News
Big Tech
Startups
Money
Screens
Video
Events
Column
cookie-policy
Sponsored
Clean Tech
Q & A
Space
Venture Capital
Social Media
Streaming
Gaming
Ecommerce
Biotech
Electric Vehicles
Music Tech
Transportation
Food Tech
Civic Tech
Medtech
Edtech
influencer Economy
Fintech
Finance
Esports
Proptech
Virtual Reality
Artificial Intelligence
Women in Tech
SaaS
Pet Tech
Micromobility
InfoSec
Entertainment
Cannabis
Sports Tech
Robotics
Podcasting
Delivery Apps
Augmented Reality
Los Angeles Tech Culture
Diversity in Tech
Health and Beauty
The virtual influencer Miquela Sousa, aka Lil Miquela, whose rise has garnered equal parts uproar and admiration, continued her foray into NFTs on Wednesday with part two of a five-part series that promises to "tell a special story over time."
<p>Brud, the L.A. startup behind Miquela and a handful of other characters with fully fledged digital identities across social media, is doing the free drop to hype up their superstar avatar and expand her narrative. An announcement from the company said the underlying artwork, called "Unseen by eyes but forged in stone," can exist as a standalone piece or as part of a collection that will roll out over the next several months. </p><p>Brud appears to be gamifying the collection of tokens to unlock a unique, surprise reward. </p><p>"This NFT is part of a larger series featuring Miquela," the company wrote in a Google doc linked in Miquela's tweet announcing the drop. "Each NFT in this series serves as a piece to a larger puzzle. Each piece will work together to tell a special story over time. The only way to access the story before anyone else is to own each NFT and connect them together along the way."<span></span></p>
<div id="eef39" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="35a8e276238c475a9b7bbb831dbef475"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1379841663426682880" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">New NFT drops NOW!
First 1500 people to reply to THIS TWEET with their wallet address will BE BLESSED and the FULL… https://t.co/7XZdblfZbd</div> — lilmiquela (@lilmiquela)<a href="https://twitter.com/lilmiquela/statuses/1379841663426682880">1617814863.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br>Users could claim one of the available 1,500 NFTs by replying to Lil Miquela's tweet with the address to their crypto wallet.</p><p>Brud, valued at $144 million, said it will deliver the tokens within 24 hours. Users had to agree to let the company contact them in the future for marketing purposes.</p><p>Within three hours the post had received nearly 4,000 comments and been retweeted over 1,600 times.</p><p>Upon validation of users' addresses, Miquela's Twitter would post a response.</p><p>"Obsessed with u, there's 1481 left!"</p><p>"We're making history, TYYY!! there's 1377 left!"</p><p>"We're making history, TYYY!! there's 1203 left!"</p><p>And so on.</p><p>Since debuting on Instagram in 2016, Lil Miquela has picked up three million followers and sponsorship deals from the likes of Supreme and Barney's. Her curated digital identity ostensibly makes her less of a risk than human influencers for brands. </p>
<p><br/></p><p>Last year, the digital teenager was estimated to have earned <a href="https://www.onbuy.com/gb/blog/the-highest-earning-robot-influencers-on-instagram~a243/?source=cjSkimlinks&exta=cjunct&AID=13595431&CJEVENT=8ccc83b597e611eb8211003a0a82b82d" target="_blank"><u>more than $12 million</u></a>. She's repped by CAA, alongside many real celebrities, and has appeared on a billboard in Times Square.</p><p><u><a href="https://superrare.co/leviathan" target="_blank">In November, Brud released her first NFT</a></u>, tied to a digital artwork entitled "Rebirth of Venus" that sold via SuperRare for 159.5 Ether. At the time, that was worth about $82,000; Ether's value has since nearly quadrupled. The winning bidder of that token appears to be linked to crypto investment fund Divergence Ventures, based on the link in the buyer's SuperRare profile.<br/></p><p>It has been a common refrain as NFTs have gone mainstream: the investor behind last month's headline-grabbing $69 million NFT tied to a digital artwork by Beeple <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/12/buyer-of-69-million-beeple-nft-is-a-crypto-investo-metakovan.html" target="_blank"><u>also had a financial interest in propping up the legitimacy of cryptocurrency</u></a>.</p><p>The latest Miquela offering is part of <a href="https://dot.la/nft-artists-2651366283.html" target="_self"><u>an ongoing spree of creative NFT offerings</u></a> that provide buyers more than just a certificate of digital ownership tied to the blockchain. It also expands the storyline of a 19-year-old who blurs the lines between fantasy and reality as a racially ambiguous, socially conscious teenager.</p>From Your Site Articles
- 'Owning Things Matters':NFTs Change the Game for Creators - dot.LA ›
- LA's Music-Tech Startups Are Poised to Reshape the Industry. - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
Jordan Fudge – Black, openly gay, and only 28-years old – recently closed one of the largest venture funds in Los Angeles history, which he runs out of a lavish Bel Air mansion. He has raised nearly a billion dollars in dry powder from a reclusive billionaire in Germany, who he got connected to through his personal trainer.
