We know BeatBread for its business paying advances to artists, as well as building a network of investors around it to do the same. Now it’s making a logical next step: expanding to songwriters.
The company will now offer advances of up to $3m to songwriters. That’s advances against their publishing rights, covering both existing catalogues and as-yet-unreleased songs.
The company has hired former BMG executive Spencer LeBoff to head its new division overseeing this business.
$3m is a big figure, but obviously most of BeatBread’s songwriter advances will be smaller than that. It says it can go as low as $1k for artists and songwriters alike, while also connecting them into its investor network for further fundraising.
The money will be repaid from their streaming and airplay revenues over time, with the musicians retaining ownership of their rights.
The expansion follows BeatBread raising $34m of funding in February 2022; securing a $100m institutional funding agreement with Variant Investments to power its advances in November that year; and then launching a spin-off platform called SliceNote in April 2023 to offer fractional investments in artists and independent labels.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…