Since its launch in 2020, music funding platform beatBread has been offering artists, indie labels and distributors advances on their catalog and as-yet-unreleased music.
Now, the Utah-headquartered firm is expanding its services to songwriters via a new Songwriting Advance Division.
Songwriters will now be eligible for advances of up to USD $3 million against the publishing rights on their catalog or catalog plus future songs, beatBread announced on Thursday (November 9).
Like with its advances for independent artists, songwriters will be able to customize the scope, term length and size of repayments on their advances, which are repaid through the streaming and airplay revenues that an artist, distributor or songwriter earns.
BeatBread’s financing model has proven to be popular with venture capital. beatBread announced in February 2022 that it had closed a $34 million seed funding round led by fintech-focused VC firm Deciens Capital, and followed that up with a $100 million institutional fund with asset manager Variant Investments in November of last year.
However, the company has gone beyond institutional investing to raise the money for its advances, launching an “exclusive investor network” last year that adds funding from music companies and professionals, distributors and “high net worth” individuals to its existing pool of institutional capital.
Earlier this year, beatBread launched a fractional investing platform called sliceNote that allows qualifying investors to finance a part of an artist’s advance, in exchange for a percentage of the repayments. Investors can put in as little as $1,000 or as much as $1 million into an advance.
To run its new Songwriting Advance Division, beatBread has brought in music publishing veteran and former BMG executive Spencer LeBoff as its new General Manager of Publishing.
LeBoff has worked with writers and artists such as New West, Jason Evigan (who has written for Maroon 5 and Dua Lipa), Lisa Scinta (Selena Gomez, Fifth Harmony), Cash Cash and Mazie.
LeBoff had previously worked in A&R at Warner Bros. Records, where he worked with artists such as Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha and Adam Lambert.
“We are providing a unique opportunity for songwriters to maximize the value of their copyrights while retaining ownership over their work,” LeBoff said in a statement. “The team at beatBread have done such a great job of paving this path on the sound recording side and I’m so excited to extend it into publishing.”
beatBread Founder & CEO Peter Sinclair commented: “We are excited to continue to expand the choices available to artists, writers and their partners on our platform. We believe creatives should have more access, more choice, more transparency and more leverage than industry incumbents have traditionally offered. Creative empowerment is our north star, and with this new initiative, we are one step closer to our goal of creating a more open and creator-friendly music industry.
“We’ve seen significant success building partnerships on the artist side since we launched in 2020, and it’s already clear that there is real demand from songwriters for our offering. Spencer is an outstanding leader, and we’re excited about where this business will go, and there is much more to come.”
“We are providing a unique opportunity for songwriters to maximize the value of their copyrights while retaining ownership over their work. The team at beatBread have done such a great job of paving this path on the sound recording side and I’m so excited to extend it into publishing.”
Spencer LeBoff, beatBread
beatBread uses an AI algorithm dubbed ChordCashAI to analyze an artist’s streaming and social data to generate an offer. Its automated system means the advance can land in an artist’s bank account within days of applying.
The artist then repays the advance as a percentage of their revenue, over a period of time the artists can choose for themselves.
The platform currently offers advances ranging from $1,000 to more than $3 million, and as of late last year, the company had paid out advances to some 500 artists and labels across multiple genres, six continents, and a broad range of career stages via chordCashAI.
Thus far, beatBread has partnered with more than 30 indie distributors and labels, including, Horus Music, Indie Amplify, Ingrooves, The Orchard, Symphonic, Too Lost and UnitedMasters.
In June 2022, the company announced its biggest deal on record, a “seven figure artist financing deal” with singer-songwriter Elley Duhe and Not Fit For Society, her management company and independent label.Music Business Worldwide
