from song titles, songwriter cuts, producer names, publishers, the record label, and more. Think of it as all the info printed on the CD or vinyl jacket if you’re a physical music lover, but expanded into a digital repository that can travel anywhere.

Missing, incomplete, or incorrect metadata has been a serious music industry headache for decades. However, there’s now hope that these issues will eventually be resolved, thanks to new solutions like Session, a company intently focused on fixing this billion-dollar riddle.

A song’s information needs to be synchronized across digital streaming providers like Apple Music and Spotify, as well as critical industry sectors like performance rights organizations (PROs). Metadata ensures that the right people are identified, credited for their work, and paid their royalty share. But often, that metadata isn’t transmitted correctly – or at all.

While some standards exist for how music metadata is collected, organized, and displayed, compliance with those standards is often lax. There’s also no standard way to verify the accuracy of a song’s metadata before it is released. And even minor entry details can cause serious crediting and payout problems, with small typos or changes in translation submerging correct data forever.

Three Types of Music Metadata

There are three main types of music metadata – descriptive, ownership/performing rights, and recommendation metadata. Let’s take a quick look at each of them.

Descriptive Metadata

Descriptive metadata details the contents of the recording with objective text tags. These include song title, release date, track number, performing artists, main genre, cover art, and more.

This type of metadata is the oil that makes digital service providers work. Spotify can serve up a playlist full of ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’ music based on a variety of descriptive metadata provided by the band to the label.

Ownership/Performing Rights Metadata

The artist or band performing on a track isn’t the only song owner or contributor. The performing artists, lyricists, producers, songwriters, and more may all claim a share of revenue generated from digital streams, airplay, and movie sync placements. Ownership metadata can specify the contractual agreements behind the release for the purposes of these royalty calculations.

Ownership metadata ensures that every party participating in the track or album creation process is remunerated according to their contract. Splits like this can be extremely complicated in the music industry. It’s one of the most commonly litigated issues in music law, and it is often a result of bad metadata.

Ownership metadata errors hurt the artists’ pocketbook the most. A human error or database glitch can result in thousands of unpaid, unclaimed royalties. Corrupted ownership metadata robs artists and musicians of money and credit for their creations.

Recommendation Metadata

Recommendation metadata is more subjective than the previous two types. Think of mood labels, genre tags, and song similarity scores to help algorithms rank songs among playlists. This type of metadata is used to make connections between music that a listener may enjoy based on previous listening habits. It’s the secret sauce that powers music discovery on DSPs like Apple Music and Spotify.

Each platform has its own approach to recommendation metadata, and this is a very different animal than objective metadata. Description and ownership metadata is often created on the artists’ end, while DSPs and their affiliates create recommendation metadata.

Despite the importance of entering metadata at the point of creation (for example, the recording studio), the chore of keeping track of data is one of the last things on most creators’ minds.

But without an accurate record of the session, someone is leaving money on the table. So how do you track who did what when writing a song while in the moment? What about share splits? Does everyone agree on the contributions?

Session, a company that builds collaboration tools for creators, co-founded by songwriter and producer Max Martin, ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus, and songwriter, producer, and publisher Niclas Molinder, approached the problem by simplifying the process of capturing the data as it happens.

The Session platform uses standard industry identifiers in a single location and makes sending metadata downstream to rights holders and other relevant participants a more straightforward process. Session is embedded within digital audio workstations (DAWs) to capture authoritative song information and data at the point of creation.

“I had the great opportunity and great honor to run this company and my initiatives together with Max Martin and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA,” Session’s Niclas Molinder told Digital Music News. “So the three of us, we teamed up almost six, seven years ago when I came up with the idea of developing a platform that allows the creators, in an easy way, to just capture information about who’s doing what, where and when, on a song.

“Because my goal has been, if we only can make sure that we identify everyone that’s involved, we can sort out splits, we can sort out any other kinds of disputes as long as we know who the people are.”

Session Studio is the company’s app-based collaborative solution. It allows musicians to collaborate with other creators while keeping lyrics, audio, and credits in sync between everyone involved. It can synchronize with leading music production software, and shares verified data with labels, publishers, and managers. Session Studio also captures information on who contributed what during a recording session so everyone can agree on their splits.

The end goal is to capture unique creator identifiers to ensure that everyone gets paid with 100% accuracy. Session’s apps enable users to digitally send accurate data downstream to the music ecosystem, creating a solid, verified data-collection hub. Earlier this year, Session and Digital Music News joined forces to broaden awareness of metadata solutions, as well as industry-wide initiatives like Credits Due.

Credits Due: The mission to standardize accurate metadata collection at the point of creation

Collecting 100% accurate metadata from start to release is critical to fixing the metadata problem. Otherwise, artists, musicians, and other collaborators are simply leaving royalties on the table. Initiatives like Credits Due, which is strongly backed by Session, aim to make sure artists capture accurate metadata at the point of creation. Too often, music recordings and songs are simply not linked with the proper metadata.

Credits Due is the result of The Ivors Academy of Music Creators and The Music Rights Awareness Foundation working together. They aim to increase knowledge of music rights through education and support. Credits Due enables music creators to be aware of how they should be credited fairly for the music they share with the world.

As part of its ongoing awareness campaign, Credits Due emphasizes five elements necessary for accurate metadata attribution.

• • Creator identifiers & role codes (IPI, IPN & ISNI)
  • Musical work identifier (ISWC)
  • Recording Identifier (ISRC)
  • Song Title & Alternative Song Titles
  • Writer, Performer, Producer & Contributor Names

Solving the metadata problem at the point of creation has enormous benefits for the music industry as a whole. It avoids the pain of missing and inaccurate income, which can take years to arrive. It also avoids the added cost and inefficiency of sorting out royalties and splits after the track’s release.

Metadata problems can also lead to restricted experiences on digital music services. Spotify and Apple Music are less likely to feature a song with their proprietary recommendations metadata if the songs lack any objective metadata. All of these issues hurt creators, publishers, DSPs, music societies, and fans by making music less accessible than it should be.

Want to get involved with the Credits Due initiative? You can pledge your support by visiting the Credits Due website.

How to Get Started With Session

The Session Studio tool is the best place to start to make sure all five of these key data points are gathered during music sessions. Creators can access Session Studio for free on the web, mobile and desktop. Downloading Session Studio on the desktop app enables integration with the most popular DAWs on the market. Additionally, the service is connected with some of the most prominent music societies in the world, so creator identifiers will be verified upon account creation.

“From that moment on, when you use Session Studio, when you go into any kind of collaboration creating a song, Session will make sure that you get identified and the registration will be correct in the end. So you will be credited, and most importantly, you will be paid if there’s any money to be received,” Molinder added.

Molinder further explains that after Session Studio is set up, it’s just a simple act of scanning a QR code inside Pro Tools or Logic. “Just by doing that, we automatically capture all the five to eight data points about you, linked to the role you have on that song,” Molinder notes. But Session isn’t a database; it’s a data hub that makes gathering data and forwarding that metadata downstream into a standardized process.

“It gets very complicated,” Molinder continues. “And how can we expect the creators in the studio to know about this? We should not expect that. What we should do is use technology, like Session, for them to just scan in and make sure that the links are made at the point of creation and are pushed downstream, and that’s what Session is doing for creators.”

Ashley King also contributed to this report.

Subway Surfers, one of several games being reimagined by AI music innovators XDMind.

The machines are getting smarter — which means the music industry is taking AI and the metaverse more seriously. According to the duo behind XDMind, gaming is a perfect place to unleash AI-powered adaptive music technology.

A game without music is like a car without a stereo system. No fun. But what about all the gamers that mute their games while listening to their own Spotify playlists? Despite the presence of brilliant soundtracks and fantastic musical integrations in games like Grand Theft Auto, there seems to be plenty of room for evolution in this arena.

Now, startup XdMind is trying to fill the ‘mute gap.’ Using adaptive AI technology, XdMind’s GameDJ allows a gamer to incorporate any preferred music into any game. But instead of a parallel stream, GameDJ smartly integrates music directly into the action. That means intensifying the music around more action-heavy sequences, for example, and toning things down during downtimes (including non-action modes like character selection). The result is a more responsive, action-matching musical soundtrack powered by AI.

“A large percentage of gamers like to listen to their own music,” relayed XDMind cofounder Ara Bernardi, a 20-year Microsoft engineering veteran. “I’m a case study in this: I exclusively listen to my music while gaming, especially when the in-game music gets boring or irritating.”

“There are so many gaming soundtracks on Spotify for a simple reason: gamers want more than in-game music.”

XdMind’s “your games, your music” concept has already attracted serious interest from the gaming industry and its investors (currently, XDMind is privately funded).

According to XDMind, gaming developers have struggled with musically-disconnected gamers for years, with mixed success. But the prospect of an integrated, adaptive music soundtrack offers the possibility of greater musical choice and personalization — and as a result, significantly increased engagement.

“Game makers don’t really know what music you like; only you do,” said XdMind fellow cofounder Linda Bernardi, a seasoned tech disruptor and innovator. “Music is highly personal, and games can be enjoyed more dramatically if your favorite music is adapted to your favorite game, seamlessly and without any interruption to your gameplay.”

“We enable true music personalization and dynamic adaptation of music to video games via AI as never done before, achieving true personalization.”

The first iteration, viewed by Digital Music News, offers a nice preview of the possibilities (DMN became a pre-launch partner of XDMind late last year). The Android-specific concept uses personal collections on mobile games like Subway Surfers and Candy Crush. The first step is to swap the in-game music with a track selected by the user. From there, the action of the music is paired with the action of the game.

GameDJ is designed to integrate immediately, without extensive setup or app updates.

Once engaged, GameDJ works alongside the game without forcing any interruptions or distractions. According to XDMind, that ‘side-by-side,’ out-of-the-box development philosophy will improve early engagement beyond super-geek gamers. The company is also resolutely avoiding ads, tracking, or other pesky intrusions.

Over time, GameDJ adapts to the game to improve the fit using its video comprehension technology. Eventually, the goal is to create a contextually harmonized experience that properly matches certain sections of songs — while also subtly modifying those songs — to fit the action and enhance the in-game experience.

The first version of GameDJ is an excellent step toward that vision. Initially, GameDJ is relying on fade-ins and fade-outs to transition its matches, though eventually, more advanced techniques like looping, stylistic modifications, and even mashups will be employed in future versions, according to the company.

That is fresh stuff for the gaming industry, but GameDJ is also drawing interest from the music industry.

An ‘opportunity’ snapshot from XDMind’s pitch deck.

Both industries are enjoying breakneck growth and untapped expansion opportunities. Accenture recently valued the global gaming industry at more than $300 billion, with mobile gaming spawning hundreds of millions of new gamers over the past few years alone. That is happening alongside a massive app boom: according to App Annie’s latest data, a record 230 billion apps were downloaded in 2021, with total app spending surging 19% in 2021 to $170 billion.

The music industry is also enjoying a spectacular surge: according to data released by global industry trade group IFPI, worldwide recording revenue jumped 18.5% to $25.9 billion in 2021. But revenue from streaming platforms like Spotify, which have been powering the surge, is starting to cool. Suddenly, the industry is scoping out new platforms for growth, and gaming and the metaverse are topping the list.

In its current iteration, GameDJ only uses locally-stored, user-owned music collections and marries those songs with an existing game.

That structure is designed to flex the proof-of-concept without triggering any copyright concerns. The next step is to introduce greater musical options and license catalogs.

On that front, XDMind is already in advanced discussions with major music IP owners. The company noted that the discussions involve “very large libraries of music for streaming,” with considerable flexibility in usage parameters and creative modifications.

At first, the prospect of AI-bending and matching might sound scary to major content owners. But within the confines of a gaming add-on, the calculations change quickly. “GameDJ allows gamers to extend their music in totally different ways and within a controlled environment,” Linda relayed. “I think they see the upside pretty quickly.”

Currently, GameDJ is available as a limited early (beta) release on Google Play. Check it out here.

Photo Credit: Mayht

Sonos has announced it is acquiring Mayht, a Netherlands-based company that showed off new audio transducer tech at CES this year.

Mayht’s Heartmotion technology replaces conventional drivers to create speakers that are 10 times more compact than current speakers. During its CES demo, Mayht said the reduction in size for the audio drivers doesn’t compromise sound quality, range, or output.

“While consumer electronics have grown more powerful and compact in recent years, the core speaker technology within has hardly evolved over the past 100 years,” says Mayht Chief Executive Mattias Scheek. “I truly believe our Heartmotion speaker technology is the revolution the industry has been dreaming of, but never thought possible. They will finally be able to create the sound experiences people want from everyday consumer electronics and automotive audio systems.”

Apparently Sonos agrees with the Mayht CEO, because shortly after the CES demo, Sonos went to work on an acquisition.

“Mayht’s breakthrough in transducer technology will enable Sonos to take another leap forward in our product portfolio,” says Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos. “This strategic acquisition gives us more incredible people, technology, and intellectual property that will further distinguish the Sonos experience, enhance our competitive advantage, and accelerate our future roadmap.”

Sonos acquired Mayht for $100 million in existing cash on hand. Further details about the strategic acquisition will be provided in Sonos’ Q2 earnings call, coming in May.

“We are very excited and proud to become a part of Sonos,” adds Mattias Scheek. “Our dream has always been to set a new standard in the audio industry. The integration of our technology into Sonos products will further revolutionize high-quality sound.”

Sonos recently sued Google, alleging the tech giant stole proprietary tech to build out its own smart speaker platform. The US International Trade Commission agreed that Google infringed on at least five audio technology patents held by Sonos. Since then, Google has worked on software updates that fundamentally change its smart speaker ecosystem. Users can no longer adjust speaker volume as a group or use the volume rocker on a connected device.

Songfinch investor Doja Cat. Photo Credit: Naz / CC by 3.0

Songfinch, a platform that enables fans to order personalized songs, raised over $2 million from investors including The Weeknd last summer. Now, the custom-music startup has officially closed its $5 million seed round.  

Chicago-based Songfinch announced the multimillion-dollar raise’s wrap today, and Pinterest backer Corazon Capital (which is also headquartered in The Windy City) led the round. Besides The Weeknd’s aforementioned interest in Songfinch, the company has drawn financial support from Doja Cat (whose attorney and co-manager, Josh Kaplan, is a co-founder), Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, and Quincy Jones, who celebrated his 89th birthday last month.

The list of investors in Songfinch (which has over 1,200 active musician users, according to execs) likewise includes Rob Price (CEO of music-education program School of Rock), David Kalt (founder of Reverb.com), and Michael Keiser (founder of American Greetings’ Recycled Paper Greetings). Additionally, Tinder CMO and Corazon partner Phil Schwarz has joined the board of Songfinch, which higher-ups said “has created nearly 100,000 personalized songs” to date.

Addressing the $5 million seed round’s completion in a statement, Songfinch co-founder and CEO John Williamson said: “We already know music is an incredible gift, and our customers tell us repeatedly how much they treasure their one-of-a-kind Songfinch songs.

“We also think that the expanse of Songfinch stretches far beyond gifting, and we’re excited to deliver on that in the months and years to come,” concluded the Music Audience Exchange advisor Williamson, whose company communicated that it’s “paid out more than $5 million to independent artists.”

On the latter front, Songfinch’s website specifies that the service’s “custom songs cost $199 USD and are delivered within 3-7 days from order confirmation.” Customers receive “a Personal Use license in perpetuity,” per the platform, and will be “totally fine” so long as they “are not making money” from the custom track at hand.

“Your artist retains 100% ownership of the master and composition of your song,” another section of Songfinch’s website emphasizes. The business accommodates personalized-music orders for companies, though the cost “depends on many factors including media, territory, use, the song request, and more.”

Lastly, regarding the operational and monetization specifics of Songfinch, customers have the option of purchasing “add-on” items including a $19.99 personalized photo slideshow (set to a custom track), a digital lyric print ($29.99), a 7” vinyl record featuring a custom song ($59.99), a DVD photo slideshow ($24.99), a CD ($24.99), and sheet music ($59.99).

Plus, a “metal QR plaque” ($49.99) features a photo and a QR code linking to a custom track, and Songfinch will upload a song to Apple Music and Spotify for a cool $49.99, its store shows.

Plern wraps a Bangkok subway car, part of a localized, artist-focused branding blitz throughout Thailand  (photo: Digital Music News)

Never heard of Plern? Here’s how an upstart Thai streaming music platform quickly topped 1 million app downloads despite heavy competition from Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. The Tuned Global-powered platform launched just a few months ago.

If you’re not living in Thailand, you’ve likely never heard the name ‘Plern’. Inside the country, however, Plern is a fast-rising streaming music platform that is quickly gaining notoriety. The platform reached 1 million app downloads across both iOS and Android just three months after launch, with a localized focus quickly drawing followers. That was enough to get noticed by global mega-giants like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music, all of whom have a serious presence in the country.

Plern told Digital Music News that they first hit the million-download threshold in late February. Additionally, the service has racked up more than 600,000 listening hours, with activity rates surging. On February 21st, Plern became the number-one ranked app on Google Play in Thailand, across all categories.

All of which sounds pretty exciting, especially in such a saturated market. But Plern didn’t start in a Bangkok internet cafe. The platform was spawned by Thai entertainment giant GMM Grammy, with Tuned Global tapped to power the full tech solution.

For B2B streaming company Tuned Global, which focuses on constructing customized streaming music and entertainment platforms, the tie-up made sense. GMM Grammy didn’t want to create a Spotify clone: with its feet firmly planted in Thai culture, the company aimed to deliver something better tailored to Thai tastes and tech usage patterns. That fits squarely into Tuned Global’s market strategy, which focuses on delivering platforms that differentiate from one-size-fits-all global streaming giants.

We’ve been covering Tuned Global’s bigger launches for years, part of a broader partnership designed to draw attention to the company’s unique model. While mega-players like Apple Music replicate their app across scores of differentiated markets, Tuned Global brokers deals with companies that want something less cookie-cutter.

In the case of Plern, Tuned Global offered a fairly comprehensive build that included a customized app, API integration, reporting services, catalog management, integration with local ad partners, funnel based marketing tools, and support for external and in-app payment methods. Tuned Global says that its broader-based, ‘360 streaming solutions’ approach differentiates them from all other music backend-only competitors.

Incidentally, Tuned Global’s clientele includes the major labels, who have tapped the company to power artist-focused apps and experiences. But it also stretches into the worlds of advertising, fitness, and sports. One of Tuned Global’s biggest projects is UFC Ultimate Sound, a fighter-focused streaming media app for Ultimate Fighting Championship fans.

In all of Tuned Global’s installations, customization is paramount. For the UFC, the experience revolves around the fighter. For Plern, the focus has been on local artists, labels, and access, with significant differentiation from globalized platforms.

That differentiation is quickly translating into traction. Asawin ‘Ant’ Rojmethatawee, EVP of Music Streaming Business at GMM Grammy and head of Plern, told Digital Music News that Spotify has been in the Thai market for years. But Spotify has missed major parts of Thai music culture, with genres like ‘luk thung’ (ลูกทุ่ง), or Thai’s equivalent of country music, ignored by the Swedish platform.

“55% of the Thai market is ‘country,’ or luk thung local music,” Rojmethatawee said. “But Spotify didn’t focus on that genre at all.”