<p>In a notoriously clubby and homogenous industry with few people of color, Sinai Capital Partners Managing Partner Fudge sees standing out from the pack as a major edge.</p><p>"We can be ourselves and leverage our youth in a way that makes founders feel excited to share their ideas with us and feel like they won't be rejected for having something that comes out of left field," Fudge said. "We understand certain concepts a little bit more quickly because typically the market they're trying to address is people like us."</p><p>Sinai Capital Partners has raised $600 million, $500 million of which will go towards the tech-focused <a href="https://sinaivc.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sinai Ventures</a> and the rest to fund movies and television shows at New Slate Ventures. All told, Sinai will now have $800 million in assets under management, vaulting it into the upper echelon of L.A. venture funds. </p><p>The news touting the raise as the largest in Los Angeles history was announced <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201118005850/en/Multi-strategy-Private-Equity-Company-Sinai-Capital-Partners-Raises-600-Million" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in a terse press release last month</a> but received scant attention, perhaps because Fudge does not travel in the usual VC circles or because he says he has deliberately avoided the spotlight. </p><p>"We preferred to stay under the radar until we had some real results and a track record," Fudge said.</p><p>In something unheard of in the tech world, Fudge does not have a LinkedIn profile. </p><p>"To me, LinkedIn encourages a rather shallow, artificial type of networking," he said.</p><p>But Fudge is hardly shy. He shares shirtless selfies in his home gym or pictures of yachts and sports cars to his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jordanfudge_/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nearly half a million followers on Instagram.</a> Earlier this year, he <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/empire-creator-lee-daniels-co-hosts-black-gay-fundraiser-pete-buttigieg/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">co-hosted a tony fundraiser at his home</a> for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg with Empire writer/director Lee Daniels. He also <a href="https://www.glaad.org/about/board/jordan-fudge" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">serves on the board of the LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD</a>, and was a <a href="https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/events/2018-19/la-traviata-2018-invitation.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">young associate director at the Metropolitan Opera</a> until last year. </p><p>Instead of the sleek corporate offices in Santa Monica most venture firms operated in before the pandemic, Fudge runs Sinai from a $9 million mansion tucked in the hills of Bel Air, furnished in all-white with a grand staircase and backyard pool.</p><p>"We chose it over an office because we don't like working in traditional office spaces," he explained. "We've had founders stay there when they're in L.A. for meetings and in better times hosted events and fundraisers."</p><p>What also makes Sinai unusual is that all of its capital comes from a single limited partner. Asked who that person is, Fudge said the individual prefers not to be named. "We don't comment on our LPs out of respect for their privacy," he said.</p><p>Then, he volunteered that the LP is a German billionaire who made his fortune as a founder of enterprise software conglomerate SAP and has a family office called Eagle Advisors.</p><p>A quick Google search reveals the billionaire is almost certainly Hans-Werner Hector, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/hans-werner-hector/?sh=36cb25873e48" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ranked as the 945th richest man in world by Forbes</a> with an estimated $2.4 billion fortune. </p><p>The head of Eagle Advisors, Ekkehart Hassels-Weiler, has been known mostly for his lavish real estate purchases on both U.S. coasts. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-german-investor-paid-over-130-million-for-four-manhattan-condos-then-the-market-tumbled-11579123879" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">He bought four penthouses</a> totaling $120 million in New York starting in the mid-2010s and <a href="https://www.dirt.com/moguls/power-players/ekkehart-hassels-weiler-house-beverly-hills-1203296027/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">last year reportedly purchased a Benedict Canyon spec mansion with his new husband for $43 million. </a></p><p>In 2015, after an uninspiring post-college stint at 21st Century Fox, Fudge met Hassels-Weiler through their personal trainers who happen to be brothers. </p><p>"We'd often see each other at the gym in L.A. near where the family office is based," Fudge remembers. "When I left Fox, I intentionally started scheduling sessions at the same time as him to get some face time and pick his brain. I finally asked him if he had hired anyone to look after tech, media, telecom and he hadn't due to their focus on energy and real estate."</p><p>Fudge pitched Hassels-Weiler on the graphics processing chip manufacturer NVIDIA Corporation and the timing turned out to be perfect. The stock more than tripled in a year, a return that led to Hassels-Weiler bringing Fudge on as an associate. </p><p>"I developed sort of an in-house private house venture capital fund for them, which was then spun out into what is now Sinai," Fudge said. "We started with them seeding us with one hundred million and did really well with that."</p><p>The biggest breakout from the 85 startups Sinai has invested in so far is Pinterest. The fund came in relatively late in Pinterest's 2017 Series H at a post-money valuation of $12.3 billion. The company went public in 2019 <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/04/08/is-pinterests-lower-ipo-valuation-a-bad-sign.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">at a lower valuation of $10 billion</a>, but Pinterest now has a market cap of more than $40 billion.</p><p>Sinai also got in on the real estate service Compass' Series D and the Series A of Ro, the parent company of Roman Health. </p><p>Eagle Advisors more than doubled its investment on Fund I, according to sources. </p><p>"We were able to use that credibility to continue to raise more capital from them and go later in the life cycle of some of these companies that we're interested in," Fudge said. "Specifically within Los Angeles, there really aren't many funds that are able to write those kinds of checks."