Swedish startup aims to overhaul the music industry
Stockholm 9 May 2018 – Swedish tech startup Melobee Music is growing and developing their artist-to-fan music and video discovery platform. Already used in over 100 countries worldwide, Melobee intends to reach $50M revenue by 2021 and is seeking investment on the Invesdor investment platform to facilitate it.
“An ecosystem that enables an artist-to-fan direct connection will be the next breakthrough in the music industry,” says Mats Wahlström, founder of Melobee Music. “We’re going to see a huge shift in the way artists make money from their music in the coming years.”
Artists have long complained that the record labels profits from an old system that strips them of their freedom, creativity and the rights to their music. Melobee provides artists with a self-controlled route to success, allowing them to monetise directly from fans with no need for a record label. Melobee will also produce original live content with the most promising artists as they emerge.
Discovering the long tail of online music
Though music consumption is booming worldwide, listeners are being played an extremely narrow selection of what is an incredibly vibrant and eclectic global music scene. The charts are dominated by major label acts and it is difficult for new artists to break through.
To address this, Melobee’s unique discovery algorithm matches artists with listeners who have chosen to hear music in their genre, which means that every artist has an equal chance to get heard. Melobee’s use of machine learning also guarantees that Melobee’s charts are ‘uncorrupted’ and based on listener preference alone.
96% of internet users consume music[1], with video streaming making up more than half of on-demand music streaming. Live video streaming is growing exponentially, and the video streaming market is estimated to grow to US$70B by 2021[2], due to the increased use of online streaming. Melobee expects to grow particularly fast in markets where music consumption is predominantly through YouTube, like the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Nigeria.
“The time is ripe for a platform that gives artists autonomy and listeners direct access to live and original content”, says Melobee Music CEO Edward Cederlund. “We believe the next big evolution in music will be led by platforms that, a) Enable artists to connect directly with their fans and have complete autonomy over their career, b) Collaborate with artists to create original content, and c) Change the way listeners interact with music. That’s why we made Melobee.”
Melobee Music Revolution AB (publ) is raising 15 million SEK in a “seed round”. The funds are allocated to product development and testing, and to user growth through digital marketing campaigns based on user data accumulated from the September Beta launch. Melobee will have 300.000+ users by the end of 2018.
Melobee's investment information can be found at https://www.invesdor.com/en/pitches/902. The funding round has already surpassed its initial goal of SEK 500,000.
Contact details
Edward Cederlund, CEO, Melobee
+46 (0) 73 422 67 05
edward@melobeemusic.com
Mikko Savolainen, Head of Communications, Invesdor
+358 40 747 5205
mikko.savolainen@invesdor.com
Melobee in brief
Melobee was founded by Swedish serial entrepreneur Mats Wahlström, and is led by a team of digital professionals with wide-ranging experience in both the tech and music industries. They have a globally experienced small Board of Directors, and world-class advisors and investors who cover the areas of Music, Finance, Business and Legal. They have already attracted a number of high profile investors, including Greger Hagelin (Swedish serial entrepreneur, founder of WeSC, Keyflow and Utopia Music Group) and Adam Beyer (world-renowned Techno DJ and founder of independent label Drumcode Records). More information at melobeemusic.com
Invesdor in brief
A financial technology (fintech) company founded in Finland in 2012, Invesdor operates an online investment platform that connects ambitious European growth companies with investors worldwide. Invesdor has helped raise more than 50 million euros for more than 110 businesses. Its clients include private and publicly traded companies from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the UK as well as investors from more than 70 countries. Invesdor has offices in Helsinki, Stockholm and London. More information at Invesdor.com.