That’s part of a broader focus on localized artists, with Thai-based record labels like RS, Serng Music, Top Line Music, Sure Entertainment, Siang Siam, and Solution One given priority. Instead of simply setting up a Thai office, Plern and GMM Grammy are deeply-rooted in Thai culture. The result is an app that offers more curatorial edge and better access to Thai artists and scenes.

Con Raso, Managing Director of Tuned Global, pointed to even more local gradations in the Thai market, specifically between urban and rural areas. “Culturally, Thailand is really diverse,” Raso said. “What you’re building isn’t just for the main cities.”

But this goes beyond Thai music culture.

Rojmethatawee explained that Thai mobile usage preferences are quite different from most Western markets. For example, Thai users typically preserve bandwidth on their top-up, pre-paid mobile accounts, and save the heavier-bandwidth streaming for wifi-rich environments. That means on-demand listening often involves offline playlists. And videos typically aren’t viewed outside the home or office, with the preference on YouTube frequently audio-only ‘viewing’.

“A lot of [Thai] people are on a pre-paid, top-up model, so they rely on data-free wifi at the house,” Rojmethatawee relayed. “So they don’t care so much about video.”

That has special implications for YouTube, though it’s also spelling headaches for Spotify. Instead of monthly packages, many Thai users are simply day-by-day users, which doesn’t quite fit into recurring monthly charge structures (Spotify is now launching a daily package in response). “Many are willing to pay on a daily basis, but they’re not topping up on a monthly basis or even weekly basis,” Rojmethatawee continued.

For Plern, those considerations are baked into the offering. The platform is focused on providing a low-data alternative to high-bandwidth video and audio, while focusing on perks like login-free access, lockscreen play, unlimited song skips and offline listening.

But Plern isn’t just scooping up music fans who haven’t signed up to one of the major platforms. Instead, the Thai market is in its relative infancy when it comes to streaming music. Unlike saturated markets like the U.S., Thailand is still wide open. According to the company, just 20% of the country’s nearly 50 million smartphone users are using a streaming music app. Currently, radio and YouTube command a far greater share of the action, though Plern is courting users through a combination of ad-supported and premium accounts.

Incidentally, Tuned Global is also bringing a potent metadata partner to the Plern relationship.

Tuned Global pacted with Musiio, an AI-intensive music metadata company, to help Plern tag and populate its catalog with proper metadata. That, combined with Tuned Global’s existing metadata from its licensed label partners, helped Plern create better curating, searching, and playlisting capabilities. “In metadata-poor environments like Asia, the access to Musiio’s technology within Tuned Global’s platform helps enrich our local catalog so it is searchable and more efficient for music recommendations,” Rojmethatawee said.

Now, it’s off to the races. By the end of 2022, Plern hopes to attract 5 million users, a tall task despite the early progress. Undoubtedly, the global giants will be taking notes and imitating the localized approach.

Photo Credit: Marcus Herzberg

What if performance rights organizations (PROs) counted nearly every song played – in every bar, cafe, restaurant, shopping mall, and public place? That’s a future being etched by Audoo, a company with the unusual mission of revolutionizing public performance royalties.

Those chasing the sexier part of the music industry rarely end up at PROs. But there are — quite literally – billions of dollars in public performance royalties paid out annually, and plenty of juicy paychecks from songs that are simply played in the background. Now, while nosebleed catalog acquisitions, billion-dollar IPOs, and high-flying NFTs hog the music industry’s headlines, performance rights organizations are quietly retreading their operations to better count the songs being played in public.

PROs (and CMOs, or Collective Management Organizations) aren’t doing it alone. One company zealously pushing this ‘revolution’ is Audoo, a London-based company investing heavily in the hardware and software required to better track what’s playing in the background. Already, Audoo’s tech has attracted buy-in from JASRAC, the PRO overseeing the second-largest music market in the world, Japan.

Other major PROs, including several in Europe, are also coming online, with multiple announcements slated for 2022. Several months ago, DMN joined forces with Audoo to propel that footprint further and shuttle PRO royalties into the future.

The ‘Audio Meter’ (Photo Credit: Audoo)

Audoo’s secret sauce is a handy piece of hardware known as the ‘Audio Meter.’

The discreet device plugs into the wall and counts every song played in a venue – all day and all night. It’s almost like using a supercharged Shazam in the corner, scaled to an industrial enterprise level. According to Audoo, the Audio Meter is packed with some of the world’s most sophisticated signal processing capabilities, which enable accurate track IDs even in noisy environments.

Captured soundwaves are compared to a database of roughly 70 million tracks. Once a match is confirmed, the played track is logged into Audoo’s platform, which can be compiled, analyzed, and accessed by partner companies.

Audoo’s song-tracking tech represents a significant improvement over current PRO systems.

Currently, most PROs utilize a more antiquated tracking system that relies on estimates and logs instead of concrete matches. Instead of actual plays, totals are typically estimated from sources like submitted song-tracking logs and even radio playlists. The result is that some songs are left out, while others are unfairly included in tallies – which means that rights owners aren’t receiving accurate payouts.

In fact, those rough estimates – and the missing checks that can result – were felt firsthand by Audoo’s CEO and founder, Ryan Edwards. After hearing his top-charting song being played in a retail store, Edwards was surprised to find that the song never showed up on his PRO royalty statement. Edwards’ song was played – thought it might as well have been a tree falling in the proverbial forest.

That problem certainly isn’t isolated and forms the basis for the solution that Audoo is now building. Others are also seeing the potential to transform an industry that needs to move from estimates to actuals.

The Audoo hardware+software punch has quickly garnered the attention of some of the world’s largest PROs and stakeholders. 

According to Audoo’s chief marketing officer Alex Futcher, the company is now doubling down on its hardware solution, with a bulk of recent funding allocated towards device iterations. “Hardware is hard to get right,” Futcher told us, echoing a truism in tech.

It’s also very expensive, though investors clearly recognize the potential. In December of 2021, Audoo secured a healthy $9.51 million (£7.2 million) via “a pre-series B funding round.” That happened 13 months after wrapping a roughly $6.87 million (£5.2 million) Series A.

Existing investor Edinv led the pre-Series B round, which also drew support from creative hub Tileyard London and investment firm MPL Ventures. In total, the three-year-old Audoo has raised a total of nearly $18.5 million (£14 million), including capital from ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus.

That is a serious supporting cast, though Futcher reminded us that Audoo only solves part of the puzzle. Of course, counting every song is a critical piece of the performance rights puzzle. But it’s not the only piece, and PROs themselves oversee royalty-accounting details that go far beyond song recognition.

Yet Audoo still envisions something revolutionary happening in the PRO space. And like most revolutions, the results can be a bit unpredictable. While better royalty tracking and payouts are one likely outcome, Audoo’s song-tracking could also transform areas like music marketing.

Already, Shazam has prompted significant changes in areas like a&r trendspotting and tour routing by revealing data on millions of tagged tracks. Now, Audoo could be splashing lighter fluid on that fire, simply by counting every song that’s actually played.

Audoo wll be hosting a panel at SXSW entitled ‘Are You Getting Yours? Public Performance Explored,’ on Tuesday, March 15th, 2:30pm – 3:30pm CT at the Courtyard Marriott Rio Grande Ballroom. The panel will feature guests Nigel Elderton (PRS), Cliff Fluet (Lewis Silkin LLP), Molly Neuman (Songtrust), and noted singer-songwriter Pamela Sheyne.

Update! Here’s the forum below. Enjoy.

Photo Credit: LimeWire

The old piracy platform LimeWire is back — this time as a digital collectibles marketplace.

The platform says it is re-launching as a “mainstream-ready” digital collectibles marketplace, initially focusing on music. Its new backers believe it will be a great place for artists and fans to create and sell digital trinkets without the “technical hurdles of the current NFT landscape.”

LimeWire backers say they’re hoping to partner with several high-profile musicians to spread the word.

LimeWire says it wants to be the NFT marketplace that offers easy signup, pricing in US dollars, and no crypto-based gatekeeping. That last bit refers to some of the NFT marketplaces like OpenSea – which require cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Tezos to participate.

LimeWire’s rebirth is being architected by Julian and Paul Zehetmayr, who are Co-CEOs of the company. The Zehetmayrs are also the figures behind Eversign and b2b software companies Currencylayer and Stack Holdings. “It’s important to note that we are not re-launching LimeWire as an alternative to streaming platforms, but rather as an additional channel for artists to sell exclusive music and art directly to collectors.”

It’s unclear why the Zehetmayrs would resurrect a piracy app with no piracy associations. Napster is a music streaming service that pays artists more than Spotify, though, so stranger things have happened. I’m just waiting for venture capital investors to snap up the names KaZaa and Morpheus, and we’ll have the full resurrection of all those early 2000s music piracy tools from the days of yore.

An open-source clone of LimeWire called Frostwire was around for years, until 2018. Frostwire was converted to a BitTorrent client in 2011 after heavy pressure from the RIAA forced LimeWire to shut down. Frostwire navigated away from its Gnutella base to focus on the BitTorrent protocol.

But the Frostwire development team ceased work on the project after Google deleted the app from its Play Store and refused to reinstate the torrent downloading program. Around 70% of the people who were using the app were using the Android version – which means the DMCA notice Google used to remove the app effectively killed it.

Rylo and Robel Ketema, January 17th, 2022 (Photo Credit: tt.live)

Last year, we profiled the emerging Turntable (tt.live), the modern-day reincarnation of the once high-flying DJ platform.

Now, the beta–stage app – founded by 2011 Turntable co-founder Joseph Perla – is hosting shows with artists and playlist curators to reach the music industry.

As the virtual music space explodes, tt.live is aiming to construct the ultimate virtual hangout for artists and music fans. Dubbed ‘Turntable Presents,’ the curated shows are quickly amassing artists and followers.

Leading the charge are prominent playlist curators such as The Luna Collective and Juicebox Collective, who are premiering their newly updated playlists on Turntable every week while engaging with listeners and answering questions live. Scores of others are also jumping on board, with Turntable quickly becoming a virtual hangout for debuting unreleased music, premiering playlist updates, and sharing songs on the fly.

“Organizing events where artists and playlist curators share music LIVE has had a profoundly positive impact on fan engagement,” tt.live Creative Director Amanda Levensohn relayed. “It’s an empowering feeling to listen to music with your friends while interacting with the creator or curator.”

Over 100 curated events have already taken place on tt.live.

Turntable has hosted shows with DJs such as Petal Supply, who recently ranked on NPR’s ‘Favorite Songs of 2021,’ and Lucas Lex, who boasts more than 700,000 monthly listeners across streaming platforms.

Other participants are enjoying some nice career upswings. Joey Pecoraro, who jumped into tt.live early, recently scored a writing placement on Adele’s recent album, 30. Also mixing the tt.live dancefloors is Pritty, whose recent single, “Head Low,” was recently featured on Spotify’s top-ranked New Music Friday playlist.

Emerging artists rouri404 (with nearly 75,000 monthly listeners), gravehours (50,000 monthly), and Buppy (35,000 monthly listeners) have also hosted shows on tt.live. Now, Digital Music News is helping to amplify the growing slate of artists as part of a broader partnership.

The tt.live platform makes it easy to host virtual shows, invite-only industry showcases, and chill listening sessions. Adding some sizzle, artists can request customized avatars and dancefloors to customize their experience.

“tt.live has opened my eyes to new creative possibilities in this ever-changing digital landscape,” said artist Lucas Lex. “I feel more connected with my audience when I play shows on Turntable than I normally do with other online shows, and have more fun as well. The tight-knit community that Turntable has created means that I can interact with my fans in a way I’ve never been able to before.”

In addition to curated events, the fun of tt.live lies in its varied dancefloors, which feature virtual DJs and audiences bobbing their heads to tunes. It’s a virtual party in which a few people DJ and the rest listen, while also voting on songs and chatting if they choose.

Petal Supply, October 21st, 2021 (Photo Credit: tt.live)

It’s worth offering a brief history on the rise — and glorious fall— of the old Turntable in the early 2010s.

Despite an impressive blowup in users and popularity, as well as investments from the likes of Lady Gaga and Union Square Ventures, Turntable was forced to self-terminate in 2014. Major label licensing was perhaps the biggest problem, though a maze of legalities and profitability problems also cut the party short.

Fast-forward to the early 2020s, and a rebirthed tt.live is quickly growing legs. Perla felt his vision was universally fun but simply ahead of its time, so he re-coded the idea for a mature app ecosystem that ties into existing (and similarly mature) streaming services like SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

The tt.live ‘2.0’ is gaining serious traction with hundreds of curators and artist shows. That number is likely to grow with a greater focus on artist-fueled dancefloors. Several emerging curators, blogs, and artists are already preparing to blow up rooms, including Hadji Gaviota and Maki Adams. Here’s a quick rundown of the upcoming curator sessions on the slate:

• Aurision
• The Luna Collective
• Hadji Gaviota (featured in Oct. 2021 on Pigeons and Planes as a ‘Best New Artist of the Month’)
• Jack Sperling of The 15th Club
• Juicebox Collective
• Mykel online
• Fayt & Friends
• MLCM Radio Monthly
• Maki Adams
• Show & Tell
• FACES
• Trending Raps

For more on Turntable Presents, email amanda@tt.live.

Berlin, Germany’s Brandenburg Gate. Photo Credit: Ansgar Scheffold

Digital hearing-test company Mimi Hearing Technologies has announced the completion of a $25 million Series B funding round.

Berlin-headquartered Mimi Hearing Technologies, which says that it “aims to give users the best possible listening experience by tailoring audio signals across any electronic audio devices” based upon “individual hearing ability,” publicly detailed the $25 million raise in a formal release today.

German VC MIG Capital led the round “in a consortium with a larger Munich-based family office and Salvia, the family office of Helmut Jeggle,” Mimi disclosed, along with support from different “German family offices and existing shareholders.”

Mimi’s release notes that the seven-year-old company is continuing to license its technology to B2B customers such as “electronic device manufacturers, streaming providers and hearing aid companies.” However, the entity intends to use today’s capital influx “to significantly expand its product offerings in existing device categories such as headphones and TV displays,” besides moving “into additional signal processing and audio platforms, including smartphones.”

Lastly, in terms of how Mimi Hearing plans to utilize the $25 million tranche, higher-ups said that they will broaden “sales and marketing operations in China and the United States, which together are home to many of the leading consumer electronics manufacturers and content providers.”

In a statement, Mimi CFO Moritz Bratzke said of his company’s Series B: “The leading investors of our Series B garnered international attention last year as the founding investors in BioNTech, the NASDAQ listed German biotech company that, together with Pfizer, developed the first Covid-19 vaccine and is now valued at approximately $70 billion.

“Their investment in Mimi is another testament not only to the depth and breadth of the German venture capital climate, but also to the importance and tremendous commercial potential of Mimi’s vision,” finished the former Atlantic Labs venture associate Bratzke.

It’ll be worth following the adoption rate and market performance of Mimi Hearing Technologies in the coming months and years, with an emphasis on the latter.

Of course, more individuals than ever are using headphones to enjoy music and other audio entertainment, and a 2019 United Nations study bluntly declared that over “one billion 12 to 35-year-olds risk irreversible hearing loss from exposure to loud sounds such as music played on their smartphone.”

North of 900 million individuals “will have significantly impaired hearing” by 2050, the report also claimed, but a different analysis determined that occasional concerts and music festivals pose relatively little risk to younger attendees’ hearing.

Worth mentioning in conclusion is that Sennheiser over the summer sold its headphones business to Swiss medical-audio manufacturer Sonova.

Paul McCartney, whose MPL Ventures investment company has backed Audoo, performing in the Netherlands in 2009. (photo: Eddie Janssens)

About 13 months after wrapping a roughly $6.87 million (£5.2 million) Series A, London-based music-tech startup Audoo has secured another $9.51 million (£7.2 million) via “a pre-series B funding round.”

Audoo announced this latest multimillion-dollar raise – as well as plans for “a significant Series B” – today, via a formal release that was emailed to DMN. Existing investor Edinv (a “single family office investing globally across all asset classes and industry sectors,” according to its website) led the pre-Series B round, which also drew support from creative hub Tileyard London and Paul McCartney’s MPL Ventures investment company.

Three-year-old Audoo has now raised a total of nearly $18.50 million (£14 million), per the release, including capital from ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. The startup plans to put the approximately $9.51 million tranche towards pursuing “growth into new markets as it expands across Europe, North America and the APAC regions,” while the aforementioned Series B proper is slated “for mid-2022.”

Addressing his company’s pre-Series B raise in a statement, Audoo founder and CEO Ryan Edwards struck an optimistic tone regarding technology’s role in the song-identification space.

“We are proud to have secured even more investment as part of our mission to help ensure artists are paid fairly after decades of missing out due to outdated processes,” said the Findr non-executive director Edwards. “The mission is everything to us, and to have the continued support from our musical heroes like Björn further helps deliver our vision globally.

“We are committed to delivering the most accurate data for public performance to PROs & CMOs around the world, and this latest investment will help us accelerate our international expansion into key territories across Europe, North America, and APAC,” continued Edwards, who founded Audoo after failing to receive public-performance royalties for one of his band’s songs.

The remainder of Audoo’s concise release focuses chiefly on the entity’s “patented Audoo Audio Meter” – “a small plug-in device ready to fit into a standard electrical socket, which securely monitors the music that premises (such as a bar, gym or shop) are playing,” the document indicates.

And after emphasizing the pitfalls associated with the current methods of identifying song plays in public establishments, Audoo’s to-the-point announcement message reiterates that music recognized by the device “is never recorded, stored or transmitted, therefore no personal identifiable information (PII) is ever captured, ensuring GDPR compliance at all times.”

Instead, tracks are “identified by Audoo’s proprietary technology,” according to the text, “and then matched against a library of over 75 million songs, to report the exact version of the song broadcasted.” Audoo’s board includes former BMG, BMI, and Spotify higher-ups, in addition to Ivors Academy Trust chair Cliff Fluet and veteran manager Chris Herbert.

AI-powered music-separation platform Audioshake has raised $2 million. Photo Credit: Markus Winkler

Artificial intelligence music-separation platform Audioshake has officially raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by Precursor Ventures.

San Francisco-headquartered Audioshake just recently detailed its multimillion-dollar raise via a formal release that was emailed to Digital Music News. Co-founded last year by former Google VP of communications and CISAC team member Jessica Powell (who also serves as CEO), Audioshake drew additional support from Dapper Labs and TrackLib backer WndrCo, Crush Music’s Crush Ventures, former RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen, and producer Rodney Jerkins, to name some.

Audioshake debuted its “on-demand A.I. platform” in July of this year, and the service deconstructs “songs into their parts (called ‘stems’) so that they can be monetized for new uses in re-mixes, samples, sync licensing, and more,” the company’s announcement message relays. Since this platform’s rollout, Audioshake says that it’s secured clients including the major labels, Primary Wave, Hipgnosis, Downtown, CD Baby, and a number of indie labels, among others yet.

Bearing in mind these high-profile Audioshake customers, the release likewise emphasizes that the startup won Sony’s 2021 Demixing Challenge, beating competitors like Facebook, TikTok parent ByteDance, “and other companies and research institutes.”

Addressing her business’s $2 million funding round in a statement, The Big Disruption author Jessica Powell emphasized the perceived long-term potential associated with stems.