</p><p><a href="https://medium.com/@sinaiventures/hello-world-1cd626e4911a" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fudge initially launched Sinai in the Bay Area</a>, but he quickly soured on the tech scene there. </p><p>"I found San Francisco to be a monoculture and generally a soulless, unpleasant place to live," he said. "The VC crowd there has a tendency of being rather pompous and the deals we were seeing in the city seemed increasingly overpriced."</p><p>In 2018, the firm relocated to Los Angeles. Fudge and Zach White — the partner who helps oversee Sinai Ventures — both grew up here and say they want to invest in L.A. startups, but also companies anywhere that encapsulate the L.A. ethos of tech, entertainment and diversity.</p><p>"We're L.A. at our very core," White said. "And the sort of fiber and DNA of our fund is L.A. But we are going to be global in the way that we allocate capital."</p><p>Far from a hindrance, White says the fact that he and Fudge are young and Black has helped them get into highly competitive funding rounds. He points to Brud, an L.A company that <a href="https://www.sciarc.edu/news/2020/trevor-mcfedries-joins-sci-arc-board" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">uses artificial intelligence to create virtual popstars.</a> It secured early funding from Sequoia but Fudge is friends with the founder, Trevor McFedries, and so they were able to get in on the Series A. </p><p>"He has no shortage of suitors trying to get into that company," White said. "But I think that us being able to view it from the perspective of someone who's a little bit closer in age and skin color to him really benefited us."</p><p>McFedries says he finds Fudge to be "super smart" and a great listener. </p><p>"He has a point of view that allows him to recognize opportunities others wouldn't," said McFedries. "And being in L.A. it's been great to have an investor close by."</p><h2>An Entertainment Fund for Underrepresented Founders
</h2><p>After he graduated from Northwestern University, Fudge got what seemed like a plum gig in 2014, working on digital strategy under co-chairs Dana Walden – <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/dana-walden-disney-tv-karey-burke-craig-erwich-1234843308/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">now a top executive at Disney</a> – and Gary Newman. As he remembers it, the mandate of his group was figuring out how to make money licensing Fox's vast library of content to Netflix and Hulu without cannibalizing the studio's lucrative television and movie business. </p>
<img
class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" lazy-loadable="true"
data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDk1NTYxMC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjY3MzA2N30.Ckj0qgek6cjVzznc0uHBIjdrETYcsWFOIegicDSmI4w/image.png?width=980"
id="a268e"
width="296"
height="170"
data-rm-shortcode-id="80e5302c3afbd4aa43d9cb57a36c7031" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="New Slate Ventures" />
<p>"At the time, legacy studios like Fox were just beginning to recognize the legitimacy of subscription services as existential threats," Fudge said. "Part of the reason I left was I realized there wasn't much more runway for a company like that, a legacy media company owned by a family that sort of is trying to compete with these massive tech behemoths that have deeper pockets and a better understanding of the customer."</p>
<p>Six years later, every big media company is desperately trying to be the next Netflix and Fudge thinks he can use his entertainment and tech experience to both make a sizable return and elevate underrepresented filmmakers.<br/></p><p>"There is a huge opportunity for artists that typically wouldn't fare very well within traditional studio structures to be able to make their films and create art that is authentic and resonates with this generation," Fudge said. "They can do that with us because we understand it as first-hand consumers of that content."</p><p><span></span>Fudge's <a href="https://www.newslatevc.com" target="_blank">New Slate Ventures</a> wants to fund projects from underrepresented filmmakers. It has seen critical success backing "The Forty-Year-Old Version," a semi autobiographical comedy mostly shot in black and white from filmmaker Radha Blank that critics have hailed as <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_forty_year_old_version" target="_blank">"bringing a new voice to cinema."</a> The film drew raves at Sundance and was picked up by Netflix.<br/></p><p>New Slate is also developing a limited series on junk bond king turned philanthropist Michael Milken written by Terrence Winter of "The Sopranos" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" fame.</p><p>Aside from both being a sometimes glamorous yet risky investment, entertainment and tech would seem to have little in common. But Fudge maintains there have never been more similarities. </p><p>"The rules are being administered by the same companies and also being rewritten by similar types of people in terms of the founders who are coming to create new companies in a way that I think directors and producers are also looking to create new opportunities in media," Fudge said. "I have a very good understanding of how to make money in entertainment in this new sort of era that we're entering with the streaming wars being what they are."</p><p>The entertainment fund is being run by Jeremy Allen, who spent two years as an assistant to WME Chairman Patrick Whitesell. </p><p>"We understand how to read a script," Allen said. "We understand what makes a good movie. We understand how to produce something."</p>From Your Site Articles
- Jordan Fudge Raised One of the Largest Funds in LA History - dot.LA ›
- Ten Venture Capital Firms Commit to 'Diversity' Rider' - dot.LA ›
- Navigating the Venture Capital World as a Black Person - dot.LA ›
- Can Venture Capital Solve Its Whiteness Problem? - dot.LA ›
- Valence Funding Network Intends to Boost Black Startups - dot.LA ›
- Ranking LA’s Biggest VC Funds of 2020 - dot.LA ›
- Sinai Ventures' Zach White on Secondary Shares, LA's Future - dot.LA ›
- Sinai Ventures' Zach White on Secondary Shares, LA's Future - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
The Pandemic Has Changed the Music Industry Forever. Meet the LA Music-Tech Startups Poised to Reshape It.
