Empowering fan communities around geolocation technology… you just need to throw in AR/VR and this is “the most 2018 startup” of 2018. The thinking behind FindMyFans coalesced last year when founder and Harvard Business School graduate Ravi Ramkeesoon presented his business case at the Talent & Innovation Competition Of The Americas in Mexico City.
The basic sell behind the company – which plans to launch fully in December – is that it will, via social media likes and streaming data, identify clusters of fans around the world and help monetise them. It currently draws its data from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter on the social media side and Last.fm, Shazam, Spotify and YouTube on the streaming/tagging side. For major markets, this is a good start, but the absence of Apple Music (presumably an API issue) and Amazon Music will be a growing concern, given how quickly both are growing. Ramkeesoon added that the prohibitive cost of integrating with Tidal and Pandora – as well as a hard pass from SoundCloud – means it can only move at a certain speed for now. This, plus the lack of integration with noteworthy regional services like MelOn, vKontakte, Yandex.Music, Anghami, iMusica, Hungama and Saavn (to name just a few) would suggest an initial focus on just the most developed of Western markets. Radio tracking is, however, on the roadmap. On top of this, live is where the company sees itself moving next. “We intend to build a tool to handle artists’ bookings, too, because live events are their primary revenue earner and I don’t see that changing,” Ramkeesoon told Billboard. “With the social media and streaming information that FindMyFans will be collecting, data makes artists’ bookings as easy as booking a ride on Uber, which completes the value chain we hoped to create.” He added, “We’re inventing a new way to micro-market with music trends at the core.”
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Tools: Kaiber
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