“While there are already many uses for stems today, we are moving into a world in which stems will become even more important, underpinning most of our future music experiences–from sync licensing, re-mixing, and mash-ups, to spatial or immersive audio, VR/AR, and gaming.

“And yet the vast majority of recorded music does not have stems. We think this offers tremendous opportunity for artists to make more money for their work,” she finished.

2021 has seen artificial intelligence develop an expanded presence in the music industry. Prior to Audioshake’s $2 million round, AI-powered record label Snafu Records raised $6 million. And Supertone, which develops AI voice-replication technology (as well as audio-separation tools of its own, seemingly marketed towards businesses and individuals), obtained about $3.4 million in capital from BTS’s agency in February.

Supertone successfully replicated and released music featuring the voice of popular South Korean folk-rock singer Kim Kwang Seok, who passed away in 1996. Acknowledging the possible pitfalls of the technology, however, the company has made clear that it will never “monetize voices made without the permission of the rights party,” while “non-commercial research is restricted to those who have a public interest or who have passed away, and public use is not permitted.”

Photo Credit: TCDisrupt / CC by 2.0

High-profile investors including Troy Carter, Scooter Braun, Jared Leto, Forerunner Ventures, and Sequoia Capital have dropped $1.5 million on Moment House, a Los Angeles-based ticketed-livestreaming platform.

Moment House shared details of its seed-funding round earlier today in an email to Digital Music News. In addition to scoring investments from Atom Factory founder Troy Carter, longtime Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun, and 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto, the year-old livestreaming startup has secured capital from Patreon CEO Jack Conte and Kygo’s Palm Tree Crew Investments.

As an aside, it’s unclear whether Braun and Carter – who quietly settled an ugly lawsuit in March of 2019 – have buried the hatchet or simply happen to possess stakes in the same project. Moreover, Braun and other investors fronted a total of $30 million to back virtual-concert startup Wave in June.

This newest arrival in the livestream-concert space also revealed that it will exclusively host a digital tour from YUNGBLUD, to commemorate his upcoming Weird! work. The 23-year-old’s sophomore album is set to debut on Friday, November 13th, while his 16-show Moment House performance series will initiate on November 16th. Tickets cost $5 apiece, and several of the hour-long gigs are already “sold out.”

From a technical perspective, Moment House appears to boast generally similar capabilities as other emerging livestream startups (we reported yesterday that Mandolin had raised $5 million of its own).

“Low latency streaming,” secure global ticketing options, and merchandise integration are among the characteristics touted by Moment House. Interestingly, though, the company noted that artists will receive 100 percent of income deriving from ticket sales, with Moment House generating revenue via a 10 percent surcharge paid by fans. (Customers also cover credit-card processing fees and licensing fees.)

Moving forward – and particularly once traditional concerts return to form – it’ll be interesting to see whether Moment House and its growing number of livestreaming competitors are able to maintain strong artist lineups and sizable audiences. Touching on the massive influx of related startups that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it, Moment House’s co-founder and CEO, Arjun Mehta, emphasized his platform’s far-reaching vision and aforementioned yearlong development cycle.

“The product isn’t a reaction to COVID, there is more to Moment House than just live streaming,” said Mehta. “We’re taking a first principles approach to crafting the perfect experience for fans. We do that by working backwards from the feeling of being a part of something special, no matter where you are in the world.”

Photo Credit: TCDisrupt / CC by 2.0

Virtual concert platform Wave has garnered $30 million in funding from an investment group that includes longtime Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun and MLB great Alex Rodriguez.

Bonnaroo co-producer Superfly, Twitch co-founder and former COO Alex Lin, and California venture capital firm Griffin Gaming Partners joined Scooter Braun and A-Rod in backing Wave, which had previously secured $10 million in investor funds.

Now, with somewhere in the ballpark of $40 million to cover development and expansion costs, Wave will look to bolster its innovative offerings and increase its prominence in the digital sphere. The brand also intends to expand into Asia – and particularly Japan and China – in the future.

Wave broadcasts high-quality audio from artists’ performances in real time, but differs from traditional livestreaming platforms in that it creates digital avatars, stages, audience members, and special effects, which are meant to replicate (and perhaps innovate) the live concert experience.

To date, Wave has worked with over 20 artists, including electronic violinist Lindsey Stirling, and held more than 50 digital concerts. A beta version of the app is available on Steam, Oculus, and Discord.

In recent weeks and months, Scooter Braun has continued to make headlines for his high-profile feud with Taylor Swift, which reached a boiling point in June of 2019. That’s when Braun’s Ithaca Holdings purchased Big Machine Record Group – and, in turn, the master recordings from Swift’s first six studio albums (excepting her 2019 Lover record, which was released as part of a new deal with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records).

Taylor has been vocal about her intention to rerecord each of these works this November, when she says she will be contractually able to do so, in an effort to damage Braun’s investment.

And given that Swift was surprised to find that she’d released a new album in late April, it appears unlikely that her conflict with Scooter will die down anytime soon.

Virginie Berger

The world of venture capital is constantly evolving, and now there’s even more capital available for blockchain, AI, and music rights tech startups and initiatives. One such beneficiary is DBTH Capital, a venture capital firm founded by longtime French music executive Virginie Berger.

In a recent LinkedIn post, Berger announced that DBTH Capital had raised an impressive 35 million euros, which translates to a little more than $38.6 million, from nine different investors. She also indicated that the company plans on raising more in the future, which is a testament to the growing interest in the intersection of music and technology.

Berger further revealed that DBTH Capital’s strategy is to invest venture capital in companies that are focused on developing entertainment rights technology. This includes companies involved in blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and various forms of music rights infrastructure. By supporting these types of companies, DBTH Capital is helping to build a more innovative and diverse music industry that can better serve artists and consumers.

In addition to its focus on venture capital investment, Berger also indicated that her company plans to merge with a U.S. company that is one of its largest investors. The company, which is currently unnamed, controls assets of close to $5 billion. This move will allow DBTH Capital to benefit from the support of the U.S. company’s team, analysts, legal structure, and day-to-day operations.

Founding and running DBTH Capital is not the only thing Berger is up to. She also recently joined an unnamed company in Los Angeles whose focus is similar to the types of companies DBTH Capital hopes to invest in. She is additionally attempting to launch a nonprofit initiative called We Are Music Tech. This initiative hopes to build an international community focused on startups converging music with technology.

Berger plans to launch We Are Music Tech in partnership with a number of companies, and she says that it is something that she was not able to work on while in her previous positions. From 2016 until 2018, Berger was the CEO of Armonia Online, which bills itself as a music licensing hub. After leaving Armonia Online, Berger joined LeonSquare, which is a Belgian venture capital fund, where she served as a venture partner. She’s also held positions at Microsoft, NRJ, Omnicom, and MySpace France.

Overall, DBTH Capital’s recent fundraising success is a sign of the growing interest in technology-driven innovation in the music industry. By investing in companies that are focused on entertainment rights technology, DBTH Capital is helping to shape the future of music and build a more equitable and thriving industry. With Berger at the helm, it’s clear that DBTH Capital is poised for continued success and impact in the years to come.

However, the music industry has faced several challenges in recent years, such as declining album sales and the impact of digital piracy. Technology has been both a blessing and a curse for the music industry, as it has enabled new revenue streams and distribution channels but has also disrupted traditional business models.

DBTH Capital’s focus on technology-driven innovation in the music industry is therefore timely and much-needed. By investing in companies that are developing blockchain, AI, and music rights tech, DBTH Capital is helping to create a more resilient and innovative music industry that can better adapt to changing market conditions.

Moreover, Berger’s launch of We Are Music Tech is a positive step towards building a more collaborative and inclusive music industry. By bringing together startups, investors, and other stakeholders, We Are Music Tech can help to foster innovation, creativity, and diversity in the music industry.

In conclusion, DBTH Capital’s recent fundraising success and Berger’s leadership in the music industry are encouraging signs that the industry is moving in the right direction. By investing in technology-driven innovation and fostering collaboration and inclusivity, DBTH Capital and We Are Music Tech can help to build a more resilient, diverse, and thriving music industry for the years to come.

Sony/ATV has reached a deal with Q&A to administer the music/tech company’s publishing catalog.

The Q&A deal comes just a month after Troy Carter and J. Erving announced Q&A. The music tech company is based in Los Angeles and offers distribution, management, data analytics, and label services to artists.

Q&A says its overarching mission is to treat every artist as an entrepreneur.

Erving’s digital distribution and label services business Human Re Sources is included.  Pink Sweat$ and Charlotte Lawrence are two artists featured on their roster.

Sony/ATV chairman and CEO Jon Platt says he was eager to make the deal with a label focused on being artist-friendly.

Troy Carter had equally high praise for Platt, saying that Platt has always put creators first.

“My partners and I unanimously agreed that Sony/ATV was the right partner to administer our new publishing venture. Jon Platt has always put creators first and that’s core to our mission as a company. We’re looking forward to building something special with this incredible global team.”

Troy Carter is eager to start over after a bitter lawsuit filed by Scooter Braun seeking $10 million in damages. Both sides of that argument quietly signed off on a joint notice of settlement, so financial terms are still unclear. With interest, that lawsuit ballooned to a claim of $14.5 million in damages.

Q&A merged with Human Re Sources to allow both companies to provide label services under one roof. Carter says his time spent at Spotify offered the perfect opportunity to spot gaps that exist between the music business and the technology sector.

Carter says the goal of Q&A is to allow artists of any size to have an equal shot at success. Whether artists choose to stay independent or continue with a major label, Q&A aims to provide creators with intuitive software for driving growth.

Dubsmash is back, but not in the way you expected.

A few days ago, The Register reported hackers had breached several services, obtaining 617 million online accounts from several sites. Dubsmash was included among the likes of MyFitnessPal, 500px, CoffeeMeetsBagel, and Artsy.

The information was posted on the darknet marketplace Dream Market for sale. 161.5 million users were gleaned from the Dubsmash database and hackers are asking 0.549 bitcoin (around $2,000) for the records.  At least one purchase of those records has been made since the dump was posted on December 2018.

Dubsmash has notified all of its users of the break via a detailed FAQ on its website.

The new leak has brought into question what the app has been doing since 2014.

The early incarnation of the app allowed users to upload selfie lip-sync videos, not unlike Musically and TikTok.  Unofficial endorsements from celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Penelope Cruz, and Rihanna propelled the app to brief stardom.

Despite more than 200 million users and 350 million installs, Dubsmash struggled to capitalize on its near-overnight success. Suchit Dash, president of Dubsmash, says most of the users dropped out after 30 days.  In fact, retention rates for the app only peaked at around 5% in 2015 and 2016.

After announcing $9.6 million in Series B funding for the startup, Dubsmash laid off around 20% of its workforce.  Just last summer, the company relocated to New York City from Berlin, but only took five employees with them.  Two of the original founders had already left the company before the move was made.

Dubsmash released a new app in October 2018 that focuses solely on dance challenges for teens and millennials.  No monthly active users have been revealed for the new app, but claims at least one million people are using it every month.  Despite the lower monthly active users, Dubsmash’s retention rate is up to 35% compared to just 5% a few years ago.

According to a new study published by Choon, a blockchain-based streaming platform, 52% of people said they would use an alternative streaming music service if it rewarded artists more fairly.

76% said they’d love to see their favorite musicians support themselves.  In addition, almost a third of consumers, 31%, believe it wrong for organizations to ‘part-own’ streaming services.

Censuswide conducted the independent study, interviewing 2,029 consumers in the UK aged 16 and above.  But the research group also found that most people don’t know how royalty payments work, especially young people.  More than 1 in 8 ‘Internet natives’ (16-to-24-year-olds) believe artists receive royalty payments the same day their music is streamed.  A fifth of respondents – with a free subscription – believe artists receive money owed in royalty payments between one and three months.

Choon, of course, was quick to spin the results in its favor.  DJ Gareth Emery, co-founder of the largely unproven digital music platform, slammed major streaming music services.

“Streaming music is a huge driver of change in the music industry.  With almost unlimited music on tap, consumers can listen to whatever they want.  The problem with the streaming sites is they currently offer a terrible deal for artists.”

Though it makes sense, Emery’s argument isn’t anything new.  And neither are the bottom-scraping payouts that musicians receive.

Indeed, artists (and most recently Elon Musk) have long complained about “crazy low payouts.”  On Apple Music, musicians earn $0.00783 per stream.  To earn $1,472 – the US monthly minimum wage amount – on the service, artists need about 188,000 total plays.

But that’s considered good.  Spotify pays $0.00397 per stream.  Musicians need around 370,781 streams to earn $1,472.  And I won’t even mention how many plays they’ll need to earn the US monthly minimum wage amount on YouTube, which pays $0.00074 per stream.

Seems like a great problem for Gareth Emery and Choon to solve.  But Emery has yet to address the key hurdles facing Choon prior to its launch.

Why?  Because the magical answer is ‘blockchain,’ that’s why.

First, most people have no idea what Choon is nor what it does.  They know even less about blockchain technology.

Choon’s business model appears to only rely on people who remain convinced that “artists need fair payouts.”  Even worse, it’s buoyed by blockchain hype, without the requisite business model and strategy needed to make this work.

Judging from Censuswide’s results, it seems young people – a group not known for their spending – would prefer using the service.  But they’re not, and part of the problem may be that a blockchain-based, crypto-focused streaming service is too unstable and fringe to make sense for most artists and fans.

Second, blockchain remains largely untested.

Last December, the digital music platform announced its NOTES token payout system.  Artists would have complete control over their content.  They’ll share their music directly to consumers.  Fans can purchase their favorite music using NOTES.  Choon would only keep a 20% commission.

Sounds promising, right?

The only problem: most people don’t know how blockchain works.  In actuality, Ethereum varies greatly in value.  What’s cheap one day could soon skyrocket – or flat-out crash – the next.  Imagine building a music marketplace around this clearly unstable currency.  That’s Choon in a nutshell.

Choon would first have to convince fans that purchasing ‘TOKENS’ is more practical than automatically paying $9.99 for a streaming music service.  It would also have to convince artists.  Cryptocurrency isn’t a practical alternative for musicians who need to make a living.

Imagine having to figure out how to receive payments in Ethereum right when the rent is due.  Or, when you’re out of gas.  Let’s not even mention when you need to buy groceries.

Third, to remain afloat, any company, no matter how ambitious, needs a solid business plan.  It also needs a steady source of income.

Gareth Emery’s platform, no matter how optimistic, is no different.  Most consumers already use an established streaming music platform.  It remains much easier for music fans to use major platforms – Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, YouTube, etc – to listen to their favorite songs from popular artists.  They can use mobile apps on their smartphones and listen on the go.

Plus, in this industry, you’ll need the support of all three major labels.

Major labels have posted record revenue thanks to established streaming music platforms.  These provide a steady source of income.  They also readily support major streaming music platforms.  With the self-releasing artist market only accounting for 2.7% of global recording sales last year, why would they support an unproven currency?

How would Choon, or any other blockchain-based digital music platform, convince major labels to hop onboard?  Simple.  Higher royalty payments.  Choon promises to keep just 20%.  But, in order to become a viable music platform, it’d have to convince major labels to hop onboard.

And the only way you can do that is by giving them at least a 55% share of all revenues earned on the platform.  And you can’t pay that in crypto.

Emery remains optimistic that Choon can solve artists’ woes.  But until he actually manages to address how his digital music platform will actually resolve its own problems – including painless royalty payments and an acceptable user base so artists can actually earn money on the platform – don’t expect Choon to solve musicians’ problems anytime soon.

For now, blockchain is an idea.  But it’s not one that solves musicians’ pressing financial problems — including having to eat.

Featured image by S.Camelot (CC by 2.0)

Former Guvera CEO Darren Herft fooled investors once.  Will he do so again?

Two years ago, Australian-based streaming music startup Guvera managed to raise $100 million from wealthy families. CEO and co-founder Darren Herft promised that it represented a “big opportunity” in the Australian mobile and digital space.

There was just one problem.  Despite Herft’s promises, the company failed to deliver on a solid streaming music service.  In fact, what Guvera had actually done was leave a staggering trail of debt.

The startup owed multiple Australian media companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, which they never received.  Guvera had also owed $10 million to the Australian Tax Office.  While once again promising a golden opportunity in India, Guvera and Herft left the country owing entertainment companies millions.

After burning through over $180 million in cash, the company had stopped paying its US and Latin American employees.  Finally, this past summer, amidst a damning federal investigation, the company quietly closed its doors.  A defiant Herft remained unapologetic about the company’s public failure.

So, what’s Herft’s next move?  Simple.  According to multiple Australian media outlets, the beleaguered CEO plans to launch a new music business.

When losing $180 million just isn’t enough.

Last Tuesday, during the first day of public examination, Darren Herft took the stand in Sydney’s Federal Court.  According to Australian news website Mumbrella, federal investigators grilled the troubled Guvera CEO for nearly five hours.

During the lengthy questioning, Herft admitted that he would launch a new music business with two former colleagues.  Dubbed “Dragonfly Music,” he would open the company with former AMMA executive Adam Bloom and Guvera director Warwick Berman.  All three hope to “recapitalize the business.”  Herft reportedly told investigators that “the products are ready and there is initial testing being done.”

When asked to explain the new music business, Herft said it would include the “redeployment of brand channel technology.”  The same technology had formed part of Guvera’s streaming music platform.  Unlike Guvera, though, Dragonfly Music won’t include playlists.

“They [the brand channels] will contain music-related content but it won’t be a playlist of songs.  There is a wide variety of other services that Guvera could have provided in the music services area…. it could be music news for example that we could pull from different partners on a daily or weekly basis or as regularly as a brand would like.”

During the questioning, investigators showed that Guvera faced severe financial strain right before the Australian Stock Exchange rejected its IPO.  Herft disagreed.

At one point during the hearing, Guvera co-founder Claes Loberg took a seat in the public gallery.  Investigators had asked him to leave as he would “be questioned at a later date.”  Loberg left without incident.  When asked why he had arrived to the hearing, Loberg reportedly said,

“I’m here to see what’s going on.”

The public hearing will continue next March.  Digital Music News was unable to reach Herft for comment.

Featured image by Petteri Sulonen (CC by 2.0)

In some senses, future superstars don’t have to be ‘found’ anymore.

SoundCloud propelled Post Malone and Kygo; Musical.ly gave us Baby Ariel and Anna Zak.  Of course, it’s difficult for one platform to single-handedly deliver a brand-new artist.  But the role of platforms like SoundCloud, Musical.ly, YouTube and even Shazam in super-charging careers is undeniable.

The only problem with this?  Once a platform starts delivering talent, everybody rushes in.  Case in point: YouTube famously put Justin Bieber on the map.  But that was more than ten years ago.  And nowadays, YouTube is saturated with endless covers and budding superstars.  Amidst the clutter, only a tiny percentage will get noticed.

Then, there are the problems with the platforms themselves.  SoundCloud is flirting with bankruptcy and YouTube doesn’t pay anything reasonable to artists.   And despite a billion-dollar sale, growth at Musical.ly is slowing.

All of which raises the next question: what’s the next superstar factory?  One possibility is Spotlite, a singing app that is surging right now.  We’ve started working with Spotlite to earmark some emerging talent, and further accelerate participation from major labels, publishers, agents, managers, and brands.