Aug 19 2020
- The pandemic has ravaged the music industry, but music-tech companies are poised to drive its growth into an industry where a music company is much more than music.
- Los Angeles is home to a bustling ecosystem of startups empowering musicians through a variety of next-generation technologies.
- The Takeaway: Innovations in music-tech offer new tools to independent artists to help them create music, manage money, reach fans and share their music in vivid, immersive ways.
<p>
The pandemic has hushed the music industry. Throbbing concert crowds have disappeared, artists' sales have plummeted and musicians' overall <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/this-is-how-covid-19-is-affecting-the-music-industry/" target="_blank">income has fallen precipitously</a>. But a handful of Los Angeles-based tech startups are providing musicians with everything from socially-distanced collaborative recording to simplified back-office accounting.<br>
</p><p>
"The L.A. music-tech scene is primed to drive this industry forward," says Ed Buggé, partner at L.A.-based entertainment law firm Hertz Lichtenstein & Young. "It's a hugely exciting time in the industry, with startup-driven disruption enabling new models for artists and media companies alike."
</p><p>
Buggé, who advises some of the world's leading tech and media companies, says the ecosystem of music-tech startups is poised to accelerate two big trends in the music industry.
</p><p>
One is the rise of independent artists. In 2018, indies – artists who own most or all of their material – <a href="https://www.midiaresearch.com/reports/independent-artists" target="_blank">earned 6.6% of total recorded music revenues.</a> That's a 78% growth rate from 2015, which <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/diy-artists-will-earn-more-than-1-billion-this-year-no-wonder-the-major-labels-want-their-business-830863/" target="_blank">makes independent artists the fastest growing segment of the recorded music market</a>. Entertainment research firm MIDiA says this change <a href="https://www.midiaresearch.com/reports/independent-artist-survey#become-a-client" target="_blank">"could prove to be more impactful than even the rise of streaming."</a>
</p><p>
The other trend startups are speeding up is the transformation of what a music company even is.
</p><p>
"Music is no longer just music," says Buggé, adding that audio is becoming inseparable from technologies spanning artificial intelligence, gaming, social media, as well as augmented and virtual reality.
</p><h2>Recording Studios at Home
</h2><p>
Musicians today have far more access to high-quality production tools and capabilities than they once did.
</p><p>
Software packages like Logic Pro or Ableton have brought the recording studio's physical equipment and professional engineers right into an artist's living room, saving them thousands of dollars.
</p><p>
"In 2020, all you really need is the essentials – your phone, your laptop, and a good pair of headphones," says Americo Garcia, aka <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/4m1yRHUMhvB8gKAJTjK4kO" target="_blank">Boombox Cartel</a>. Add in a good $100 microphone or two and an instrument and you've got a home studio.
</p><p>
"Back in the day you'd have to ship reels of tape and jump hoops and loops just to make a song happen. Nowadays you can email someone in Poland and say, 'hey man, let's start something,'" Garcia says. In addition to tools like Dropbox that enable file-sharing across the world, several companies have emerged to help musicians find and work with each other.
</p><p>
"If you think you need a label to blow up, you're wrong," Garcia says.
