Next Generation Record Label, Amuse, Raises $15.5M in Series A Funding Co-led by Lakestar and Raine Ventures to Reinvent How Artists are Discovered and Signed

STOCKHOLM – May 22, 2018 – Amuse, the next generation record label, today announced that it has closed a $15.5M Series A financing round co-led by Lakestar and Raine Ventures. The capital will be used to expand operations globally.

Amuse is creating a completely new way for musicians to distribute their music globally and for artists to be discovered:

• Amuse provides a free music distribution service, which creates a pipeline for new talent to deliver their music to major music services like Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer, among others. One hundred percent of the royalties go to the artist. With Amuse, artists can track their progress daily and see how people listen and download.
• Amuse then uses data to analyze music consumption and listening habits to identify promising rising talent.
• Amuse has also reimagined the label deal—when the company identifies new talent, it signs artists through licensing deals rather than traditional contracts, which means the artists have access to large-scale promotion while still owning their work.
• Amuse is a true partner for artists— the company has already seen one of their signed musicians, Adel, achieve a platinum and gold-selling single in less than a year.

Amuse was founded in Stockholm in 2015 by a team of music industry experts including Diego Farias, Christian Wilsson, Jimmy Brodd, Andreas Ahlenius and Guy Parry. The company’s board of directors also includes Edgar Berger, former Chairman and CEO of Sony Music International, and Jörg Mohaupt, a former Warner Music Group board member. Gordon Rubenstein, Managing Partner, Raine Ventures, will join as a board observer.

“The way music is produced and consumed has dramatically changed, but traditional labels have not. Amuse is redefining the label deal and democratizing the discovery process, providing a sustainable solution to this problem,” said Diego Farias, co-founder and CEO, Amuse. “We couldn’t ask for better partners in Lakestar and Raine Ventures. They will be strong supporters in helping us to build on our success in Sweden and change the music industry for the better.”

"We are very excited by Amuse's vision to reinvent the traditional record label with technology and data, analogous to how our portfolio company Spotify reinvented music distribution,” said Dharmash Mistry, General Partner, Lakestar. “Diego and his team have reimagined every step of the A&R process from finding artists to inverting the commercial model to be artist-friendly to changing how individual songs are marketed. After their early success in Sweden, this investment will help roll out the model across Europe and the U.S."

“We are thrilled to partner with Amuse to build a unique and transformational platform for emerging artists,” said Rubenstein. “This next phase of growth will bring Amuse’s groundbreaking technology and label services to artists globally, and we look forward to supporting the team by leveraging our deep networks in the media and entertainment industries.”

About Lakestar

Lakestar makes early and growth stage investments in disruptive, technology-enabled businesses predominantly in Europe and the United States driven by exceptional entrepreneurs. Lakestar and its general partners have historically invested in Facebook, Spotify, Skype, Airbnb, Klarna, and more recent Lakestar investments include Algomi, GoEuro, Revolut, FiveAI and Harry’s. Lakestar has teams on the ground in Berlin, London and Zurich, and manages EUR 500mio across its two funds.

About The Raine Group

The Raine Group is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on technology, media, and telecommunications. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, and Mumbai. With a global reach, Raine focuses on investment and advisory opportunities where its deep industry experience and unique network of strategic relationships can create value for portfolio companies and clients. For more information, visit www.raine.com.

About Amuse:

Changing the game since 2017, Amuse is a music company combining custom-built technology for talent discovery with a passion for empowering the independent community. Offering a smooth take on digital music distribution and artist services, Amuse’s team monitors rising hits and catalogs on a global scale to license and develop the platinum selling tracks of tomorrow.

Born out of Stockholm, Sweden, Amuse was founded by music industry executives with a collective vision to redefine artist discovery and label deals. Today, its open music distribution platform caters to hundreds of thousands of artists across the globe, while the Amuse label manages an ever-growing catalog of 5000+ signed tracks from acts such as U.S. indie sensation Vundabar, platinum-selling Yot Club, rising Canadian rap/R&B artist 80purppp and Turkish chill trap powerhouse Serhat Durmus. Amuse has over 60 employees that operate in the USA, UK and the Nordics.