But this story is already well in motion.

Spotlite officially launched this summer.  Here’s how this app is hoping to solve some serious industry problems, and propel artist discovery in the process.

The differentiators.

There’s nothing new about a karaoke singing app.  But Spotlite is approaching this space with lots of rewards and interactivity, including the ability to gift fellow singers with actual money.  It’s a token-based system that rewards participation, encourages donations, and rewards top singers.

Sprinkled on top are regular prize giveaways and contests.  All of which reward real performers based on real fan votes.  It reminds me of a newer generation of creative platforms that focus on direct contributions, starting with Patreon.

Spotlite’s Vice President of Marketing, Gina Juliano, explained the vision.  “The Spotlite app is poised to lead with a new business model — a platform where an artist can build a fanbase and be compensated,” she said.

“Our primary goal is to find talent and establish a music community. We are a talent incubator.”

Specifically, virtual gifting offers a major opportunity for artists to receive better compensation — directly from people that care.   Spotlite has a vision heavy on community and internal rewards.  And just like Musical.ly, the cream on Spotlite will rise to the top.

The growth stats.

Now, the concept is starting to surge heading into 2018.  At present, Spotlite is on-boarding more than 30,000 new users a week.  It’s also a top 10 music app on the iTunes Store, after just a few months.

Not entirely surprising, given the addictive nature of Spotlite.  That’s especially true for performers receiving accolades, rewards, etc.

Step onto the app itself, and you’ll be enveloped by a massive community of singers.  Top-ranked performers are already emerging, and undoubtedly garnering some industry attention.

Who’s on board.

Spotlite has assembled a cast of major media supporters, all of whom stand to gain from their involvement.  That includes Sony/ATV, Universal Music Group, Warner/Chappell, BMG, and EMI.

All of these companies are licensing their content, and powering an ever-growing catalog of tens of thousands of instrumentals. Perhaps more importantly, they’re plugged into a platform that could produce some serious future superstars.

In terms of investment, Sequoia Capital and BlueRun Ventures are major backers.  Currently, the app is available on iOS and Google Play.

Sallie Hofmeister once provided PR work for Songkick.  Now, she’s crisis managing for Harvey Weinstein.

Yesterday, in a letter sent to clients, once-promising ticketing startup Songkick finally confirmed that it would close its doors.

The startup specialized in selling tickets directly to fans through fan clubs and artist websites.

Yet, after burning through $61 million, executives immediately shifted blame for the company’s closure.  Blaming major ticketing competitors instead for their demise, a letter sent to Songkick clients read,

“I’m sad to write that on October 31, Songkick will bow to pressure from Live Nation and Ticketmaster and complete the shutdown of all ticketing operations (including the design and maintenance of artist web pages) we began earlier this year when Ticketmaster and Live Nation effectively blocked our US ticketing business.”

In true combative style, Songkick founder and CEO Matt Jones vowed to continue the company’s legal fight against Live Nation.

“Our antitrust, trade secret misappropriation and hacking lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster will continue unabated.”

During the past few months, employees have left the company.  Among those was former high-profile publicist Sallie Hofmeister.

According to a new report, Hofmeister now works defending Harvey Weinstein.

Who is Sallie Hofmeister?

According to her profile page on Sitrick And Company’s website, Hofmeister has previously worked as a journalist.  She served as a business editor for the New York Times and as a reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times.

Sitrick And Company is a high-profile strategic communications firm.

Two months ago, Digital Music News touched on Songkick’s imminent closure.  According to sources that spoke to Amplify, the ticketing startup had let go of most of its staff.

In the past ten years, Songkick managed to raise $60.82 million in eight rounds of financing.  Yet, sources explained that after raising the money, the company continuously misled the public and investors.

Top executives, claimed sources, had spent the money on expensive SoHo House memberships.  CEO and founder Matt Jones had also purchased first-class tickets to London, Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville.

In addition, the company allegedly lied about processing “hundreds of millions in sales” in their lawsuit against Ticketmaster.  The company, claimed the source, had actually earned money driving traffic to Ticketmaster.  Once they sued the major ticketing platform, however, Songkick “killed the best thing they had going for them.”

Finally, the company had allegedly spent thousands of dollars on expensive PR firms to “bully some in the media.”

After running the piece, Digital Music News received an e-mail from Sallie Hofmeister.  She stated that she was part of a PR firm “representing Songkick in its litigation against Live Nation.”

Hofmeister wrote that Amplify’s piece had “several problems.”  Speaking about multiple factual inaccuracies that never appeared on this site, she told Digital Music News,

“There are a number of factual inaccuracies and omissions in the Amplify article and it should be noted that Amplify did not give the company an opportunity to comment on any of the allegations or the assertions and opinions made by anonymous sources whose motivations are unknown to readers, leaving the story unbalanced and one-sided.”

After a long e-mail exchange, Digital Music News decided to keep the quotes.  But the efforts worked on Amplify, however.  An editor soon issued a retraction.

“Editor’s update:  We heard from a Songkick representative regarding this story, who took issue with some of the anonymous quotes we used in the piece.  While we stand by our reporting, we also recognize that anonymous blind quotes — especially quotes that cast aspersions — can be unfair to the story subject and make it difficult to defend oneself against an anonymous critic.  We’ve decided to remove several anonymous quotes from this story.  If you have any questions regarding this decision, please email dave@ampthemag.com.”

Going to work for Harvey Weinstein.

Yesterday, Amplify’s Dave Brooks wrote that Sallie Hofmeister “now [provides] crisis PR services for embattled Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein.”

Indeed, confirming Brooks’ statement, a quick Google search on ‘Sallie Hofmeister’ will pull up multiple news stories related to Harvey Weinstein.

In one piece about Ben Affleck apologizing for groping an MTV host, the BBC noted,

“[Harvey Weinstein’s] spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister said any allegations of non-consensual sex were ‘unequivocally denied” and that “there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances’.

“‘Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual,’ the statement added.”

Touching on a recent rape allegation made by Rose McGowan, Sallie Hofmeister stated,

“Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

With more accusations frequently coming to light, Hofmeister appears to have her work cut out for her.  Digital Music News hopes that everything goes well for her, lest we receive another combative e-mail about ‘factual inaccuracies’. 

Image by CSPAN (screengrab)

$500 million in annual revenue.  Nearly 500 employees and growing.  Can anything stop Kobalt Music?

Kobalt Music has one thing in mind: reinventing the music industry so that it works better for creators.  It also has the money to do so.

In 2014, the company first raised $140 million to accelerate rapid growth.  That same year, it raised an additional $60 million.

Then, a year later, Kobalt raised $60 million in a Series C round of financing.

Earlier this year, the company announced $75 million in a Series D round.

Now, Kobalt has announced even more funding to beef its war chest.

In less than two years, Kobalt has nearly doubled in size.

Today, Kobalt has announced $14 million in the second installment of the company’s Series D round of financing.  The funding comes from Section 32, a VC fund created by Bill Marris.

Marris previously worked as the head of Google Ventures.  While at Google, he led a round of financing that would net Kobalt Music $60 million.

With today’s announcement, Kobalt has raised $89 million this year alone.  In addition, the company announced that Marris will join its Board of Directors.

The company is now attacking on several fronts.  That includes publishing, neighboring rights, recordings — even a PRO venture (AMRA).

In addition, the company currently employs around 480 people.  The company had 164 at the end of 2013.

In a statement, Bill Marris explained that he feels ecstatic about joining Kobalt.

“The royalty collection business has been stuck in the dark ages, and artists often have to wait for months or years to get paid for use of their work – if they get paid at all.

“Kobalt is the only company to have created a full multi-rights content management system to fix this broken business model, and I couldn’t be happier to join the board and invest again in Willard and the team at Kobalt.”

Ahdritz added that the music publishing startup will generate $500 million in revenue at the end of the 2017/2018 fiscal year.

According to the Financial Times, the latest Series D round of financing values the company at nearly $800 million.  With the recent round of financing, the company will reportedly look to “grow its workforce.”

Featured image by midem (YouTube screengrab)

Ricall and Blin.gy have gone the way of the dodo.

UK-based platform Ricall offered music pre-licensed for use in advertising, film, and TV.

Blin.gy brought special effects that magically inserted users into their favorite viral and music videos.

What do both companies have in common?  Both promising music tech companies have closed their doors.  They also apparently did so the same day.

Someone with the right amount of programming knowledge (and a lot of money) could re-purpose Ricall’s technology.

Launched in 1998, Ricall worked with both UK and international brands, including Fiat 500 and The Body Shop.  The company provided a marketplace platform where artists and right-holders could set prices for content.

Metis Partners will handle the liquidation of Ricall.  They noted that assets of Ricall are of “notable interest to the music licensing and digital music download sectors, as well as e-commerce retailers and software developers.”

In a statement, the company said,

“The software behind Ricall’s innovative music licensing cost circa £6 million ($8.1 million) to develop, and was created internally, using the agile development approach.”

Metis Partners also notified developers of the build process.

“The platform was designed with a high degree of configurability, and can be reconfigured for a variety of different purposes.  All development was written in Java, and recorded using Jira, with comprehensive bug documents.”

Speaking on the sale of Ricall, Morven Fraser of Metis Partners said,

“This sale is certain to attract a high degree of interest from those with a foothold, or looking to establish a foothold, in the music licensing industry.  The software developed by Ricall allows a significant degree of flexibility in the user and right-holder online experience.  It will be an excellent asset for any market players considering e-commerce development as part of their online profile.”

Blin.gy’s lesson for all music start-ups: remember retention rates.

In the first few months following the app’s launch, Blin.gy had over a million downloads.

The app first launched as Chosen three years ago.  Chosen attempted to gamify the performance competition space, like a mobile American Idol platform.  The big difference is that the user got to be the judge.

The app became so popular that it earned a spot on Ellen.  She would later partner with the app.

Soon thereafter, though, the app struggled to compete against Musical.ly.  Once it figured out how to survive, app developers would pivot Chosen’s course.

Earlier this year, Chosen re-launched as Blin.gy.  Using green screen technology built into the app, users could insert themselves into popular music videos.  The app used AR technology that allowed it to work with non-stabilized moving cameras.

Sounds amazing, except that users didn’t quite agree.  To earn desperately needed retention metrics, Blin.gy partnered with Musical.ly.  The move initially proved successful, and the company had over one million installs (at less than $0.10 each).

While people downloaded and used the app, the company simply didn’t have the money to keep going.  They needed much higher retention metrics.  Thanks to less-than-stellar quality videos and potentially bad management, Blin.gy’s retention rate hovered around 25%.

To survive, developers set up meetings with eighteen different investors.  Yet, they couldn’t answer the burning question on investors’ minds: ‘For every tool that becomes a platform, most don’t. How will yours?’

On a Medium blog post, CEO David Hyman explained his rather simple response (or lack thereof.)

“We didn’t have a compelling answer.”

The company had pinned its hope on one final potential investor.  A week after Blin.gy’s pitch, however, the investor pulled out.

Hyman explained,

“A week later, a casual email is sent saying they’re passing.  No reason given.  Now, we’ve got two weeks left of cash in the bank.  Enough to lay off staff and-pay severance.  Game over.”

You can check out David Hyman’s blog post, aptly titled, ‘My Mobile AR Start-Up Died So Yours Doesn’t Have To’ here.

Image by kickize (CC by 2.0)

1. Licensing.

If you want major artists from major labels, be prepared to pay multi-millions of dollars for it.  And it may take years to finalize those deals (just ask Spotify).

If they don’t make you give away a percentage of your company, I’d like to meet your attorney.

I just got off the phone with a young, talented, and very smart entrepreneur who has a great idea that really addresses a lot of problems with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  But he was clueless about music licensing.  And unless he can raise a giant pile of cash or radically change his business model, he’s f—ked.

I’ve found that only the extremely wealthy companies (like Google and Facebook) can effectively make licensing go away.  But even Google and Facebook have to worry about it.  And if Spotify’s IPO is endangered by licensing, your startup will definitely have to deal with it, guaranteed.

I won’t get into what’s fair and what’s not.  Major labels invested to make artists like Rihanna and Coldplay into superstars.  But there’s actually a substantial group of investors who won’t finance anything reliant upon major label licenses.  They don’t think it’s a good financial bet.

2. The goal was to ‘save the music industry’

The music industry is a brutally unfair place.  That doesn’t mean it’s a worthwhile mission to ‘save it’.  But that’s a huge part of a lot of music-focused business models.  Most have some variation of the following:

Digital is killing artists — this model saves them.

Great artists aren’t recognized by the major labels — this startup solves that.

Music is bad and people don’t even know it — we will make music better and help the world change.

That’s not to say there aren’t lots of music startups solving very real music industry problems.  But big mission, highly-philanthropic startups with fluffy goals are usually failures.  Instead, companies that attack more targeted problems are oftentimes more successful.  Take these examples:

Patreon helps artists establish a direct-to-fan revenue channel.

Innovative Technology Electronics Corp. figured out a way to sell stylish turntables to people who didn’t have a ton of cash.

CD Baby helped artists create and sell CDs affordably, then helped them digitally distribute their music when CDs died down.

Source3 addressed persistent issues related to IP identification and protection online (and Facebook needed that).

See the difference?

3. Investor/entrepreneur conflicts.

This happens a lot more than I realized.  Entrepreneurs can quickly become micro-managed by an investor freaking out about a $0 return.  Or, simply guided in the wrong direction out of fear.

4. The money was blown on PR.

PR people are usually bad at getting the media excited about stuff.  They blast emails using addresses found in a database they paid for (yeah, read this).  Their emails get deleted on sight by writers.  Sometimes, they put you in the negative by harassing or going nuts on a publication (it’s happened multiple times to DMN).

+ Prominent Music Publicist: F*&k Press Releases

Some PR people are great.  Most are scamming you.  They’re taking your finite startup cash and walking away with it while assuming 0 risk.  Instead, try directly reaching out to the publications you want to work with.  I’d argue this simple, direct approach is 1,000 times more effective (with a 100% cost savings).

5. The founders didn’t work hard enough.

There are two kinds of people that leave at 5pm: office workers in cubicles, and failed startup entrepreneurs.

The hours on a music startup are almost always brutal, especially during the early phases.  My experience has been that entrepreneurs dashing away to 4-day snowboard getaways are flushing their companies down the toilet.

There’s also a brutal reality for those trying to juggle families.  Let’s just say there’s a reason why people recommend starting a company in your 20s.  But even 20-somethings will experience major issues with friendships and romantic partners.

6. 20 other companies were doing exactly the same thing.

Paradoxically, investors sometimes like it when multiple companies are pursuing a similar model.  It helps to validate their idea, especially if other investors are taking similar risks.

The only problem?  There’s usually very little room in the long run for overlapping, redundant companies.  Sure, there’s Uber and Lyft.  But there won’t be Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Napster, Google Play, Xbox Music, Deezer, YouTube and TIDAL in five years.

The world doesn’t need that many services.  And even if Spotify dies tomorrow, a nearly identical service is waiting in the wings.

7. Founders gave up.

It’s that simple.

Say what you will about Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren.  But there wouldn’t be a Pandora if he wasn’t the guy behind it.  Now, he’s a millionaire.  Then, he was $500,000 in credit card debt, battling lawsuits from unpaid employees, and experiencing heart palpitations.

That’s what it takes.

8. It’s someone else’s fault.

I’ve personally been blamed for ruining an entire company.  I wish I was that powerful.

What’s more powerful is that the founders (and their attorneys) actually convinced themselves that this was a feasible rationale for the failure of their enterprise.

It’s an easy way out.  And probably helped to explain the failure in the first place.

9. Your nice Jewish parents talked you out of it.

They’re probably right.  Your startup is probably going to fail.  And that pressure will intensify when things get difficult, especially since they’ve probably been dragged into it (emotionally or otherwise).

Maybe your parents have passed away or aren’t in the picture.  But that just means you’ll be dealing with other loved ones trying to convince you to quit.  Your spouse, siblings, best friends.  They’re all trained to minimize risk, and maximize security.

A startup in music accomplishes none of those things.

10. Bad timing.

Good timing:

CD Baby started in the late-90s when independent artists were struggling to produce and distribute their CDs cheaply.

Napster entered the market when MP3s were proliferating on hard drives, but very difficult to search and trade.

Spotify entered ahead of a massive transition from ownership to access.

Pandora didn’t surge until smartphones proliferated.

Bad timing:

Apple Music entered streaming years too late, while refusing to shut down their out-of-date download store.

Generally speaking, successful music startups are typically well-positioned against a major consumer shift.  Or, a surge in pent-up demand that isn’t being addressed.

11. Someone else did it better.

Great idea.  Average execution.  Doesn’t usually cut it.

12. Too many shiny objects syndrome.

Garbage founders typically hop from one idea sugar-rush to another.  But sexy ideas are crap without execution.  And execution introduces drudgery, boredom, and problems.  Usually a few days after the idea is hatched.

Ideas are the easy part.

13. The founders didn’t want it badly enough.

This gets into some tough soul-searching.  But most startups are so extremely demanding, they punish those that aren’t extremely, over-the-top dedicated.

The punishment is failure.

14. Burnout.

My aunt and uncle closed a highly-successful eatery in Washington, DC because they were fried.  There were huge bags under my uncle’s eyes; his hair was cascading into his pillow.

I wish I had a good solution to this.  Good sleep, forced time away and some sex can help.  And so can success and momentum.  Because burnout kills motivation, drive, and ingenuity.  And difficult periods are a breeding ground for sapped motivation.

15. The economy crashed.

The global economy is boom and bust.  And another bust is guaranteed (you just don’t know when).  All of which is brutal to younger, vulnerable startups.  It can kill even the most promising, momentum-rich music startups.

By the way: so can other global disaster like war, disease, terrorism, and other major events.  It’s part of the risk.

16. Bad people, bad chemistry.

A startup is a small collection of people, plus maybe a few investors and advisors.  That’s it.  It’s just people, and a bad group means a bad startup.

But even great people who are fighting, distracted, or misaligned won’t make it.  Typically, successful teams are extremely smart, driven, cooperative, and complement each others’ skills.

Image by Ah Riz Ko (CC 0).

Paul Hudson (CC by 2.0)

While there are usually many events at SXSW, which are the must-attend for up-and-coming musicians?

After a long flight, you’ve finally settled down at your hotel. Then, you arrive at SXSW. Suddenly, you find yourself overwhelmed by the number of events catered to musicians. So, which events are an absolute must? Digital Music News has compiled a list of 9 events you must attend at this year’s SXSW. Let’s take a look.

Music Tech Meet Up

Mar 14, 2017 | 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Speaker: Sheryl Woodhouse Keese (Rock Paper Scissors)

A must for any musician looking to network. Instead of having to rigorously search with people to connect with, you’ll find all the top music tech movers in just one room. You’ll meet potential clients, investors, and partners, immediately followed by a time for informal networking. Once you get back home, you’ll receive an e-mail containing a contact list of meet-up attendees.

Music Publishing Meet Up

Mar 15, 2017 | 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Speaker: Darryl Ballantyne (LyricFind)

So, you’ve connected to people. You have solid contacts to make your way into the music tech industry. Now, what do you do? You’ll meet up with fellow colleagues in the publishing field to talk about the music industry’s changing landscape. Daryl Ballantyne, LyricFind Founder and CEO, will invite industry leaders to participate in the event. You’ll discover new ways to grow revenues for clients and rightsholders.