</p><h2>Meet Your Bandmates</h2>
<img
class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" lazy-loadable="true"
data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDgyNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjQ1NjUxN30.WPzxOmOeWfRcUTNHvrPYT4MEq3vyN4WHhUkyX9Bcv7Y/image.png?width=980"
id="628fb"
width="1242"
height="2688"
data-rm-shortcode-id="16d398fdf65f81124264ee1ba60bde05" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Musicians' Jammcard profiles help them to collaborate
<p>L.A.-based <a href="https://jammcard.com/" target="_blank">Jammcard</a> has been called the "LinkedIn for musicians." Founded in 2017 by professional drummer Elmo Lovano, the company has nearly 10,000 members and has raised around $2 million from Quincy Jones, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin and Lionsgate President Robby Melnick.</p><p>Lovano formed the company to streamline the process by which professional musicians find each other, rather than relying on word-of-mouth. He estimates that as many as 95% of Jammcard members are independent, and that their median income is around $70,000.</p><p>"A lot of the people that are on Jammcard are the people that support the big artists; Kendrick Lamar's not on Jammcard, but his entire band and crew are," Lovano says. "Sound engineers, stage managers, guitar techs – we like to say that it's for 'anyone that's on the bus or in the studio'."</p><p>Lovano says Jammcard is finalizing partnerships with Sony and Fender and has recently expanded its platform to enable digital payments to members for collaborating, performing and teaching. Jammcard also recently partnered with New York-based <a href="https://splice.com" target="_blank">Splice</a>, an online music production service that offers downloadable samples and plugins that make it "a lot more accessible and intuitive to start creating music," says Ankur Patel, Splice's head of corporate development. Jammcard's artists can host their sound samples on Splice and share in the proceeds.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://soundstorming.com/" target="_blank">Soundstorming</a> is another L.A. company using tech to enable artistic collaborations. Users upload small segments of their self-produced audio files, allowing other members on the platform to provide feedback and even layer in their own bass grooves, vocal melodies, and drum beats to collectively compose a new track.<br>
</p><h2>Build Your Own Label
</h2><p>
Former UTA agent Milana Lewis created <a href="https://stem.is/" target="_blank">Stem Disintermedia</a> in 2015 to "alleviate back office work so an artist can eliminate those costs and release content more easily."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-4x3">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDgzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1ODY0ODI0OX0.pWF64e99T6hiJHaHfTXrdeaa70RCcrg6TMhcouZzPCw/image.jpg?width=2000&coordinates=211%2C1702%2C198%2C1964&height=1500" id="42ef4" width="2000" height="1500" data-rm-shortcode-id="71d1ce33f599fc847349e078cfa6e87f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Stem co-founder and CEO Milana Rabkin Lewis</small>
</p><p>
As an agent, Lewis saw how the complexities of music copyright were depriving musicians of opportunities to make money. "The administrative work was too burdensome for any individual artist to do," she told dot.LA. Artists would give up and say, ''I'm just going to put it up for free'" on sites like YouTube and Soundcloud.
</p><p>
Stem has raised over $12 million in funding, including two rounds from L.A. firm Upfront Ventures. The startup also recently launched its own $100 million debt-financing arm to allow artists to borrow money against their existing catalogs.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg0OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzIwODA0MX0.hVGcHFix-9uoxfeq_qMZn1uUUqEyG3WAqiiS6mf2vHU/image.png?width=980" id="47b09" width="1024" height="728" data-rm-shortcode-id="e62f301d90ad09efd98e2eaee5d2d8aa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Stem's interface helps artists and their managers track their finances</small>
</p><p>
<a href="https://createmusicgroup.com/" target="_blank">Create Music Group</a>, another startup formed in 2015 that helps artists take control of their accounting and distribution, has a similar origin story.<br>
</p><p>
"We realized the YouTube landscape was poorly mismanaged," recalls Sam Casucci, partner and senior vice president of digital strategy at Create, recently named the second-fastest growing company in the country in <a href="https://www.inc.com/inc5000" target="_blank">the annual Inc. 5000 list.</a> Create employs about 120 people and serves over 10,000 clients – mostly indie artists and labels, the company says. "There was a lot of music and (rights holders) who weren't getting paid what they should be," Casucci says. Create has since built technology on top of YouTube's rights-management platform to help artists make money.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg0NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTAyMTMyOX0.Dscpj9oxYKyx6-dye-p0WwEkNEAeNt4kG10a6mgg0fs/image.jpg?width=980" id="d272e" width="4240" height="2384" data-rm-shortcode-id="75e2dc015eab035a79c89462fbb68a3d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Create Music Group's Hollywood office</small>
</p><p>
Independent artist and Create client Ray J told dot.LA, "They help you study everything that's going on and help you find money you might not have even known existed."
