New Music Finance & Royalties Platform Labelcoin Will Launch At SXSW 2023.
In March 2023 at SXSW, Labelcoin will launch a transparent, secure marketplace for the exchange of digital streaming royalties, called Notes. The Labelcoin app uses streaming data and breaks it down to help fans understand their investment in songs’ streaming royalties while helping artists understand their market.
Having spent several years performing and producing music, and managing indie artists, Labelcoin CEO Mark Miller has bold aspirations to channel finance and fandom to increase the value of music rights and financially empower artists.
Labelcoin Combines Finance and Fandom to End Artist Poverty
Deemed the Robinhood of music Labelcoin is starting a revolutionary song exchange that lets fans invest in the next big song. Built on blockchain technology, Labelcoin is ushering in a new era for the music industry.
The goal of Labelcoin is to help artists sell portions of their streaming rights to fans and investors, generating sustainable income from their music and creating long-term financial stability.
Artists can make consistent, sustainable income by selling portions of their streaming royalties to retail investors with Labelcoin, a new app launching in March 2023 at the SXSW Conference in Austin, TX.
“The music industry is lacking transparency. With our platform, investors can immediately see royalties coming in and total earnings from all their investments, taking the heavy lifting off of the backs of artists and labels. They can track royalty payouts and microtransactions with little effort.”
Labelcoin CEO & Co-founder Mark Miller.
Miller knows the importance of this firsthand from his years as an artist, producer, and engineer, as well as Founder and President of Brave Enough Entertainment, a booking and talent agency based out of Nashville, TN. He and his wife created indie/pop duo So Long Solo, and found themselves always on the road, as touring was their main source of revenue. They learned what the journey is like for an artist, how artists have to be good at management, sales, accounting, and marketing, in addition to their music. They also learned just how expensive and time consuming it is to make a living on the road.
All this led Miller to found Labelcoin with co-founder Chad Petterson in 2021. Petterson is a former Wall Street investment banker, venture capital investor, passionate music supporter, and founder of Nashville’s music charity HOPE-20.
“We’re helping artists bring the next 10+ years of income forward to today to create a sustainable income, and giving them new ways to get their fans engaged. Labelcoin as a whole is a great bridge for people not familiar with crypto as people won’t even recognize that they’re interacting with Blockchain technology. We make it that simple for anyone to invest in music.”
Labelcoin CEO & Co-founder Mark Miller.
This is done by selling portions of a song’s streaming royalties, paid by services like Spotify and Apple Music, on Labelcoin’s Song Exchange marketplace, where fans can invest in songs individually, or through Curated Collections (Song Mutual Funds). An artist’s career and income can fluctuate with touring or song popularity, and Labelcoin gives artists the potential to create consistent and sustainable income based not only on a one-time catalogue sale, but with passive residual income as well.
“Labelcoin offers artists a brand new revenue stream directly from their fans,” says Ari Herstand, author of How To Make It in the New Music Business. “Unlike crowdfunding, where fan fatigue is common, this new funding model engages the fan in a meaningful way while allowing them to participate in the success of their favorite songs and artists.”
Labelcoin is creating a paradigm shift in the way artists finance their careers. Instead of asking family members, friends, or fans for a loan or a donation, which can feel like charity, artists can ask for an investment, with hope for a positive return for both the artist and investor. There’s a different feeling associated with asking someone for an investment rather than a handout, with more buy-in and support of the artist.
How Labelcoin Song Exchange Works:
The Labelcoin Song Exchange is an open stock marketplace where artists sell their music, and investors can buy and sell portions of digital streaming rights to songs, to become Songholders. Royalties for the rights are received by Labelcoin and distributed immediately to holders through the blockchain, according to their percentage share of a song and length of ownership since the last payout.
– Artists have complete control over what royalty rights and what percentage of such rights are up for sale, and the price of each Note they’re placing on the Song Exchange.
– Using a proprietary algorithm, Labelcoin provides an estimate of the value of the song, which constantly updates based on artist popularity, stream counts, and other metrics.
– Investors buy in at a set Initial Note Offering price; the price then fluctuates based on market forces.
– Artists receive 97% of the proceeds of the Initial Note Offering.
– Artists also earn a passive residual income of 40% from every transaction fee that occurs when investors buy or sell their Notes.
How Curated Collections (Song Mutual Funds) Works:
Curated Collections are essentially mutual funds for songs, which can be curated by a label, music blogger, music influencer, venue, or any music lover. Curators choose an assortment of songs from the Song Exchange to be part of their collections.
– This is a great opportunity for investors without specific music industry knowledge to participate in a new asset class.
– This is also a great option for music fans who don’t feel the need to be in control of their investments; instead, they choose someone they trust to do it for them.
– Investors will likely discover and support new songs and artists outside of their typical listening niche.
– Investors can sell at any time at market price.
– Curators receive 5% of royalties.
In all Labelcoin ventures, artists retain full ownership over their career and career choices. Fans earn dividends from their song shares, as a song performs well on streaming or other digital content services, but don’t own any master rights or have any legal control in the artist’s career. Artists can also pull their songs off at any time, for any reason. They can either buy their digital royalties back at market value, or perform a forced buyback at three times the Initial Note Offering Price or current market value (whichever is higher).
“One of the challenging parts of being independent is figuring out how to fund a record, a video, or a tour. All the time, artists enter into less than favorable contracts with labels in order to have access to funding. There’s still a lot of great reasons to be with a label. And a lot of great reasons to be independent. But Labelcoin makes it easier for an artist to choose what’s best for them and their career moving forward.”
Megan Davies, Labelcoin Artist Advisory Council singer, songwriter, and producer
Megan Davies joins other founding artists who will make select songs investable on Labelcoin at launch.
Fans come for the artists they know, and stay to discover more songs. Despite having “coin” in its name and being built on blockchain technology, Labelcoin is a great bridge for people not familiar with crypto or web3. All values will appear in the user’s own native currency, with normal payment methods.
Every song is registered with the SEC (under Reg A+), and is compliant with all regulations and current laws.