Music Startup Spotlight

Mar 14, 2017 | 4:00pm – 6:00pm

Started last year, find out which 20 companies will change the face of music and tech. You’ll find startups like Songstream, Songtradr, Cultivate, Disco, Requestify, and OnlyinVr, among many others.

Independent Artist Meet Up

Mar 17, 2017 | 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Speaker: Danielle King (CD Baby)

Are you an indie artist? No, you’re not alone. You’ll find a space to meet up with other indie artists from various (if not all) genres and backgrounds. Danielle King will lead a 30-minute town hall format to discuss challenges artists face as well as new opportunities. King will also provide tips and tools as well as time for informal networking.

Keeping Music Culture Alive in a Streaming World

Mar 15, 2017 | 12:30pm – 1:30pm

Speakers: Jonathan Poneman (Sub Pop Records), Melvin Gibbs (Content Creators Coalition), Vickie Nauman (CrossBorderWorks), Nigel House (Rough Trade Retail)

Here’s an interesting question for you: in a post-streaming world, is a playlist enough to keep music culturally relevant? You’ll join a panel of current performing artists, technologists, and activists to discuss trends, risks, and efforts to keep music culturally alive. Panelists will also discuss the following questions: Is the artist’s counter culture voice still alive, speaking for and to those with an alternative viewpoint? How do disappearing record stores impact local culture? Where will intimate shows occur if live music venues continue to be pushed out in the race of urban development?

Return of the Digital Music Royalty Apocalypse

Mar 15, 2017 | 12:30pm – 1:30pm

Speaker: Paul Fakler (Arent Fox LLP)

Why hasn’t a single internet music service posted a profit? Do streaming services asks for too much money per month? Has each company fumbled streaming service management? Title 17: The S(c)ite For Copyright Law’s Paul Fakler will lead the discussion. Fakler will revist and update the talk first given three years ago. He’ll also discuss the complex web of music licensing issues and recent developments affecting the digital music market.

Decoding Songwriting With Data

Mar 15, 2017 | 12:30pm – 1:30pm

Speakers: Eric Boam (Eric Boam), Paul Jacobsen (Instructure)

You’ve got something in your heart and mind, yet how can you truly express it? In this workshop led by Eric Boam and Paul Jacobsen, you’ll find a quantitative approach to lyrics. Tracking 2016 popular and indie lyrics, you’ll visualize syllables, words, phrases, and even lines. Boam and Jacobsen will also contrast lyrics with the art of songwriting. They’ll answer: “Does an analytical approach provide any validity in songwriting?”

Music & Commerce: Licensing Music for Social Media

Mar 16, 2017 | 2:40pm – 3:00pm

Speaker: David Levin (BMI)

People love social media. People also love posting their favorite songs to social media. So, as an artist, how can you harness social media for a financial benefit? BMI’s David Levin will lead the discussion. You’ll analyze how songwriters are compensated, and how businesses receive added online music value.

Music-Tech Elevator Pitch Session

Mar 16, 2017 | 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Speaker: Brian Zisk (SF MusicTech Summit)

You can’t attend SXSW without presenting yourself. Hosted by entrepreneur Brian Zisk, you’ll stand up and present a 1-minute pitch about a music/technology-related company or idea. You’ll also hear and find new inspiration by other ideas and check out what works and what doesn’t.

4 years.  $11.8 million in funding.  1 dead company: Vadio.

Vadio was a promising start-up focusing on streaming music video monetization.  So WTF happened?

Early this morning, the death knell rang loudly as Vadio officially ran out of cash.  But here’s the kicker: it turns out that the Portland-based startup burned through nearly $12 million in just four years before calling it quits.

That includes a $2 million seed round in August, 2014.  And, a monster $8 million round led by Marker LLC (we estimated it at $7.5 million at the time).

+ Vadio Nabs Rio Caraeff and Raises Another $7.5 Million

But those were just the bigger rounds.  It also looks like Vadio had a healthy $750,000 Series A back in 2012.  Rogue Venture Partners led that round.  The last ‘gasp’ was a $1 million convertible loan in September of 2016, which couldn’t save the ship.  We’re now learning that Vadio was actually ‘unwinding’ ahead of the holidays.

In total, the company raised $11.8 million across 6 full-blown rounds.  So why did this fail?

“We didn’t raise enough money…”

According to Vadio CEO Bryce Clemmer, the company failed because there wasn’t enough cash.  “We didn’t raise enough money out of the gate,” Clemmer said.

“The economics are somewhat unique to the music business, which requires quite a bit of upfront investment to secure the rights from the labels globally.”

That sounds like Vadio burned through a substantial percentage of their funding on upfront licensing fees.  Extreme licensing demands have created crushing overhead burdens for company like Spotify, who are struggling to survive despite billions in financing.

+ Is Spotify Going Bankrupt In 2017? Wall Street Delivers Another Red Flag

Just recently, Spotify delayed its IPO based on continued Wall Street pushback and profitability problems.  On Wednesday morning, Spotify shared plans to expand its New York workforce by 1,000, while shifting locations to 4 World Trade Center.  All while the uncomfortable specter of bankruptcy persists.

What could possibly go wrong?

Vadio — and its investors — were asking the same question a few short years ago.

Clemmer visited Digital Music News back in 2015.  He seemed totally cool and confident in his approach.  What we didn’t know is that Vadio’s model was completely unsustainable.  And that major labels were trying to bleed this company while it lasted.

They weren’t on board, and would never be on board.

Actually, that’s not true.  Warner Music Group inked a licensing pact with Vadio, and probably demanded a sizable upfront cost.  But Clemmer never finished his negotiations with remaining majors Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, both of whom were apparently demanding massive amounts that investors wouldn’t give.  “The fundraising climate has changed and it takes more investment than many VCs are comfortable with today,” Clemmer relayed.

By the end, Vadio had signed deals with CBS Radio, Vizio, Warner Music, AOL and Shazam.  The CBS deal included a MetroLyrics partnership.

Investor fear factor increases.

The Vadio situation could continue keep certain investors on the sidelines.  The music industry already has an elevated rate of failure among startups, and licensing costs remain a major issue.  In fact, we’ve heard that many investors are flatly refusing to invest in music-related startups that hinge on expensive licensing.

Perhaps Spotify is offering an enormous cautionary tale.  The company is currently trying to renegotiate its burdensome licensing deals with the ‘big three’ major labels.  At present, the company is paying more than 70% of its top-line revenues for recording and publishing rights, with some estimates poking as high as 80%.

And here’s the problem: any one of those labels could shut down Spotify tomorrow, simply by refusing to license their content.  That’s called leverage.

And it may explain why Vadio was forced to commit a large percentage of its energy towards raising fresh rounds.  And, burning the existing ones.

According to the Portland Business Journal and The Oregonian, Vadio is actively eliminating staff and trying to sell its remaining assets.

When will traditional radio stop ignoring the internet?  And, everyone under the age of 25?

It’s a question whose answer is obvious.  Why are people tuning out of ‘traditional’ broadcast radio?  Usually the answer involves one or more of the following:

(a) long commercials

(b) lots of repeated songs

(c) long deejay breaks

(d) Spotify

(e) podcasts

(f) mobile phones in general

(g) lameness

(h) Nickelback

Maybe you could add ‘no EDM’ to that list, though somehow DJs went pop enough to get airplay.

But there is one good thing going for old-school radio: it’s easy and cheap.  And, it’s ready to go in the car.  Flick it on, and it’s there, all for free.  But that’s slowly starting to change, especially with mobile-ready radio apps, streaming apps, and podcasts invading the dashboard.

Sure, a lot of people still tune in to local radio and deejays, but there’s never been more competition during drive time.  And fewer younger people are tuning in.

Now, there’s a station wanting to add a little internet into the stodgy old radio station.  And, add even more competition alongside Pandora, Spotify, podcasts, and Sirius XM.  Enter GoViralRadio, an app-based radio concept that wants to bring younger listeners back into the fold.

What this is.

Here’s what these guys are up to.   Basically, GoViralRadio is an app, for Android or iOS.  And all it does is offer a blend of bigger hits and emerging, viral hits.  So, it’s hits you like, plus stuff that’s blowing up on YouTube (and other places like SoundCloud).

Mix it all together, and these guys think they have something more exciting and appealing than anything out there.

GoViralRadio is actually targeted at a younger demo, which makes sense.  Think 12-24 age demographic.  Basically, the people who (a) care about pop hits and (b) care about viral hits.  And, the people that would rather Bluetooth-connect their devices than lean back and listen to 98.7.  “Concerts are selling out, interaction is extreme, kids and parents know the brands, yet radio is not playing,” the founders explained.

In terms of genres, there’s zero adherence to the traditional divisions of rap, country, EDM, whatever.  That stuff is oftentimes made up by the industry and radio, not people.  “Our goal is to promote viral superstar artists from around the world,” said Ray De La Garza, one of the founders of GoViralRadio.  “We are not format-specific, we are what Top 40 was forty years ago.  Think the hottest combination of pop, urban, rap, rock and country.”

Why this might have a shot.

Next question: will these guys be dead in 6 months?  Possibly.  The mortality rate among music startups is about 99% (trust us).  But the founders of this company actually aren’t tech outsiders, pounding their fists in the air while touting theoretical mumbo-jumbo.  De La Garza is actually a seasoned radio executive, who prides himself on plugging formatting holes.

The other founder, DJ Lynnwood, has been programming traditional and online radio stations for 10+ years.  That includes nationally-syndicated radio shows, and even stuff for earlier platforms like MySpace and Beatport.

The last piece.

Here’s the part of the playbook that’s Radio 101.  Target a demographic, then sell the crap out of it.  And the proposition here is that under 25s are being woefully underserved.

So, once they are served, advertisers will want to reach them.  GoViralRadio calls it an ‘obvious and massive demographic’.  Let’s see if they can corner and monetize them.

Soundhound lost the war against Shazam.  Now, it’s raising $75 million for a post-music pivot.

Is there life after the brutalities of the music industry?  The answer is yes — if you’ve got the right pivot.

Enter Soundhound, an app we thought was roadkill after getting crushed by Shazam.  But it turns out that audio recognition has a lot of different ‘applications,’ so to speak.  Even those that make money.

Just today, Soundhound confirmed a seriously juicy raise.  That is, $75 million, thanks to cash drops by NVIDIA and Samsung Catalyst Fund.

Actually, that adds to a previous round of $40 million, none of which has to be paid back.

Why all the cash?

Soundhound has been around for 10 years.  But the company largely struggled under the shadow of Shazam, a music recognition app that always maintained a sizable lead.  These days, Shazam is basically a verb when it comes to on-the-fly song recognition.  They won.

But, Soundhound shifted their energies towards artificial intelligence, specifically around voice recognition.  Just switch ‘music’ with ‘voice,’ and that’s how you raise $115 million.

These days, Soundhound is better known as ‘Hound,’ which aims to capture the explosive category of voice-powered mobile.  And other applications like smart TVs, Wifi-powered stereo systems, and sexbots.

Of course, there’s extremely stiff competition in this space, most notably from Google Voice and Siri.  But Soundhound has been perfecting their craft for a decade, and is probably angling for a juicy exit.

And this discussion is hardly complete without mentioning Alexa.  That’s the new 800 lb. gorilla on your kitchen counter, and a massive player in voice-activated intelligence.

Soundhound’s secret weapon.

That level of competition is enough to make any investor run.  But there’s a secret weapon: independence.  Part of the problem with Google Voice, for example, is that it belongs to Google.  And those proprietary disadvantages are equally problematic with Apple and Amazon, both of whom are consummate personal data hounds.  They control too much, and don’t play nice on a foreigner’s smartphone.

This hound, however, aims to power platforms on the backend.  That is, without data collection or a broader agenda.  Of course, that’s refreshingly independent for a mega-player like Samsung, until Hound gets acquired.

Check out the Hound Voice Search & Assistant here.  Not, ‘hear’. 

Image by Mike Mozart (CC by 2.0)

Is Sprint making a possible long-term play at TIDAL?

TIDAL hasn’t faced a good couple of years. As competitors keep gaining paid subscription numbers, the music streaming giant owned by Jay Z has floundered.

The company currently faces a multimillion dollar lawsuit brought by the late estate of Prince. In addition, the company currently new allegations of fake paid subscription accounts.

In much-needed good news for the company, Sprint will now purchase a 33% stake in TIDAL.

According to MBW, who first broke the news, the sale will cost Sprint $200 million. TIDAL is only valued at $600 million. In addition to the sale, Sprint’s CEO, Marcelo Claure, will join TIDAL’s board of directors.

The streamer has also signed a deal with Sprint to “make exclusive content that will only be available to current and new Sprint customers.” In a statement, Jay Z said,

“Jay Z and and the artist-owners will continue to run TIDAL’s artist-centric service as it pioneers and grows the direct relationship between artists and fans.

“Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential.

“Marcelo understood our goal right away and together we are excited to bring Sprint’s 45 million customers an unmatched entertainment experience.”

In a statement, Claure said,

“Jay saw not only a business need, but a cultural one, and put his heart and grit into building TIDAL into a world-class music streaming platform that is unrivaled in quality and content.

“The passion and dedication that these artist-owners bring to fans will enable Sprint to offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can.”

Sprint’s purchase may be in line with a larger power grab. Jay Z reportedly purchased TIDAL for $56.2 million two years ago. However, the service has yet to take off, as the streamer has yet to report higher subscription numbers. According to Midia Research, TIDAL finished 2016 with just 1 million paid subscribers worldwide. A major record US label told MBW that TIDAL hadn’t reported their business for around six months.

Sprint currently has over 45 million customers worldwide. However, if TIDAL continues its downward trend, Sprint may be able to purchase the streamer for itself.

How many subscribers does TIDAL really have? A new study is now accusing the Jay Z-owned service of completely fabricating their numbers.  And not by a little bit.

Tidal claims to have more than 3 million paying subscribers.  More than half of those are high-paying, $20-a-month audiophiles, according to the company.   Separate reports have claimed up to 6 million subscribers.

Sounds great, but is it true?

Now, a new investigative report says it’s all a fraudulent lie.  The accusations, which are being published by Markus Tobiassen and Kjetil Saeter of Norwegian publication Dagens Naeringsliv, are that Tidal has created fake accounts and lied to the media and partners.

That includes publications like Digital Music News, who have faithfully reported the subscriber numbers.

Tobiassen and Saeter interviewed staffers at TIDAL, as well as partners and confidential sources.  And the information that came back was pretty damning.  “When 16 of the world’s biggest pop stars, one a convicted cocaine smuggler and a former Israeli intelligence officer was not able to obtain enough customers to Jay Z’s Tidal, the company began to inflate subscription numbers,” the report alleges.

DMN spoke this morning with Tobiassen, who offered a translation of the report.  “On March 30th of last year, Tidal issued a press release stating that the company had reached ‘three million members,'” the report states.  “The news story reported worldwide was that Tidal had three million paying subscribers.  Tidal also specified to online newspaper The Verge that this figure did not include trial subscribers.  This was the last time Tidal reported a total number of subscribers to the public.”

The only problem with that?

“In April 2016, one month after the press release issued by the company claiming three million members, Tidal made payments to the record labels for around 850,000 subscribers. The figure reported internally by Tidal in April is 1.2 million subscribers.”

The report further states that Tidal itself reported a figure of 1.1 million to the major record labels in late 2016.  In other words, nowhere near the numbers reported to media outlets like Digital Music News and Verge.

Mark Mulligan, a music industry analyst at Midia Research, was unsurprised by the findings.  “I’ve suspected this for quite a while”, Mulligan told Dagens.  “Tidal has been very good at producing false numbers.  They’ve seeded the marketplace with numbers that cleverly lack precise definitions – and so can be easily misreported – and are often not directly
attributable.”

Actually, Mulligan previously conducted his own ‘back of the envelope’ calculation that raised his suspicions.  Specifically, he added up all streaming music revenues, then subtracted contributions from major services like Spotify and YouTube.  The remaining sliver simply isn’t big enough to equal 3 million paying subscribers.

In other words, Jay Z and Tidal’s claims are probably made up.  “There are other examples of companies over the year that have
misreported numbers or been overly creative, but this is the biggest and most high-profile case so far”, Mulligan said.

Not all of these sources are confidential.  Arthur Sund, former Manager of the streaming company’s Business Intelligence Department, is actually suing the company for deliberate misreporting.  His boss, Lior Tibon, accused Sund of cooking the books and fired him, leading to the lawsuit.

Updated 5/30: In a note to DMN, we’ve been informed that Sund was not fired but resigned.  He later secured back-pay in an Oslo District Court ruling in December 2016.  He additionally noted that his suit was not about mis-reporting but rather unpaid back-compensation.  

Sund says that 170,000 subscribers magically appeared in October.  But these were dead accounts being revitalized, with zero actual activity.  “My conscience is clear. If I have ever been involved in misreporting, then it has been under the instructions of Lior Tibon himself,” Sund told Dagens.

Are they paying anyone?

On our end, we’ve heard lots of complaints from readers that Tidal is failing to pay on time.  Or, not paying at all.  That includes artists, as well as entire indie indie labels.

Separately, we’ve received complaints of extremely delayed payments as well.  What arrives is difficult to fact-check with the company.

On that topic, Dagens pointed to similar problems at major labels.

Tidal has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.  More as this develops.

Image by Thomas Lang (CC by 2.0)

The company lays off an ‘unspecified’ number of employees. Then, they make deals with their rivals. Now, the CEO steps down. Will 2017 be the end of Sonos?

In a blog post on Sonos’ website, Sonos CEO and co-founder John MacFarlane stepped down.  Titled, ‘The Next Generation of Sonos Leadership,’ MacFarlane explained,

“As the founder and CEO of Sonos, I am always trying to find leaders who are capable of taking Sonos to the next level. Part of that means assessing my own role. With Sonos now poised for a new phase of growth, I am excited to pass the role of Chief Executive Officer to a well-prepared Patrick Spence.”

Citing successful Sonos hardware sales under Spence, MacFarlane also stated that the company faces stiff competition from rivals.  MacFarlane will remain as an employee to “to help mentor colleagues and work on other projects.”

“Patrick’s leadership comes at a magical moment for Sonos.  Music has made the transition to streaming. It took longer than we expected but it’s fully here now, leading with a handful of paid subscription services: Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, Google Play Music, QQ Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, Tidal, etc.  Today, a Sonos owner can play almost everything ever made, and tomorrow we will certainly be able to do that with all manner of preferences, niches, themes, and mixes.”

Amazon’s Booming Echo

Sounds lovely.  But is it true?  Looming ahead is a giant competitive threat that could eat this company alive.  The New York Times painted a clearer picture of the company’s standing.

“Over the years, Sonos has weathered competition from better known rivals like Apple and Bose to find a devoted audience among audio enthusiasts. But lately its wireless speaker has lost ground to an unexpected competitor, Amazon’s Echo.”

MacFarlane originally planned to step down last year.  He cited his wife’s battle with breast cancer and his aging parents as the reasons why.  However, he delayed those plans when Amazon’s Echo speaker ate into Sonos’ speaker sales.  The Times writes,

“While Echo has received mixed reviews for its sound quality, its Alexa voice assistant — which allows people to quickly play music with verbal commands — has captivated the tech industry and the public.”