</p><p>
"When you sign to a major label you don't really get to see what's going on behind the scenes," says Ray J. "You can become your own record label now."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-16x9">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg0MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0Mjg2MTE3Nn0.P2GltSXW2-xLoudj0GTOz3dJC3Tqi6U-ZaqGjSITds4/image.png?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C29%2C0%2C552&height=700" id="3c618" width="1245" height="700" data-rm-shortcode-id="d82a9e84737706c28aeb45634de8eab6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Create's dashboard to help musicians manage their copy rights</small>
</p><h2>Get Paid<br>
</h2><p>
Elsewhere in L.A., <a href="https://pex.com/" target="_blank">Pex</a> helps artists manage their monetization by following the data associated with their songs across the web. Wilson Hays, head of business development, says Pex monitors over 20 billion songs and videos on dozens of social media platforms.
</p><p>
The company indexes all that data – which comprises over three-times as much content as what's on YouTube, Hays says – and uses patented technology to allow the people behind the music to track and measure its online activity. It even allows artists to easily issue take-down notices if they wish.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg0OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2OTE1MDA4Nn0.uu6sbH0cmqi5fyYd1YqJxMJCrXFVr3uNRhhRbU1mZPA/image.png?width=980" id="d8306" width="2562" height="1965" data-rm-shortcode-id="ff3f4f2b055622d386bcc760de22e4d0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Pex's song-tracking dashboard</small>
</p><p>
"YouTube has Content ID and Facebook has Rights Manager, but outside those platforms, in the wild, you don't know how your content is being shared, moved, monetized, or pirated," Hays says. "We want to put control back in rights holders' hands."<br>
</p><p>
That sort of control offers benefits to artists that they wouldn't necessarily have with a traditional label deal. One benefit is that payments come in faster. It also gives artists more freedom to manage their career trajectory.
</p><p>
And that freedom gives artists the choice in how they use the many emerging mediums by which they can share their music.
</p><h2>Reach an Audience
</h2><p>
An artist who wants to interact directly with fans can post their songs on a host website like YouTube, TikTok, Soundcloud or Bandcamp and chat with their audiences on social media channels. But these platforms have limitations.
</p><p>
A post on Instagram, for example, carries no guarantee that it will reach an artist's fans; most followers do not see every post. Artists must also contend with the fact that the interests of social media platforms are not always aligned with their own.
</p><p>
Jake Udell, a music manager and entrepreneur with a reputation for digital wizardry, recognized social media's limitations early on.
</p><p>
"The thing I kept noticing was that the algorithms were making it really challenging for us to reach our audiences," Udell told dot.LA. "I didn't think there was a fix, though. We'd given up and sort of ceded our audiences to these social platforms."
</p><p>
Then he conducted an experiment. Tickets went on sale for an artist of his who had about twice as many fans in L.A. than New York. Not surprisingly, about twice as many purchases came in for the L.A. shows than the New York ones. Udell then decided to collect around 1,000 phone numbers from fans at a New York show.
</p><p>
"We found some random texting service online and just blasted them out," he recalls. "What happened next changed the way I thought about building audiences online forever."
</p><p>
7,000 tickets to two New York shows immediately sold out. <a href="https://artofamanager.com/2018/02/artist-texting-is-the-new-craze/" target="_blank">Udell wrote about it on his blog</a>, which is how he met Matthew Pelltier, chief executive of L.A.-based <a href="https://community.com/" target="_blank">Community.com</a>, where Udell is now head of activation.
</p><p>
"The algorithm has not really been an enabler" for musicians, Udell says. "What if we could just meet the fans where they're already at?"
</p><p>
That's exactly what Community does, he says, by providing artists (and other "Leaders") a SaaS platform for exchanging text messages with fans en masse.
</p><p>
"I think about it like this," Udell says. "How many social platforms have you joined over the last 10 years? Versus how many times did your phone number change?...The phone number is a true atomic unit of identity; it's not going anywhere."
</p><p>
What's more, Udell says 98% of text messages get opened in the first three minutes.
</p><p>
"On other platforms there's a guarantee of instant publishing, but there's no guarantee of instant distribution," he says. Whereas with Community, "the idea that you will always be able to reach your fans, this community, via text, is a really empowering thing not just for you personally but for your business."
</p><p>
Big-timers like Jennifer Lopez use Community, as do aspiring local band types. Prices depend on audience size. One feature: ability to segment fan outreach so that, for instance, a band coming to a specific town can message only the locals – "See you at the show tonight?"
</p><h2>Tour Virtually
</h2><p>
Wave turns performers into digital avatars and puts them on virtual stages where they can entertain and interact with fans, who tune in via VR headset, gaming console or web browser.
</p><p>
"We started the company four years ago to help musicians make money," <a href="https://wavexr.com/" target="_blank">Wave</a> chief executive Adam Arrigo told dot.LA. "We've been touring musicians and we know how hard it is."
