Downtown Music Holdings has entered into an agreement to acquire advertising and digital marketing platform Found.ee (pronounced FOUN-dee).
Found.ee provides artists, managers and labels with a range of tools to build, target and optimize promotional campaigns.
Downtown subsidiary CD Baby, which is a minority investor in Found.ee, already uses the platform to power its existing promotional and marketing capabilities available to CD Baby artists.
With this transaction, Downtown will acquire the intellectual property and technology that underpins the Found.ee platform.
Used by more than 25,000 artists and labels worldwide, the Found.ee platform was developed specifically to provide ad tech tools that deliver more effective digital advertising campaigns across online, mobile, social and audio channels.
Found.ee enables users to develop custom interactive ads, related promotional tools and analytics that can improve the effectiveness of digital campaigns.
Jason Hobbs, CEO of Found.ee, will join Downtown following the transaction’s closing, which is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2021.
In 2020 alone, Downtown made several key acquisitions, including music distribution and analytics firm FUGA, the France-based audio fingerprinting technology company Simbals, and Africa’s largest independent music publisher Sheer Publishing Africa.
Additionally, Downtown acquired the catalogs of both Motown icon Mickey Stevenson and Sia’s longtime co-writer Chris Braide, as well as independent London-based music publisher Good Soldier Songs, including an ongoing deal (that has since been renewed) with The 1975.
Also in 2020, the company’s music publishing division announced it had reached a deal to represent the catalog of iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan.
“Our acquisition of Found.ee, its technology, and unique expertise in both the digital advertising and music industry ecosystems, is an ideal complement to Downtown’s existing portfolio of artist and label services.”
Justin Kalifowitz, Downtown
Downtown CEO Justin Kalifowitz, said: “Artists across the spectrum are increasingly opting for independence and taking a more active role in all aspects of their careers, especially when it comes to marketing and promotion.
“The technology, tools, and access Found.ee offers creators and their teams is yet another example of how the music industry continues to evolve.
“Our acquisition of Found.ee, its technology, and unique expertise in both the digital advertising and music industry ecosystems, is an ideal complement to Downtown’s existing portfolio of artist and label services.”
“We’re so excited to join Downtown. Since day one, Found.ee has helped musicians leverage data, insights and advanced marketing tools to shape their own destiny.”
Jason Hobbs, Found.ee
Jason Hobbs, CEO of Found.ee, added: “We’re so excited to join Downtown. Since day one, Found.ee has helped musicians leverage data, insights and advanced marketing tools to shape their own destiny.
“I truly can’t imagine a better home for Found.ee, and I’m excited to continue delivering more tools that help creators of all kinds chart their own path.”
Music Business Worldwide