Did Sonos drop the ball on voice recognition?

MacFarlane admitted that he, along with the company, misjudged voice recognition technology.

“I fell into that trap where I’ve been watching voice recognition for years… tried Echo in the beginning and wrote it off…had too many distractions at that time.  I wasn’t playing at the level I should have been playing at in all frankness.”

MacFarlane’s — as well as Sonos’ — miscalculation may have cost them dearly.  In March, the company announced their plans to dismiss an “unspecified” number of employees.  MacFarlane wrote in the company blog,

“These last few weeks have been tough for everyone at Sonos. We’re a tight bunch, so saying goodbye is particularly painful. But I know that making these changes is the right thing to do for Sonos as we look to the future.”

Small market for big speakers?

And how many people really need high-end interconnected stereo systems?  “Sonos’ turbulence is happening alongside an absolute surge in music streaming, with paid subscriptions easily crossing the 50 million-mark,” DMN publisher Paul Resnikoff wrote back in March.

“Many of those subscribers are serious music fans, with portable music collections often accessed through high-end, $300-plus headphones.  The problem for Sonos is that many of those ‘higher-end’ users aren’t taking the next step towards audio hardware, especially those that favor flexible, on-the-go lifestyles that are easily dragged down by ‘stuff’.”

Indeed, most consumers prefer to listen to music through their computer hardware speakers, followed by headphones on a portable device.  Still, it looks like MacFarlane is doggedly pegging Sonos’ growth to streaming.

But where are the numbers?

“The shift is not complete as a few laggards continue to cling to fading business models, but it’s inevitable now. The only question that remains is how fast the growth of paid subscription services will be.”

Meanwhile, Sonos has yet to release their winter sales.  And although not publicly traded, it’s difficult to judge the company’s current financial health without concrete numbers. According to MacFarlane, the company reportedly made $1 billion in 2015. Yet, one cannot ignore the following statement.

“Sonos would not disclose its sales, but it said there are millions of homes with its speakers in them, many of them with more than one speaker.”

Do these include 2016 sales or merely overall company sales? MacFarlane nor the company would confirm.

Amazon Wins CES.

Despite taking on rivals Apple and Bose, Sonos has yet to formulate a concrete plan to take on Amazon’s growing popularity with Alexa.  Instead of taking on Amazon, the speaker company announced a joint partnership earlier this year.  It’s a ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ strategy, one that doesn’t cut it in a cut-throat music hardware space.

Meanwhile, Amazon continues building on Alexa’s growing popularity with price drops.  And, special music streaming prices for Echo owners.  At CES this year, Amazon stole the spotlight with Alexa-connected products.  In fact, this year, TechCrunch wrote an article with the headline, “How Amazon and Nvidia Won CES this Year”.

It was all Amazon in Vegas.  The company presented a smart fridge sporting Alexa integration.  Another major announcement included Ford’s in-car Alexa integration with SYNC3 coming out this year.

Eating Sonos’ lunch.

At CES this year, Sonos was noticeably absent, just as they were at CES 2016. Others are also moving in on a stodgy Sonos.  This year, a rival start-up company presented AmpMe.  Dubbed the “free alternative to Sonos,” AmpMe is a free app that syncs smartphones so they play music in unison.

Furthermore, rival Altec Lansing presented SmartStream X and XL speakers. The company aims to launch,

“a wireless multi-room system which aims to rival Sonos, adding Bluetooth into the mix, plus compatibility with a host of streaming services, and coming with a sub-£100 entry point.”

Everywhere you look, there are simpler, smarter, and cheaper solutions slamming this space.  One quick example is Muzo’s Cobblestone, a smart-and-scrappy ‘stone’ that connects into wifi and re-routes everything into your stereo system.  The price tag?  $60.

Actually, the only product presented with Sonos connectivity that we could find was the Sevenhugs Smart Remote.  The Smart Remote controls connected thermostats, lights, Sonos speakers, and nearly 25,000 other connected devices.

So will 2017 be the year Sonos goes bankrupt?

With music streaming on the rise as well as competing devices and low-consumer adoption for high-end products, Sonos appears to face a difficult year if they plan to turn things around.  MacFarlane ended his blog post with a high-note, though it appears more like a final farewell from the company.

“It’s been a pleasure and honor working toward a mission of filling every home with music. The fifteen-year journey has been filled with fantastic adventures, hard learnings, and everything in between. I look forward to our next chapter.

Sincerely,

John”

Here’s what happened when a self-described ‘one-man musical army’ put the AirTurn Duo bluetooth pedal through the paces.

The following product deep-dive comes from a company we’re really proud to be partnering with .  AirTurn making gigging a thousand times easier and more enjoyable, not to mention more lucrative.  If you’re a gigging musician, this might just simplify your life.

My name is Marlon Longid and I am a lead vocalist and guitarist for a few fine music groups in the Chicago area.  I was recently asked to review the Duo, AirTurn’s latest Bluetooth page turning pedal.  I wholeheartedly accepted the challenge as recent gig experiences have involved playing guitar, pedal stomping, singing, leading the band AND tapping on my iPad to advance my charts.

After putting the Duo through its paces over the course of 2 shows (a wedding and a corporate gig), I have a few great things to say about it!

It frees my hands up so that I can do other things like play the guitar or direct the band.  Our band uses hand gestures to signal the next section to be played (e.g. my hand shaped in the letter “C” to signify repeating a chorus or “V” to go back to the verse) it doesn’t sound like much, but being able to go back to a particular section while singing/playing a song that I’m not very familiar with by using the Duo makes directing the band so much easier.

It’s compact!  The thin design allows me to put it in the same front pocket of my guitar case that my iPad and guitar strap sits in.

Bluetooth wireless operation.

I have enough cables on stage with me! Its wireless operation gives me the flexibility to set it up next to my pedalboard or in front of my mic stand. I suppose that if floor space is limited I can have another band member or our sound engineer control the advancement of charts, but honestly, this is so compact it’s not an issue.

Easy to use!

Pairing it with my iPad is as simple as pairing any other Bluetooth device to it. After that it’s as easy as opening my chart organizer (I use OnSong) and stepping on the pedal to go forward or backward. Plug and play never felt so good! (OnSong also lets you assign the pedal to dozens of other functions from automatic transposition to starting and stopping backtracks.)

Other applications.

The design allows for slide advancement in many other applications.  My day job sometimes requires live presentations.  I’ve used the Airturn to control a PowerPoint presentation while both of my hands were being used to demonstrate a device.

Long battery life.

I arrived at the first gig and paired it with my device about an hour before the start of our first set.  It stayed connected with my iPad throughout the evening (5 hours in all) without issue.  I then took it to the 2nd gig the following weekend and it stayed connected for the entirety of the evening (about 4 hours).

The manual says the Duo will hold a charge for 100 hours, and now I’m starting to believe that it will!   At this rate, I should be able to play about 18 more 5 hour gigs without another charge.  That’s efficiency!

Durability

The Duo held up rather nicely after 2 grueling gigs and a couple of work presentations, and I have no doubt that it will continue to do so.  The affordable cost makes wireless page turning attainable for working musicians.  Performers and presenters can now concentrate on doing what they do best while in front of a crowd!

Check out the AirTurn Duo here.

Marlon Longid is all alone, and he’s perfectly fine with it.  Armed with a guitar and a looping pedal, Marlon is a one-man musical army whose skills embody true musical innovation.  His mind-boggling creations of percussion, layered vocals and bass lines (all summoned from his voice and acoustic guitar) impress both musician and layman.  He also fronts the Chicago Rock band, Soulfixand Chicago’s top event band, Bluewater Kings Band.

Image by Keith Allison (CC by 2.0)

A Kodi download and Kodi TV box probably won’t get you in trouble, according to a leading expert.

Lately, the UK has ramped up its efforts to catch online pirates. The Kodi box and a Kodi download fall into a legal gray area. The open source media player is perfectly legal. With third-party tweeks, Kodi gives users access to pirated content. Streaming illegal music and video content is illegal both in the US and in Europe. However, a trader in Teesside found out the hard way that selling the devices may get you arrested.

In a BBC Radio Five Interview, host Adrian Chiles spoke with FACT Chief Kieron Sharp. They discussed the topic with an IP lawyer Steve. Speaking about Kodi, Steve said,

“You’ve got big content producers like HBO that are used to producing premium content that people pay for.

“Where they are directing their attention is on the people who sell these boxes loaded with software that lets you get around paying a subscription.”

Chiles asked Steve about streaming illegal content using Kodi.

“From the punter’s point of view, if you’re watching something made by HBO that Netflix would hope that you’d be paying them to watch, but you’re watching it for free via your Kodi stick, then are you going to get a knock on the door?”

Despite not giving a clear answer, the IP lawyer replied,

“In all likelihood, no.”

The IP lawyer explained that a legal gray area exists between streaming and file-sharing.

“What tends to happen is that the content providers go after the ISPs, they go after platforms [offering pirate content], not the individual people.”

Surprisingly, Chiles admitted that he once (unsuccessfully) tried to access Premiere League content for free. He attributed his failed attempt to piracy crackdowns. Steve agreed,

“[Rightsholders] have been choking off access [to free content] rather than going to war with their own fans, which is never going to be good for publicity, which is only going to cause them a bigger problem.”

FACT Chief Kieron Sharp immediately entered the discussion. He explained the reality of anti-piracy efforts.

“This will still keep coming up no matter which actions we take, but there is still a deterrent effect on people when they see that sellers and providers and distributors of these boxes are going to prison. Which they will do.

“There will be a deterrent effect [from cases going through the court now] and I think your average punter, as you put it, are the ones who will see that deterrent effect and we will be able to move some people away.”

IP lawyer Steve explained that most illegal content consumers are willing to pay up. However, they’re merely searching for more streamlined content.

“People buy these boxes not necessarily because they’re cheapskates or want to break the law, but probably because it’s the only place they can get access to all the content they want in one place, in a good user experience, without buying separate subscriptions for Sky, for Netflix, for Amazon, for Hulu, for all of these different services.”

The interview ended on an important conclusion, summed up by TorrentFreak.

“While at some point the courts may decide…that knowingly watching pirate streams is indeed illegal, there is no way that a user that ONLY STREAMS content can be monitored by groups that would like to prosecute them.

Watching pirate Kodi streams may be deemed illegal sometime in the future but right now, no one is 100% sure. In any event, it’s impossible in any sensible scenario for anyone to get caught doing so.”

Unfortunately, this conclusion applies to all illegal content streaming that affects both the music and movie industries.

Image by Ralph Daily (CC by 2.0)

Amidst Google buyout rumors, co-founder admits that SoundCloud may go bankrupt this year.

More bad news for the company. After Spotify walked away from advanced plans to acquire the company, SoundCloud posted yet another difficult financial quarter. This leaves the streaming company in a bad state.

MBW reports that SoundCloud’s revenues grew 21.6% to $22 million in 2015. However, net losses continue growing at an accelerated rate to $52 million. The company posted their 2015 report at the UK Companies House.

Image by Music Business Worldwide

Despite ever-increasing losses, the company grew 25%, adding 59 new employees, from 236 people to now 295. The streaming company spent $28 million on wages and salaries in 2015, up 49% on a year-to-year basis. It pays out an average annual salary of $95,000. In 2014, it paid out an average $80,000 in wages.

Image by Music Business Worldwide

Co-founder Alexander Ljung appraised SoundCloud’s current business model. He noted the risks of relying on a subscription model.

“The assumption of a successful launch of the new subscription service is the key element of [our] financial projections for the next three years… [This] bears financial risks regarding the operating results and cash flows of the group.

“The occurrence of these risks can seriously affect the ability of the group to generate sufficient cash to cover the planned expenditures and could require the Group to raise additional funds which have not yet been agreed.”

Ljung also underlined the bankruptcy risk that the company current faces should its subscription service flop.

“SoundCloud may run out of cash earlier than December 31, 2017…These matters give rise to a material uncertainty about the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Whilst the directors believe that the Group will have sufficient funds to continue to meet its liabilities through 31 December 2017, the risks and uncertainties may cause the company to run out of cash earlier than that date, and would require the Group to raise additional funds which are not currently planned.

The company launched its subscription service, SoundCloud Go, last year in the US, UK, and Germany. The $9.99/month service allows users access to more tracks and offline listening, as well as an ad-free streaming experience.

Several days ago, MBW reported that Google showed interest in purchasing the company. SoundCloud currently boasts more than 175 million users around the world. While Spotify may have purchased the company for its 2014 $1 billion price, Google may spend just $500 million. The Big 3 labels – Universal, Sony, and Warner – own stakes in SoundCloud Ltd. If Google purchases the music streamer, the Big 3 will get a windfall. Universal Music Leisure Ltd owns 191,472 Ordinary Class A shares. Sony Music Entertainment owns 134,056 Ordinary Class A shares. However, the lowest number of shares goes to Warner Music Inc, at just 29,823.

Ljung finished his statement with a rather ominous and honest statement about the current state of the company.

“These matters give rise to a material uncertainty about the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Does anti-file locker campaigner Robert King actually know his Node XXX website turned into an illegal TV file locker site?

Several years ago, adult industry worker Robert King launched a noble crusade. Dubbed StopFileLockers, he wanted to shut down cyber lockers used to share files illegally, including top music albums. He told TorrentFreak then,

“What I hope to achieve is very simple. I want to tear apart the illegal file locker industry by removing its supply of funds and then ultimately removing its supply of network connectivity.

“In the main file lockers are simply modern-day ‘fences’ of stolen goods. Just like a thief would take a stolen television or car radio to the pub and sell it for a few dollars, there are thousands of people around the world who take copyright content, upload it to an incentivized file locker, then get a few dollars to as much as $30 for 1000 downloads of that content.”

Within three months from the start of his campaign, Robert King boasted that he shut down payment processing for more than 500 websites.

Yet, back in April 2015, he announced the project’s end. Later that summer, King told a NSFW forum about his new search engine for pornography. Node.xxx would index adult websites, and deal “aggressively” with spam sites.

Image by TorrentFreak

Now, however, the website transformed into an illegal host. Users can watch indexed TV shows. The irony is that the index TV shows are hosted on – yes – cyber locker sites. You’ll find shows like America’s Next Top Model, Friends, Doctor Who, and The Walking Dead, among others.

It’s not clear if Robert King is aware of this sudden change. The original website is still registered to AdultKing. The contact information is still sales@adultking.co.uk.

TorrentFreak reports that a node.xxx mirror, a clone of watchseriesgo.to, is readily available.

So far, King has yet to respond to TF’s inquiries.

Pornhub is now becoming a serious player in the music industry.  Just this morning, Pornhub Records released ‘Snap That,’ the first song ever written about Snapchat.  It’s another Digital Music News exclusive!

What happens when an adult site becomes richer than God?  If you told us one year ago that Pornhub would be in the record business, we’d laugh.  Now, Pornhub Records is a fast-rising force, with smart bands and artists jumping on board.

And, tapping into an audience of millions that are glued to the site.

Introducing your next music industry power-player.  This (Thursday) morning, the adult site is premiering its latest signing and song release.  Enter F.A.M.E., a party band backed by none other than LMFAO member Red Foo.  The group says their upcoming track, ‘Snap That,’ is the first song ever written about Snapchat.

It’s high-energy, party-friendly stuff.  Even reminiscent of some great LMFAO tracks of old.  Take a look:

This is an unorthodox game plan for F.A.M.E.  And definitely not approved by the established, major labels.  But hey, it just might work given the general lull in marketing activity on Christmas Day.  “F.A.M.E is all about artistic freedom, and doing things in unconventional ways to disrupt the system,” explained group member Chad Future.  “There is no conventional way to release music these days.  So we chose a radically different approach for distribution to shake things up a bit.”

“Our new song ‘Snap That’ is basically a tongue-in-cheek look at the wild and over the top ways people are using Snapchat.”

Looking ahead into 2017, Pornhub is aiming to blow this group up.  And, put their record label on the map in a serious way.   “We’re excited to work with F.A.M.E., and debut their music video for ‘Snap That’,” declared Corey Price, Vice President of Pornhub.  “And, help continue their ascension toward superstardom.”

Superstars may also be part of the 2017 game plan.  Already, Pornhub Records has released singles from Coolio and Waka Flocka Flame.  Other releases have come from Wheeler Walker Jr., and most recently, Mykki Blanco.

Earlier this week, the adult site offered a multi-million dollar contract to ex-Fifth Harmony singer Camila Cabello.

More ahead!

Image by istolethetv (CC by 2.0)

Twitter: “We can rebuild Vine. We have the technology.”

Back in October, Twitter announced that they were going to shutter the Vine app. The social media company explained the process currently underway in a blog post.

“In October we let you know that we’re shutting down Vine. Since then, we’ve been working closely with creators to find out what’s important to you, to answer your questions, and to make sure we do this the right way.”

However, Twitter is not killing off the service. The company will now transform the 6-second video app into a camera app. The app will no longer feature comments, profiles, or followers. Dubbed Vine Camera, the app allows users to record 6-second videos. Once they’re done recording, they can share to Twitter or save on your phone.

This news confirms that the social media company definitely won’t sell the 6-second video service. In November, TechCrunch reported that Twitter vetted multiple term sheets from companies. DMN wrote that PornHub wanted to purchase the service. After October’s original announcement, following strong Q3 results, the company dismissed 350 employees. Twitter CFO Anthony Noto said,

“We’re getting more disciplined about how we invest in the business, and we set a company goal of driving toward GAAP profitability in 2017. We intend to fully invest in our highest priorities and are de-prioritizing certain initiatives and simplifying how we operate in other areas.”

In good news for social beasts, the social media company won’t remove Vine videos from the service. The company explained,

“All of your Vines will continue to live on the vine.co website so you can browse all of the amazing videos you created over the years”

The Vine Camera app will also feature a “Follow on Twitter notification.” The company hasn’t stated if Vine Camera will only support uploads to Twitter, or if users can upload to other networks as well.

Image by godwin d (CC by 2.0)

Tidal subscription numbers still pale in comparison to Apple Music and Spotify.  But all of that changes in Poland (sort of)…

Jay Z’s Tidal just added 1 million new subscribers.  And they’re all coming from Poland.  That’s according to Polish site Telix.

The article says reads that total Tidal subscription numbers came after the company launched a major campaign.  And that included tons of freebies. So now, roughly 0.025% of the country now has a paid Tidal subscription.

Well, only a few seem to be paying for it.  The article, roughly translated from Polish, reads,

“A year of free promotion of Tidal Play has proven that at least one million Poles want to promote legal music.  Poles love music, and if you just give them the choice, they are willing to give up piracy. Evidence?  From November 2015…521 389 497 [users] reached for music [in] TIDAL and spent a total of up to 2,454 [total listening time]…provided by the service…”

It’s a strange bit of news at a rough time for Tidal.  Last May, the company reported 3 million subscribers.  However, in just 18 months, Apple Music now has 20 million paid subscribers.  Spotify currently sports over 40 million paid subscriptions.

Tidal also faces a copyright infringement lawsuit after uploading Prince’s music catalog shortly after his birthday.  Since May, the streaming service has not reported any new numbers in the United States.

What song is this? Now, Snapchat can now identify any song playing in your surrounding.  Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it.

