Music marketplace Breakr raises $4.2m seed round to meet the growing demand for creator monetization tools

Music marketplace Breakr raises $4.2m seed round to meet the growing demand for creator monetization tools

Published: 21-07-2021 12:52:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 3685 | Tags:

Breakr, a fast growing music marketing platform announced it has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to meet the rapidly growing demand for creator monetization tools and digital music promotion solutions. The round was led by Slow Ventures.

The raise comes on the heels of explosive growth for the startup. Founded in late 2020, Breakr's platform has leveraged over 50,000 creators across 133 countries with an aggregate reach of more than 1bn followers. Most importantly, Breakr has already generated 150m views for emerging artists and put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of creators at a time where it's needed more than ever.

Tony Brown, Co-founder and CEO, Breakr: "Independent artists have more opportunities than ever to break through, but those opportunities have required busywork that should've been solved already. Problem 1? Spending all day messaging to try and get your song heard. TikTok influencers have been pushing songs to the top of the charts, and with the shift to Twitch and Instagram Live DJ sets during the pandemic, we knew the world needed a solution."  

With this funding, Breakr will staff out its product, engineering, and business development teams to set itself up for its increasing demand. "Creators are increasingly at the forefront of brand and content discovery for consumers. Building tools to help creators manage and monetize is one of the most exciting opportunities in media today. Breakr is in a great position to build tools and services that not only add value to creators' lives, but also anyone looking for distribution. We jumped at the chance to lead the round and are very excited about the role Breakr can play in the music industry and beyond," said Will Quist, Slow Ventures.

Ameer Brown, Co-founder and CTO/Inventor, Breakr: "When we designed Breakr, we focused on first addressing one of the biggest pain points for artists, influencers, and anyone trying to promote a song: outreach and execution for social placements. Discovery was broken, payments were unsecured at best and scammy at worst, and there was no transparency in communication or validation of the promotion taking place. This process needed to be streamlined, so we stepped in to make it happen. And by diving into the issue, we've identified so many additional opportunities to unlock value for the creative industries, by creatively removing friction."

Breakr's alpha product allows artists and influencers to facilitate paid and unpaid collaborations with powerful search and discovery, seamless payments, and escrow-based verification. The result offers both parties more control, confidence, and free time to do what they do best.

Breakr was in the alpha cohort of Andreessen Horowitz's Talent x Opportunity Initiative led by a16z partner Nait Jones. The Initiative is an accelerator program that provides funding, mentorship, resources, and community to underrepresented founders. Breakr was one of the seven companies accepted out of more than 1,200 applicants.

Breakr founders Ameer Brown, Dan Ware,and  Rotimi Omosheyin met while students at Florida A&M University, where they promoted sold-out parties and saw first-hand the power of one-to-one communication and word-of-mouth marketing.

Tobe Nwigwe, Independent Artist and Co-founder, Breakr: "I immediately knew it would be the future. Having cultural icons like Erykah Badu and Dave Chapelle rock with my music and amplify me on their platforms was major for me. Now, with Breakr, we can make this happen for artists and influencers at every level." 

The round was supported by a broad set of investors and operators from the creative industries and beyond, including: Marc Benioff's TIME Ventures, Nas, RGA Ventures/Coalition, Baron Davis, Quiet Capital, Precursor Ventures, WNDRCO, Plexo Capital, Debut Capital, Unknown Ventures, Ozone Partners, CNC Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners (Scout Fund), Kevin MayerRich RileyTommy DuncanRich AntonielloNataly LangerDan TeranJustin WaldronScott DepetrisAlex LopezSterling ProfferMack HollinsMatt Goetz, and re-commitments from several of the company's existing loyal angel and pre-seed investors.

www.musicbreakr.com