</p><p>
Wave has now hosted over 50 events. Its recent concert featuring The Weeknd in partnership with TikTok <a data-linked-post="2646923010" href="https://dot.la/the-weeknds-concert-on-besieged-tiktok-2646923010.html" target="_blank">reportedly drew a digital audience</a> of over 2 million fans.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg1MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTc0OTYyOX0.LPZMZWipBamYsrPT8hxnLSZ0AamP4hN3ugroBwtRPJs/image.png?width=980" id="698f4" width="1600" height="893" data-rm-shortcode-id="5c3805ed3e759ba7f6cb51d3bf0cd2e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">A Wave concert of Swedish band Galantis</small>
</p><p>
Arrigo says his former role as a designer for the Rock Band video game franchise showed him how novel technologies can empower musicians.<br>
</p><p>
"From working on that game I learned that when you create new experiences you can create additional revenue streams for the industry," he says.
</p><p>
Building on a blueprint established in part by L.A.-based <a href="http://www.brud.fyi/" target="_blank">Brud</a> (whose digital influencer and singer <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/?hl=en" target="_blank">Lil' Miquela currently has 2.6 million Instagram followers</a> and attracts <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWeHb_SrtJbrT8VD-_QQpRA" target="_blank">millions of views on YouTube</a>), <a href="https://strangeloop-studios.com/" target="_blank">Strangeloop Studios</a> is currently designing a cast of animated characters of its own.
</p><p>
Co-founder and chief executive Ian Simon, who is also on the creative team at Wave, says, "the long-term vision is to be a studio; to bring in storytellers and visual artists and creators to tell stories using these characters. The characters are a medium in themselves."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-16x9">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg2Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDk0MTQ5OH0.2u4Jl20-ZsS2IoBPWbJBOBO--6EdbmVd6yxfWBMCr_A/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C824%2C0%2C825&height=700" id="2d48c" width="1245" height="700" data-rm-shortcode-id="4b7475962ddfb27f4e02814632cbaf66" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">A character from Strangeloop Studios' virtual artist label, Spirit Bomb</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Strangeloop Studios</small>
</p><p>
Those characters present musicians with scalable creative opportunities. "You can play the same show with the same character in multiple places at the same time," Simon says. "They're vessels for human collaboration – multiple musicians contributing songs, various visual artists creating content and fans informing the narrative and aesthetic trajectory of the characters."<br>
</p><p>
"People are already listening to music on screens, even if the screen isn't really being leveraged," says Simon, whose small team includes former visual designers for megastars like Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus.
</p><h2>Immersive Music</h2><p>
<a href="https://virvii.com/" target="_blank">ViRvii</a> – a portmanteau of virtual, visual, and immersive – gives artists a new "paintbrush" for creating immersive fan experiences, says founder Juan Dueñas, who formerly founded My Mixtapez and was an early user of Oculus' development kit.
</p><p>
Dueñas says ViRvii will allow fans to "hang out" inside The Beatles' Yellow Submarine while the album plays in the background, for instance. Contemporary artists will be able to design VR experiences to accompany their releases. Despite the high-tech approach, Dueñas says he wants users to be able to get a homespun feeling of "sitting around a stereo or record player and smoking a joint and drinking a beer with friends and listening to your favorite album."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NTE1Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODMyNjg3NH0.4Zh0Ng5dMUM1ex1Om6FtZcM_MVFFd6VtWF6cs4k1rec/image.png?width=980" id="76310" width="1600" height="875" data-rm-shortcode-id="45e57a185929aa98944495b53e2966e7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">ViRvii's continuous VR world will immerse fans into albums</small>
</p><p>
Formed in 2019 and now with a staff of 30, the L.A.-based startup <a href="https://dot.la/explaining-big-techs-la-for-vr-2646036087.html" target="_blank">recently announced a partnership with Facebook and its Oculus VR subsidiary</a>.<br>
</p><p>
<a href="https://www.splashmob.app/" target="_blank">Splashmob</a> gives performers control of their audience's cell phone screens. They can preprogram the screens of anyone who opts in with features like polls, audiovisual media to accompany the main show, and merchandise sales portals. The screens can also be controlled in real-time, not unlike an effects technician manipulating phone screens rather than lights and sound.
</p><p>
Founder Blaise Thomas was formerly a sound engineer in London, where his work in recording studios and live performances got him thinking about how to enhance concerts, whether in-person or streamed.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg2OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2OTkzNDI0Mn0.y3OEP6CRpywaBBdbK-re1S-NqccqHibmINF6o9C5IhY/image.png?width=980" id="7d3d8" width="2470" height="1232" data-rm-shortcode-id="d941a083b0d30924e60031cb72b5fd8c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Splashmob's control panel gives performers the power to curate audience members' phone screens</small>
</p><p>
"The flashlight on the phone is all well and good," Thomas says, "but how far can that go?"<br>
</p><p>
Splashmob has collaborated with Dani Van de Sande and her L.A. startup, <a href="https://www.ulo.world" target="_blank">ULO</a>, which along with Splashmob and Strangeloop was part of the 2020 Techstars Music cohort.