Identifying songs playing at clubs, bars, or parties used to be a pain.  Now, it’s becoming almost impossible NOT to answer the question, ‘what song is this?’  Unless you’re listening to a song on a remote island without any mobile connection (unlikely), chances are you can figure it out.

Enter Snapchat, which just inked an amazing deal with Shazam.  Shazam is probably the biggest app for identifying songs.  Now, it’s embedded into Snapchat.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Update to the latest version of Snapchat.
2. Open the app.
3. Hold down on the camera screen within Snapchat to prompt Shazam to identify music playing in the background.
4. A pop-up box will appear with more info, including the artist, title, lyrics, audio preview, and YouTube clip.
5. Remember the track details, as they will disappear.
6. Share if you want!
7. Repeat when you hear a new song playing that you don’t know.

If you prefer to identify songs outside of Snapchat, that’s also easy.  Just check out this complete guide:

+ What Song Is This? How to Find Out In 3 Easy Steps

Will Snapchat single-handedly change music?

Heading into this, Shazam is already identifying millions of songs daily.  That has created an entirely new tier of predictive analytics, with Shazam actually predicting what songs will be most popular.  Even more, Shazam suddenly has the superpower of testing the potential of obscure songs.  After all, if people are asking, ‘what song is this?’ for an unknown song, there’s a decent chance it will catch on.

Now, Snapchat is adding rocket fuel to that fire.  As of this writing, the app has roughly 150 million users, and surging.  All of which spells huge opportunity for artists, labels, and other promoting tracks.   A catchy track can ignite even faster than before, if you can imagine that.

Image by Takahiro Hyono (CC by 2.0)

Neil Young gives more questions than answers about the Pono Player.

Neil Young likes to think big. How big? Try launching a high-end music player with a corresponding digital store.  Also try supporting it once again.  In a podcast interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Neil Young shared his plans about Pono.

“We’re pushing towards getting a presence in phones. He’s working with a Singaporean company on a method to “maintain our quality level when we go to streaming.”

However, as Rolling Stone notes, iPhone internal chips are not currently compatible with higher-than-CD quality sound. Furthermore, it’s unclear if Young is aware of this issue.

Neil Young launched Pono as a Kickstarter project in 2014. The product finally went live last year after raising $6 million. However, Young struggled with funding. Product sales totaled in the tens of thousands. In a Facebook post, Young told fans that Pono is “a labor of love.”

“We are trying to set up stores in multiple countries and are restricted by a lack off resources. As soon as we have the funds, those stores will open. We wish it could be faster than that.”

The service soon went into hiatus. As of now, the Pono Store is still “Under Construction.” The site states,

“Progress continues to move the PonoMusic store to a new content partner. We are in the midst of doing all of the needed engineering work to enable that. Once completed, you’ll have the ability to purchase our music in the US and Canada again and we will have the ability to begin expansion to other countries. This remains the top priority for the PonoMusic team, and we appreciate your continued support during this transition.”

As stated in the interview, the Pono Store will now offer a streaming platform service. Young promised to offer “high-quality adaptive bitrate streaming.” Users can listen to the service through an official Pono app. Endgadget has a breakdown of how the service will work.

“The service will offer the highest quality the artist and label offers. Sometimes that’ll be 192kHz, 24-bit, sometimes it’ll be 44.1kHz, 16-bit (aka CD-quality, or what Tidal offers). That’ll be the default. If you don’t have the bandwidth required to support that bitrate — 192kHz, 24-bit can be as high as 9Mbps — six times that of Tidal and around 30-100 times more than Spotify — then the stream will seamlessly step down in quality, down to CD, through FLAC and all the way down to something like OGG or ACC at 128Kbps.”

Like DMN, Engadget has no idea exactly how the service will work through streaming.

Rolling Stone’s interview with Neil Young leaves a lot of questions about the Pono music service:

• When will the service start?
• How much will the service cost?
• Which devices will support the Pono app streaming service?
• What will happen to existing Pono Player adopters?
• How many songs will the service offer to users?
• How much will Pono pay out users?

The Pono Player last appeared in CES 2015. We’re hoping Neil Young will clarify Pono in CES 2017, which is coming up in January.

Image by Pandora

If Pandora is doing so well, why are many insiders selling their shares and no one purchasing? Will SiriusXM purchase Pandora? Will anybody?

We’re in the early morning trading hour session. Pandora stocks aren’t doing so well. As of writing, the price is 18 cents below its opening. Earlier today, the stock reached $14.01 per share amidst acquisition rumors.

It’s no secret that Pandora wanted to compete in the music streaming arena. At an exquisite yet extravagant event in New York Tuesday, Pandora finally revealed their full-fledged Spotify competitor. Dubbed Pandora Premium, the service gives users on-demand access to a sizeable music catalog. The service is designed to take on competitors like Apple Music, Spotify, and even Amazon Music Unlimited. The company wrote on their blog,

“It is a completely reimagined music service that redefines what ‘premium’ could and should be.”

What makes Pandora Premium so unique? The service will leverage their smart playlists, allowing users to automatically add similar songs. The company wrote,

“The upcoming features tune into each listener’s individuality and leverage our deep knowledge of musical data; it will be an effortless and flexible experience for all subscribers.”

The announcement comes a week after a heavily-shared CNBC report. Sources close to the company told CNBC that Pandora is open to selling itself. SiriusXM is expected to pursue a deal. This news sent the stock surging last Friday. Shares jumped 16%. However, SiriusXM Holdings fell more than 5%. Last summer, Pandora’s board rejected a $15-a-share offer from Liberty CEO Greg Maffei.

Reuters all but refuted CNBC’s report. An insider told the news agency that the company isn’t making any effort to sell itself. Instead, it will focus on “executing its strategy and its operating model.” This includes the shift to Pandora Premium. Competitor Spotify wants to purchase SoundCloud in order to strengthen its position, according to a September report.

At the same time, Pandora is looking beyond SiriusXM. Sources told CNBC that the company is looking at other potential buyers. This move will give the internet radio company leverage in negotiations with SiriusXM.

Yet, company insiders are currently selling their stock. The Cerbat Gem reports that top company insider, Christopher Douglas Martin, once again sold another 2,000 shares. This marks the fourth time in just 3 months. The article shows Martin’s reports,

• On Wednesday, November 16th, Christopher Douglas Martin sold 2,000 shares of Pandora Media stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.83, for a total value of $21,660.00.
• On Tuesday, November 1st, Christopher Douglas Martin sold 2,000 shares of Pandora Media stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.31, for a total value of $22,620.00.
• On Friday, September 16th, Christopher Douglas Martin sold 2,000 shares of Pandora Media stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.37, for a total value of $26,740.00.

The internet radio giant announced their quarterly earnings results on October 25. They missed analyst consensus estimates. The company has not seen strong insider buying since their 1Q 2016 reports. Insiders purchased around $6.15 million in shares. Before that, the company saw insiders sell over $10 million in shares, financially weakening the company.

Image by The Cerbat Gem

Canaccord analyst Michael Graham views the internet radio’s new Premium service as a good sign for the company. Graham expects strong subscriber conversion over the next few quarters. He currently has a $18 price target and a Buy rating for the stock. Yet, according to the Independent Republic, Graham is among 9 analysts that consider the stock a buy. However, 13 equity research firms advocate a Hold. At least no single equity firm nor analysts consider the stock to be a sell. 25 analysts consider the stock will reach a maximum of $14 per share.

One optimistic analyst believes the stock may jump 40%, to $22. However, the internet radio giant hasn’t shaken pressure to sell itself. Back in May, activist investor Keith Meister, who runs hedge fund Corvex Management, wrote to Pandora

“We have become increasingly concerned that the company may be pursuing a costly and uncertain business plan, without a thorough evaluation of all shareholder value-maximizing alternatives. Despite its many strengths, the company has been unable to date to translate its great product into a great business with an attractive public market valuation.”

Give this round to Revelator.

Revelator, billed as the “leader in rights administration for digital assets,” and located in Tel Aviv, Israel, have announced that they’ve locked down $2.5 million in their Series A funding round that was led by Exigent Capital, alongside Digital Currency Group and Israelite early-stage fund Reinvent. This adds to the already strong $3 million that the company has raised beforehand.

So, who or what is Revelator? According to their website, alongside their tagline, “Music’s everything,” Revelator’s the only platform “you need” so you can start tracking your assets, rights and data, and is made exclusively for artists, labels, and distributors. How does it work? Any interested client or customer just signs-up for the service and uploads their music to Revelator’s platform.

From there, Revelator takes over and makes the songs available on Spotify, Apple Music, or other digital store. Their press release states that Revelator uses a unique “SaaS platform [that] utilizes blockchain technology to allow rights owner the ability to license, distribute, track and manage content across multiple platforms.” They also provide “full and in-depth reports of how, where, and when their music is being consumed.”

After talking about how big the global music economy is, reaching what it calls a “massive $45-billion-dollar…economy,” it goes on to write that the majority of “players” in the collective rights industry still “rely on outdated means of tracking distribution and payments,” with them having completely failed “to adapt or modernize their infrastructure to properly handle the explosion of data, channels and new business models.” Unsurprisingly, that’s where Revelator comes in, thanks to what it calls an “integrated and cloud-based platform” that’s able to provide what modern artists and labels truly need.

The big question that does need answering is will this new platform truly work for the artist, or are we just seeing more of the same?

So, what’s the secret to Mixcloud’s success whereas SoundCloud is reportedly struggling? Taking a closer look at both companies, one main reason could be that Mixcloud caters to audio curators. Mixcloud’s Head of Community, Andreea Magdalina said that Mixcloud provides a service that “clears rights and pays royalties for all curators,” seemingly putting the curator first, and is built specifically for DJ mixes, podcasts, and radio shows. What about the numbers, though? SoundCloud’s blog post shows that the company has a very huge global reach, whereas UK-based Mixcloud is barely “12 million unique listeners every month across all devices” and more than 600,000 users being content uploaders since launching in 2009.  Despite the low numbers, Mixcloud has managed to stay afloat due to its huge emphasis on “user-generated” content as well as keeping its core team rather small, reportedly at just under 15 people.

FactMag.com’s article Feb 2016 article explains in detail why they believe SoundCloud may actually, in fact, be doomed, with the top reason being that it spends a whole lot more than it actually makes, similar to how start-up companies did before the dot-com crash. According to Forbes, SoundCloud has been struggling “with both monetization issues (which still exist) and licensing problems,” labeling the company as a “a cash-starved company…[that] needs another round of funding to stay alive.”

So far, Mixcloud seems above this funding problem due to its focus in building a community that is “dedicated to [Mixcloud’s] cause” and have recently introduced a two paid tiers that removes advertisements. Bundle that in with a brand new website redesign, and you’ve got a company that has reason to celebrate.

Upgrade image by Mr Bootle, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

The social music startup scene hasn’t been doing so hot.

The UK Business Insider reported in July that UK-based Crowdmix would be going into administration, leaving 130 jobs up in the air.  Staff will be without their June pay due to failing to pay their vendors.

Now, a tweet is confirming the news that two top executives at social media driven music startup Bkstg, namely CEO Ran Harnevo and President and Chief Revenue Officer Erika Nardini have parted ways with the company.  In the tweet that links to his Facebook post, Harnevo writes:

“After 18 fulfilling months, I’ve decided it’s my time to hit the road and open a new chapter. More to come on that. I strongly believe in the mission Bkstg set to itself – helping artists and their fans to connect directly, on one platform – and wish its amazing employees to keep on pursuing the mission and grow the product globally. Moving on is never an easy decision, but I just knew it’s my time, and I’m pumped to go out there and keep on creating.

This is also a great opportunity to wish Erika Ayers Nardini… success on her new role as CEO of Barstool Sports. Erika was my partner the last year and a half, a dear friend, and I’m so happy and proud for her ballsy decision to lead an amazing (and super manly) media company.”

In a statement to Music Business Worldwide, L.A.-based Bkstg stated that this exit comes due to Harnevo and Nardini’s “lack of music industry experience [becoming] an issue… given [our] deepening relationship with the key music stakeholders.”

Unlike Crowdmix, Bkstg has been a success story so far since it started.  Harnevo had left AOL’s video business and started up the company, and in July 2015, it was reported that he had attracted $20 million in funding to launch Bkstg.   The idea behind the company is simple: artists would use the platform to attract and connect with their own fans, and Bkstg would only ask from a cut of any revenue they generate through the platform, like ticket sales, merchandise, or their very own livestreams. Today, Bkstg is on track to report close to $10 million in revenue in this year, and 120 artists on the platform.  On Justin Bieber’s Purpose World Tour’s web page, Bkstg is listed as a VIP partner.

It’s still unknown how these departures will affect the company.  Bkstg has also gained notoriety on top company review site Glassdoor for its apparent poor management from supposedly ex-employees of the companies, with the latest negative review stating, “pretty much a terrible company run by deceitful liars whose only interest is exploiting their employees to eventually sell the app to the next moron.”

Erika Nardini’s LinkedIn profile lists her at the CEO of Barstool Sports, and still lists her as working with Bkstg, but in a separate posting, it states that she worked with the company up until June of this year.  Ran Harnevo’s LinkedIn profile has him working with Bkstg up until August.  In a cheeky, almost sarcastic posting on LinkedIn, Harnevo currently states he’s working with a company called “Some Time Off,” with a current job description, “I’ve founded Some Time Off a few minutes ago, so that i can take some time off.  I believe in the mission of Some Time Off, and plan to do the best i can to not do much… exploring new opportunities.  More to come.”

Following the news report on Digital Music News that Music Dealers was shutting down, Australian media outlets are reporting that troubled music streaming startup Guvera is shutting down their operations in the Australian market to focus on emerging markets.  A statement that went live on their website today says:

“Born and launched into Australia in 2008, we have had the best time bringing all the latest tunes to the ears of our listeners here. Unfortunately, and with a heavy heart, the time has come to pull back from our operations in the country.”

The recent news to shutdown Australian operations comes after CEO and co-founder Darren Herft had just left the company to focus on overseas operations after the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) blocked Guvera’s $1.3 billion IPO in June for “confidential” reasons, forcing Guvera to “review its legal options and obligations.” Guvera has since replaced Herft with co-founder Claes Loeberg.

Guvera had apparently planned to float up to 80 million shares at $1.00 a share, using the money that would be raised to pay back debts and creditors, a move that was heavily criticized by Australian tech companies. At hearing the news of Guvera’s IPO listing, tech investor Mike Cannon-Brookes  tweeted:

“Was pitched. Read Guvera prospectus. Terrified. $180m raised, <1m MAU? No revs? Little growth? Dodgy loans? ASX shouldn’t allow this stuff.”

Guvera’s ASX prospectus had revealed that the company only had a revenue of $1.2 million in 2015, with huge net losses of $80 million, leading co-founder of Seek and Square Peg Ventures Paul Basset to describe the listing as an “absolute disgrace.”

Guvera posted on their website that they will allow users to re-register in other markets where they’ll set up shop:

“So while we won’t be streaming in Australia any more, we will be continuing this journey in other parts of the world. If your travels take you abroad, you’ll be able re-register to use Guvera in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Guvera couldn’t have got to where we are today without all of you, so we thank you sincerely for the love and support that you’ve shown us over the past eight years.”

Music is the soundtrack of life, and it can be so much more than that. If you are looking for a way to invest your money, you might want to look into music.

It’s pretty safe to say that music isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, new artists come out every single day, as well as new genres. And, music that has been around for decades is still being played and bought today. In fact, The Beatles recent discography release on Spotify, Apple Music and several other streaming services very clearly indicates that the popularity of music of bygone years still remains (songs from the Fab Four were added to 637,000 playlists in the 48 hours after they were first released).

So, what does this mean to you, someone who is looking to invest money? It means that music can actually be a very profitable investment.

But, how should you invest your money in music? Here’s a look at a few suggestions that could end up giving you a nice sum of money in the long run.

Invest in Startups and Bands

If you are someone who is interested in venture capital opportunities, you might want to consider investing your money in startups and bands. New music and new bands are coming out all the time. If you have a good ear and you are wise with your money, you could very well make a lucrative investment by putting your money into a startup.

Trading Binary Options of Publicly Traded Music Labels Stocks

Another great way that you can invest your money in music is by trading binary options of the stocks of publicly traded music labels. Investing your money in this way could turn out to be quite a rewarding option for you in the long run.

Stocks and Funds

Another way that you can invest your money in music is by investing in stocks and funds. Many music companies are publicly traded, but purer plays are also available. For example, Baldwin pianos and Apogee digital audio equipment are both made by publicly traded companies. This means that if you invest mutual funds into these types of products, you could stand to make a very good return on your investment.

Buy Bowie Bonds

David Bowie paved the trail for a unique way to invest in the music industry; he sold the value of his royalties as bonds on the investment market, and this is something that still happens today. If you have the opportunity to do so, you could buy some of the income from the sales of back catalogs from famed musicians.

Buy Collectibles

Believe it or not, another profitable way to invest money in the music industry is by investing in collectibles. If you purchase a piece of musical equipment that you believe will be valuable one day, once it has acquired its value, you could turn around and sell it for a much greater price than what you spent to purchase it – thus putting more money in your pocket.

Featured image by Ken Teegardin (CC by 2.0)

Is this sustainable?

Earlier statistics from Nielsen showed that more people stream music from YouTube all other on-demand streaming services combined.  But the broader picture is even worse: according to statistics revealed by top Apple Music (and former Universal Music Group) executive Jimmy Iovine during an interview at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, YouTube accounts for 40% of overall music listening, and just 4% of overall music revenues.

“Here’s a little statistic … [YouTube] are 40% of consumption of music and 4% of the revenue. That’s a problem! … They know that doesn’t work. But do they care? I have no idea.”

Of course companies change their model. In the startup world it’s called pivoting. That’s all fine and dandy when you’re just playing with your investors’ money. But when it’s your loyal customers, that’s a completely different story.

The digital distribution company, MondoTunes, updated their terms this week. They now will allow artists and labels to distribute unlimited music with them for $40 a year (plus 10% commission). Sounds great right? Except for the fact that all the artists and labels who had previously distributed with them over the past few years were promised MondoTunes would NEVER charge them a yearly fee. Last month, their model was a one-time fee of $38 an album, $8 a single and made it clear over and over and over again that there were “No annual fees!”

But now, they aren’t grandfathering in their longtime, loyal customers, they have instead pulled the rug out from under them and are forcing this new annual rate on them. Your band broke up 2 years ago, but still want your songs on iTunes and Spotify to show your kids? Sorry! You have to pony up $40 a year now even though you quit music. Have since switched distributors? Sorry! You now have to pay MondoTunes $40 a year to just keep your one album up from 4 years ago.

On their new site, they exclaim over and over and over again that you can get your music “in the same online stores as U2, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Maroon 5, Pharrell” and they make it sound like these are MondoTunes artists! What MondoTunes doesn’t say is that they don’t actually do their own distribution. They outsource to INgrooves (which also distributes these artists – and every other artist under the UMG umbrella). Big deal.

That’s like saying, I’ve played the same stages as Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, The Roots, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson and John Mayer because we all have played The Hotel Cafe (200 cap venue in LA) at some point. Technically true, but come on! I’m not going to plaster that all over MY website.

