Downtown Music Holdings has invested in tech startup Vampr.
Vampr, launched in 2016, is dubbed as the ‘LinkedIn for Creatives’ according to a press statement issued on Thursday (November 17).
The startup claims to help creatives and artists find people to work with, create new music and monetize their work through its features including premium subscription service Vampr Pro, its distribution arm Vampr Publishing and Vampr Academy, which offers courses and practical video lessons for creatives.
“Vampr has carved out an important niche in our industry that fosters connections between music creatives,” said Tracy Maddux, Downtown Music Holdings’ Chief Commercial Officer.
Downtown did not disclose the size of its investment in Vampr, which it carried out as part of Vampr’s current Seed 3 funding drive.
In addition to the investment, the New York-based independent rights management and music services firm says that it will also help grow Vampr’s marketing unit by providing its expertise via Found.ee (pronounced FOUN-dee), a machine-learning powered advertising and digital marketing platform that Downtown acquired in January 2021.
Found.ee helps artists and labels build, target and enhance promotional campaigns. With Found.ee, Downtown says that Vampr’s 1.2 million global users will gain access to marketing tools and to range of online publications.
Downtown will also provide Vampr with publishing tools through Songtrust, a music royalty collection and publishing administration company that helps producers, and other rightsholders to collect their publishing royalties worldwide for over 3 million copyrights.
Additionally, Songtrust will administer the Vampr Publishing catalog, which represents over 60,000 songs. The catalog, which was launched in late 2020, has a compound monthly growth rate of 21% according to Downtown and has recent placements in shows and advertisements from companies such as Meta, CBS and HBO.
“Their investment is a bona fide industry endorsement of the highest order that Vampr is making all the right noises in our mission to help early stage musicians thrive in a crowded industry.”
Josh Simons, Vampr
“We are thrilled to extend our relationship with Downtown Music and its stellar group of brands and services. Their investment is a bona fide industry endorsement of the highest order that Vampr is making all the right noises in our mission to help early stage musicians thrive in a crowded industry,” said Vampr CEO Josh Simons.
The partnership with Downtown comes as Vampr continues to grow its business. Earlier this year, the company was named among the 10 Most Innovative Music Companies of 2022 by Fast Company.
“We see real potential in Vampr as a platform which is why we’ve not only invested, but are bringing our expertise via Found.ee and Songtrust to help them continue to grow.”
Tracy Maddux, Downtown Music Holdings
Vampr was founded by Australian musicians Josh Simons and Baz Palmer of Hunters & Collectors. The platform has facilitated nearly 8 million connections across more than 190 countries globally, according to its website.
“We see real potential in Vampr as a platform which is why we’ve not only invested, but are bringing our expertise via Found.ee and Songtrust to help them continue to grow,” Downtown’s Maddux added.
Downtown’s investment in Vampr comes two months after the group formed a new division to manage its global services for artists and songwriters.
The new unit called Downtown Music combines all of its global business and professional services including distribution, label and artist services, publishing administration, video and user-generated rights monetization, neighboring rights, royalty accounting solutions, sync licensing and creative support services.
It follows Downtown’s recent expansions into new markets including Latin America.Music Business Worldwide