</p><p>
"Imagine you're wandering around Melrose Avenue on your way to dinner," Van de Sande writes, "and out of the corner of your eye you spot a bright, iridescent light. It looks otherworldly, like something from another universe."
</p><p>
These cocoon-like walk-in installations, called ULOs ("unidentified landing objects"), offer immersive, interactive experiences for the adventurous souls who enter. ULO plans to dot them around city-scapes.
</p><p>
"We're another avenue where artists can do something beyond releasing a video – by creating an experience for people," says Van de Sande, who formerly worked on augmented reality at L.A.-based Snap.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<a href="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg3MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDcyMzQ4OH0.SWZUZGH1mIk7gXpYKH2ZLhlycs_E-zdAxTNXdT6NGbE/img.jpg?width=980" target="_blank"><img class="rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NDg3MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3Nzc5NTQ4OH0.2L0WP1Qi07bPr13lQ-dgKk-8h_Nb3GVvNJ8ul8zzgzY/image.jpg?width=980" id="6da63" data-rm-shortcode-id="b6d0b61e9ff475a8d44fbce38163a685" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></a>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The Pandemic Has Changed the Music Industry Forever. Meet the LA Music-Tech Startups Poised to Reshape It.</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
StillVika
</small>
</p><p>
These new visually oriented channels for sharing music may help to shrink the gap between the ear and the eye that Spotify founder Daniel Ek often invokes when he describes the growth potential for his company. Why, he has publicly wondered, is the total video market worth around 10-times more than audio, even though consumers spend about equal time with each?<br>
</p><h2>Get a Side Gig
</h2><p>
<a href="https://www.cameo.com/" target="_blank">Cameo</a> offers anybody with over 20,000 Instagram followers the opportunity to build a profile on its platform and set a price for which they will record a personalized video message. The company was formed in Chicago, but its chief executive Steven Galanis recently moved to L.A. With his move, <a href="https://dot.la/cameo-ceo-on-his-move-to-l-a-and-his-companys-future-2646225672.html" target="_blank">Cameo's center of gravity has shifted</a>.
</p><p>
"L.A. is the best place for me to be for Cameo right now," Galanis recently told dot.LA. "I've been focused on being the tech company to work for in Chicago and I think that's mission accomplished in many ways. Now my objective is to make Cameo that place in L.A."
</p><p>
L.A. was once the destination for artists with a guitar case and a dream. Now, many of them can pursue those dreams from home. Music-tech companies, however, are flocking in.
</p><p>
"It's not an accident that Techstars Music is in L.A.," says Bob Moczydlowsky, who runs the accelerator, which recently <a href="https://www.f6s.com/musicaccelerator-2021/apply" target="_blank">opened its 2021 cohort application</a>, with an emphasis on attracting a diverse candidate pool. Moczydlowsky attributes L.A.'s centrality in this flourishing wave of music and tech innovation to two main factors. First is the access to an ecosystem of artists, managers, labels and touring companies. Second is the venture money in Silicon Valley.
</p><p>
"L.A. is less than an hour from the money and down the street from the culture," he says.
</p><p>
The growing entrepreneurial energy in L.A. looks set to provide Angelenos a front-row seat to a new, lasting stage for entertainment technology innovation.
</p><p>
---
</p><ul class="ee-ul">
</ul><p>
<em>Sam Blake primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Follow him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA</em><br>
</p>From Your Site Articles
- Column: How Music Tech is Making it Easier, and Harder, for Artists ... ›
- Music Industry Vows a 'Blackout' Tuesday - dot.LA ›
- Spotify Earnings: The Music Streaming War Is Heating Up ›
- TikTok Says it Will Pay Creators— and Universal Music Group - dot.LA ›
- 12 LA-Based Music Tech Startups To Watch - dot.LA ›
- Music Tech is Making it Easier — and Harder — for Artists - dot.LA ›
- Music Tectonics Conference Announces its 2020 Lineup - dot.LA ›
- Output Raises $46M to Make Creating Easier for Musicians - dot.LA ›
- Tencent Doubles Stake in Universal Music Group - dot.LA ›
- Music Tech Trends to Watch in 2021 - dot.LA ›
- 1RIC Studio Aims to Kick Off a New Era of Artist-Fan Engagement - dot.LA ›
- Pex Copyright Management System Gets $57M - dot.LA ›
- SoundCloud Will Experiment With a New Way To Pay Artists - dot.LA ›
- Spotify's Latest Acquisition built Locker Room - dot.LA ›
- Lil Miquela, Virtual Influencer, Releases More NFTs - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less