Their sexy new promo video says flat out: “Your songs will be right alongside U2, Maroon 5 and all the other megastars” while showing images of Jay Z and Taylor Swift. However scrolling through their testimonials they don’t have one artist of note (no offense to the artists listed), but if you’re going to pretend that you’re going to make your customers superstars then you better have a track record to back that up with.

I wonder how Jay Z and Taylor Swift feel about being used to sell MondoTunes subscriptions.

Of the 18 testimonials they list, not one artist (who hasn’t broken up) has more than 20,000 Likes on Facebook and most have less than 1,000. And of the 18, one has actually switched distributors to CD Baby! Now, there’s nothing wrong with low Facebook Likes – up and comers just getting started. Every artist on the planet started at 0 Likes, 0 Fans and 0 dollars. The problem is, MondoTunes is pretending that if you work with them you will be a superstar (like Jay Z or Taylor Swift). All you have to do is pay them $40 a year (and 10% commission).

+What The Number Of Facebook Likes Says About An Artist

It infuriates me. This is not something new in the music industry. I’ve gotten hit up by countless “promoters,” “managers” or “A&R” (used to be done via Myspace, now they scour ReverbNation and Facebook for their victims) telling me how great my song (that they listened to for 30 seconds) was and that I’m a star and all I need to do is pay them $1,200 and they’ll write my band bio, press release, get a photo shoot done, book me at a famous club, and then I’ll be famous. Because that’s all it takes.

It’s called preying on ignorance and naiveté. And it’s disgusting. And it happens WAY TOO MUCH in the music industry. Anyone who builds their business on shaking down struggling musicians and promises that they know good and well are completely unrealistic should be publicly stoned. Well, maybe not publicly, but at least in private, by the musicians they fooled.

I’m looking at you pay to play “promoters,” bookers, managers and anyone who calls themselves A&R but charges artists for their (pathetic) services.

If you don’t believe in the artists you’re working with (and I promise you, these “promoters,” “managers,” and “A&R” don’t), then why work with them? What are your dreams? What are your goals? Or have you completely given up on making a real difference in this world and just need the quick buck to pay rent? Because if so, get out of music! You’re doing more harm than good. Go prey on Wall Street. They could use a good shakedown. Not musicians who literally do not have the money for what you’re selling, but will find a way to scrape it together because they don’t know any better.

Which brings us back to MondoTunes. Where do you get off saying that your “songs will be right beside…all the megastars?” CD Baby, Tunecore, DistroKid, Symphonic, JTV, Zimbalam, and all the other digital distribution services could boast this too. But they don’t. Oh, so you distribute to MORE outlets? What outlets are you hitting of importance that your competitors miss? Really, can you name one? Just one of note. How about 500? Because you claim you hit 600+ stores. Do that many even exist? Well, I suppose if you consider iTunes US and iTunes Germany as two separate stores, then yeah, there’s 100 stores right there.

Because you and I know that it doesn’t matter how many stores you’re in. If your music is in a Russian digital download store, but not a single person in Russia knows you even exist, you’re just taking up bandwidth. No one is going to download your album just because you’re in the store. Or listen to you if you’re on a streaming service. There are over 4 million songs on Spotify which have NEVER been played. Not once. Spotify is available in over 60 countries. If you can’t get just one single play in 60 countries, what makes you think you’re going to get a play or a download if you could just get in MORE stores? You won’t. If you just distributed to iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer, you’d be hitting the majority of the world. If you’re going to gain traction you could do it with these three. You’ll make a little more money by getting in a few more stores and may gain a few more fans (the Rdio, Rhapsody, Amazon loyalists), but you’re, by no means, going to be a star because you get in more stores. Plain and simple.

MondoTunes’ competitors don’t mislead their customers, their musicians. They tell them exactly what they will do for them. Because they’re offering a service for which they are being paid. They don’t promise superstardom, they explain what they do, how they do it and how much it costs.

MonoTunes writes “Want to know the best part? You can upload as many songs as you’d like for just $39.99… No one else can say that.” Well, you’re right. Except that DistroKid does exactly this for $19.99 a year. So there’s that.

Their biggest competitors, CD Baby, Tunecore, Zimbalam, Symphonic and ReverbNation still charge their artists per release. Around $10 a single, $50 an album. That kind of thing. Some charge yearly fess plus the signup fee. Ditto now offers unlimited releases for $79 a year (or $30 an album), but DistroKid started the unlimited model two years ago and remains the cheapest option (however there are some serious hidden fees in there).

+Want To Know The Best Digital Distribution Company?

So MondoTunes completely revamped their website. Well done fellas. It looks quite brilliant, actually. That was one of my biggest critiques from my initial review back in 2013. Only took them 2 years to do this. But they haven’t changed their tone. I guess if you have the same people in charge, nothing truly changes. What’s that saying about polishing a turd?

Well this turd truly sparkles. But it still stinks.

May 5th: Grooveshark.io surfaces in its place.

May 7th: Grooveshark.io becomes a globally-ranked website.

May 14th: Grooveshark.io is shut down for good.

May 15th: Grooveshark.vc surfaces.

May 16th: Grooveshark.vc shut down.

May 19th…

I like the idea of Bandsintown. Anything that helps get the word out about concerts (without artists having to pay for it) is fantastic. Bandsintown (depending on the user’s settings) sends out email reminders and push notifications (however I can’t seem to get that feature to work) when an artist you “track” announces a show in your town or when your Facebook friend RSVPs to a show. Bandsintown also sends out automatic notifications to Facebook and Twitter when shows are announced along with reminders close to the date. Over 250,000 artists are currently using Bandsintown. And now, 15 million fans.

This is working right? Not exactly.

Digging in deeper there are major holes that, to Bandsintown’s credit, I have pointed out to them privately and they have been good about exploring (but not fixing on a platform wide scale). But with this major announcement today it’s time to point these out publicly.

The biggest issue deals with the Bandsintown widget installed on bands’ official websites. Take for instance, “Keep Your Head Up” singer/songwriter, Andy Grammer. He has a tour calendar full of upcoming dates around the country. Let’s say I live in Orlando and want to plan my day around his March 8th concert. I get off of work at 8, will I be able to make the concert? I’d like to know this before buying tickets. On the Bandsintown widget on Andy’s website there is a plus next to the show date. Intuitively this would expand to see more details like show time, openers, venue address, cost, etc. When clicked (on the desktop version), yup it drops down to display… wait, Facebook comment?! That doesn’t seem to make much sense at all. It doesn’t list the time of the show or the openers (if there are any). Is Andy headlining or is he opening? No clue. Ok, fine, let’s click the tickets link on the desktop. It brings me to the tickets page, Ticketfly, where it clearly lists the show time of 5PM with 2 openers. Good thing I didn’t plan my day around it first and got tickets in advance!

But now let’s go the route of MOST users of Bandsintown. The mobile route. On Andy’s website on my iPhone (which isn’t responsive – for another topic), I click the plus sign (to see more details) and here it throws me to the Bandsintown app (not the Facebook Comment like the desktop version). If you don’t have the app installed it throws you to the app store. Ok, well, I do have the app installed so at least I can see more info here right? Well, not exactly. No show time listed. Weird. On the mobile app it lists him as the only act, however, on the official Ticketfly page it listed two openers. Odd.

I click tickets for his March 8th show at The Beacham in Orlando Florida from the app. It takes me to ticketsnow.com – a RESALE (scalper) marketplace (not Ticketfly like on the desktop version). Wait hold up! Is Andy going the Justin Bieber route of using a scalper marketplace to sell official tickets? This seems super shady and I know Andy and he isn’t like this. I must have done something wrong. I go back to his official website and click the Tickets link (from my iPhone). BAM same ticketsnow.com scalper link. Eek. And to make matters worse (for Andy) it says there are no tickets available. Sold out? Not exactly.

If I was Andy’s fan in Orlando my process would end there. Show sold out before I could get tickets. Bummer.

But because I know the real issue here I hop on over to my laptop and start over. I go to Andy’s website and click the Tickets link for his March 8th show in Orlando. This time? It takes me to the official tickets website, Ticketfly where it lists both openers, the time and the official ticket link (for face value tickets). Not sold out.

As mentioned before, Bandsintown posts show announcements on artists’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. Sounds great right? More promo that the artist doesn’t have to think about? Well, if you view this tweet on your phone (which most do) clicking the Bandsintown link takes you to the App store. Even if you have Bandsintown app installed! I click Open on the app store (because the app is already installed) and it takes me to the home page of the app – not the artist’s concert page. Now I’m lost.

Bandsintown have made some decent updates this past year like adding Bandsintown for Promoters which enables anyone to promote their show to the Bandsintown community (via targeted email blasts). They added Bandsintown Manager for mobile, giving artists the ability to upload, edit and promote tour dates, message fans who have RSVP’d to the show, add fan photos to the event and change the artist profile pic, all from the phone while on the road. They have also enabled a Tour Trailer, allowing artists to upload a video to the shows tab on the musician’s Facebook Page.

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Google has also struck a deal with Bandsintown (along with BandPage, SongKick, BandZoogle, ReverbNation, Ohana and GigPress) to pull concerts from the artist’s official website and display on the artist’s Google profile (but only if the artist has embedded one of these shows widgets to their official site – or added Google’s developer show code). So, you definitely want to use one of these show calendars on your official website to make sure you get your shows listed in Google.

The only way to manage the artist’s Bandsintown account on a desktop is through Facebook. And the only way to manage it on mobile is through the Bandsintown Manager app. A bit disjointed with opposite user experiences.

Another big oversight, on the Bandsintown Tour tab on Facebook the comments section below the dates never refresh or disappear. Meaning, questions to artists about specific shows possibly from two years ago, are still prominently displayed.As mobile focused Bandsintown is for artists it’s confusing that they haven’t seamlessly transitioned to mobile for their 15 million concert-goers. Why is getting show info/ticket links impossible from Twitter? Why are they defaulting to scalper sites for tickets (on mobile)? Why don’t the complete lineups show on mobile? Why are there no show details (time, price, other acts, venue address or website) displayed on the widget for bands’ official websites?

Bandsintown need to fix these massive oversights immediately. The ticketing issue could potentially be costing artists thousands in lost revenue, or worse, scalper sales.

Bandsintown’s biggest competition is SongKick which has very similar features but hasn’t been adopted by nearly as many artists who actively engage with the platform. Both Bandsintown and SongKick aggregate show info from around the web (if the artist doesn’t import the show info directly to the service). SongKick’s latest numbers (from May 2014) boasted 10 million users. Curious to see if SongKick users have jumped ship to Bandsintown.

Music industry veteran Brooke Wentz is on a mission to make world music more accessible.

To do this, Wentz has spent the last four years working on Seven Seas Music, a San Francisco based company that is officially launching this month. Seven Seas is run by CEO Brooke Wentz and music licensing expert Maryam Soleiman.

Seven Seas is a platform that curates authentic music from around the globe. Customers can use Seven Seas to browse, listen to, and license world music.

The company’s target audience is creative professionals who need to license music for their projects. Turnaround time for licensing is between 24 and 48 hours.

Seven Seas currently lists about 3,500 handpicked tracks that were curated over a period of two years. This number is constantly growing.

The term “world music” has a certain connotation. It brings to mind compilation CDs that you can buy from a listening station at Target. Wentz knows all about world music compilations, she spent years working on them. She was the producer of Global Meditation, which was named the Best Selling International Album of the Decade. She also founded music licensing firm The Rights Workshop, led ESPN’s music department, and was A&R Manager at Arista.

I spoke to Brooke Wentz about Seven Seas by phone. She told me that world music is so much more than what you hear on a stereotypical compilation CD (she seems to prefer the term “international music”). Rolling “world music” into a single genre shows an inherent western bias against regions of the world we’re unfamiliar with.

Seven Seas makes a point to curate fun, hip, and relevant tracks alongside traditional music.

With extreme enthusiasm Wentz told me that Seven Seas features all kinds of cool and contemporary music from every genre, including remixes and instrumentals. One of Seven Seas’ featured artists, The Wagi Brothers, make beats by hitting their shoes against plastic containers.Wentz uses her years of experience and her connections from around the world to locate music for Seven Seas’ collection. Seven Seas also has partnerships with labels like TOUCH Music and Luaka Bop.

The Seven Seas website makes it pretty easy to find the type of music you’re looking for. The interactive world map visualizes available tracks by region, but there’s a also a traditional search that categorizes tracks by country, style, vocal type, mood, language, and instrument.

Wentz is not only concerned with helping customers license music, she wants to bring visibility and compensation to artists who might be looked over otherwise. She negotiates licensing rates, making sure they are affordable to creators while providing enough compensation to the artists.

For example, Wentz says that a rate of $500 can be a pretty big deal for artists in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Seven Seas has had a number of pre-launch clients, placing music for Red Bull Media, Dodge Ram, and upcoming feature films The Coup and Knight of Cups (among others).

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I spoke to two different Seven Seas clients about their experience. Filmmaker Hooman Khalili used the service to place music in his film Olive and music supervisor Dan Wilcox used the service to place music in The Coup. They both said Brooke Wentz was very involved in their music-finding process.

Both Khalili and Wilcox gave glowing reviews of Seven Seas and Wentz’s knowledge of global music. They said she simplified and sped up the process of locating music. Khalili described Wentz as a superstar at the top level of her industry. Wilcox said he would definitely use Seven Seas the next time he needs international music.

So what’s next for Seven Seas, once their launch is completed?

The company is looking to grow their catalogue. Wentz said she’s working on building up their catalogue of Korean, Cuban, and Greek music. She says she’s also thinking about making stems available on the platform in the future, which could make the service particularly useful for music producers.

Brooke Wentz says they’ll also be seeking another round of funding after Thanksgiving. The company raised $60,000 in 2014 from The Pipeline Fellowship, an angel-investing bootcamp for female owned businesses.

Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more. Follow her on Twitter: @nine_u

1. They think people care about music more than they do.

Some people eat, sleep, and breathe music, but most do not.  They aren’t spending hours compiling playlists, they aren’t exploring niche bands, they aren’t trying new recommendation algorithms; they listen to Katy Perry.

2. They think more people will actually pay for music.

Some people will, most won’t.  And the reason is that too much of it is available for free.

3. They think the major labels will be nice to them.

They won’t be nice to you.   They don’t want to help you.  They won’t be ‘rationale’ according to what you think that is.  They will make your business sucky, if they choose to deal with you at all.  And they’ll probably sue you if you blow them off and become successful.

4. They think music fans are unhappy.

People used to bitch about expensive CDs and repetitive radio.  What are they bitching about now, exactly?

5. They think people care about artists.

They don’t.  They care about listening to music from artists they like, not whether those artists can pay rent.

6. They think Amanda Palmer is reality.

She isn’t.  The company that really Kickstarted Amanda Palmer was Warner Music Group.  And yes, there are successful artists doing it on their own without a label or serious backer, there just aren’t that many of them.

7. They think they’re really helping artists.

You can’t help artists if your startup is dead, and nearly every music startup dies.

8. They’re trying to do too much and solve too many problems.

Playlists.net does Spotify playlists. Beatport does EDM downloads.  BigChampagne does music analytics.  Beats mastered headphones, then streaming.  All of them were acquired for a lot of money.

9. They think people care about music quality as much as they do.

Most people not only don’t care about music quality, they don’t even know there’s an issue.

10. They listen to what everyone else is saying.

They used to say that streaming would save the music industry and help artists.  They used to say the major labels would be dead.  They used to say that Facebook would be the new MySpace Music.  They used to say…

11. They think there’s more money in music than there is.

Spotify is losing a ton of money.  SoundCloud is losing a ton of money.  Pandora is losing a ton of money.  And YouTube wouldn’t be the biggest source of music in the world if they hadn’t been losing tons of money for years.

12. They are cocky and over-confident about complex problems.

Figuring out complex problems and making money off of that is electrifying for the entrepreneur.  But deciding to approach a problem with the same approach that has been used multiple times before is hubris.

13. They spend too much time at music conferences.

Music conferences are good in moderation.  But most are repetitive and eventually steal valuable time away from real work, real meetings, and real progress.

14.  They spend a lot of money on ridiculous offices in expensive cities.

Here’s Soundcloud’s office.  Here’s Spotify’s office.  Here’s Pandora’s office.  Any questions?

Image by _Kripptic, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

It’s a common problem in the touring music community. Touring Band X amp breaks down before their show in Minneapolis. They scramble to seek out rental companies, but none exist. So the band calls the venue to ask for suggestions. The venue calls local musicians in town they think might have the amp the band needs. No luck. Touring Band X has to swing by a Guitar Center, “buy” an amp and then return it the next day with the excuse “er it doesn’t go to 11. We thought it would reach 11.”

Just last week I had a day off in Columbus and wanted to record a new song. I Googled around for recording studios, but all were either booked or didn’t get back to me. I found one from a friend referral on Facebook – under the wire!

Sparkplug looks to fix this ongoing problem – and help make musicians money along the way.

“It’s very similar to the model of AirBnB, but for for creative tools,” one of the founders, Jennifer Newman Sharpe, mentioned to me via Skype from Sparkplug’s Brooklyn office.

Sparkplug was co-founded by Julia Wilde, Charles Ridley, Jennifer Newman Sharpe, and Jonathan Eshak and officially launched in June. Recently, Michael McDonald, founder of Mick Management, has jumped on board as a partner and adviser.

With Sparkplug, owners can list their equipment, instruments, rehearsal or studio space and potential renters can search by city and category to find what they need.

Once a request is sent by a potential renter, the owner has 24 hours to accept the request. The owner gets paid 24 hours after the rental is completed. And if there are no claims, the full deposit is returned to the renter.

Owners can “add on” features and services, like a piano tuner or recording engineer if renting studio space, or delivery service if renting equipment.

There’s an internal messaging feature so the renter and owner can communicate about any details prior to the official request.

Sparkplug charges the renter at the time of the reservation 30% of the replacement cost of the piece of equipment as a deposit. If equipment comes back to the owner damaged, Sparkplug will deduct any damages from the deposit and give that to the owner. If the item needs to be replaced, Sparkplug will cover the full cost of replacement (up to $5,000).

It’s a beautiful interface, very intuitive and easy to navigate. I tested it. I setup two accounts and rented a mic stand from myself. All worked well, but the owner was kind of an dick when I showed up. I was going to dock him a star in his review because he smelled, but added it back when he slapped me on the ass as I left his apartment. Go team!

Unfortunately, Sparkplug doesn’t offer any services for hire (other than the add-ons when equipment is rented).  It would be nice to see a way for freelance musicians, front of house engineers, live recording engineers, piano tuners, stage hands, merch sellers, lighting specialists, guitar techs, drum techs, or other specialists to offer their services for hire through Sparkplug. Musicians are constantly in need of these kinds of services while on tour and no other platform offers this in an organized way.

Sparkplug is currently available in the US, UK, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Because it’s a NYC based company and they have been promoting it locally since the Beta launch this past March, the majority of the active listings fall within NYC’s borders. Many other major cities lack inventory. For instance, if you need to rent an amp in Minneapolis today, well you’re out of luck.

SO, musicians should get their equipment listed wherever they live and potentially start to earn some moola!

Any creative avenue to help musicians make extra income, I’m all for. And aside from the earning potential, this is a great way to build community amongst touring musicians.

So dust off that saxophone, snap a photo and add a listing for it. You never know when a touring band may need one last minute!