The music industry has its fair share of issues and for up-and-coming artists, it can be easy to get lost in the weeds. Even those with solid management teams sometimes end up getting the short end of the stick. Take Taylor Swift, for example. The country-pop crossover star is in the midst of re-recording her entire song catalog ever since she lost the rights to her master recordings in 2019.
Even music legends like Beyoncé have had to fight for ownership of their work. The 28 time Grammy Award-winning artist didn’t have control of her masters until 2011. Artists big and small are vulnerable to signing shotty deals and losing out on a lot if they’re not careful.
LA-based startup beatBread is on a mission to change that. The music funding platform provides artists with the capital they need to kick start their careers and bypass any dealmaking with big labels.
Now, the startup is receiving a fresh injection of capital. BeatBread announced Wednesday that it completed fundraising for its seed round. The raise, led by Deciens Capital, brings the company’s total amount raised to $34 million.
“Most artists don’t need a traditional label contract anymore,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “Major labels don’t have a monopoly on distribution anymore, and there are plenty of world-class digital marketing, radio and playlist promotion professionals that work outside of labels.”
BeatBread offers advances ranging from $1,000 to as much as $2 million. Every advance is repaid from a share of an artist’s streaming revenues over a period of their choosing.
Since its launch in November 2020, beatBread has made more than 300 advances to artists and labels across six continents. The company will use its fresh capital to continue scaling its platform in order to accommodate a larger user base.
Additional investors Afore Capital, Angel Ventures and IAG Capital Partners participated in the raise, among others.
