Where are the female music tech startup founders? Here’s a list

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

Conference organisers and journalists are trying to do a better job at diversity, but unfortunately, it’s not always easy. Let’s change that.

I get asked a lot whether I know any female founders at music tech startups. Together with some wonderful people on Twitter and on my newsletter, we’ve been putting together a list. Feel free

I’ve made a start at this list – together with some wonderful people on Twitter. If you think anyone is missing, please use this form to add them. And please don’t feel excluded if you don’t identify as male or female – drop me a note (@basgras on Twitter, my DMs are always open) & I’ll figure out another name for this list.

Direct link to list.

This list looks better in Google Sheets: click to open.

2018’s hot topics for the music business

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

I am typing this article on my phone in an airport. Therefore this piece is going to be a bit different than my usual MUSIC x TECH x FUTURE post.

It’s amazing what we can do on our phones now. They are fully fledged computers that are more powerful than the computers on our desks a few years ago.

Originally posted on my Medium.

And that has been a key facet of the change we see in music right now. The streaming giants were enabled by the smartphone. The iPhone (launched in 2007) and Spotify’s rise went hand in hand. I mention the iPhone because it exemplifies the modern smartphone. Now Apple has its own streaming service. And so does Google, which is also behind Android.

These two companies are now betting heavy on AI. Putting chipsets in phones capable of providing the power needed for this generation of computing. Google’s AI team have notably been working on AI that can outwit the best Go players — one of the most complex games (Alpha Go). They also built AI that could train itself to play chess in a few hours and beat the world’s best chess bot (Alpha Zero).

Where’s this AI going? Well, for one, into smart homes, and into smart speakers like Google Home, Amazon Echo, or Apple’s HomePod. We already see the operating systems for smartphones partnering with music brands. Hifi manufacturer Sonos integrated Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant into some of their hardware this year.

Smart speakers are going to change the game for music. Without a visual interface, how are you going to get your music to people? How are you going to stay top of mind? It’s like a new age of radio, but this time it’s personalised.

Then there are the countless AI music startups that are tackling everything from scoring films to mental health to generative pop to smart VSTs to soundtracking your YouTube videos. There’s investor interest too: Techstars Music has 3 AI-related music startups in their last batch, including Pacemaker which helps you turn your Spotify playlists into mixtapes.

And then there’s obviously blockchain. With the price of Bitcoin exploding recently, the whole world is paying attention. We see new models of crowd investment through ‘tokenization’ with multiple music startups already raising millions of funds using the Ethereum blockchain. There are probably dozens of startups looking at solving issues related to the complex rights situation in music through blockchain. One to watch is JAAK.

What about VR? Next year we’ll see startups like The Wave VR and NOYS VR gain further momentum, and further define what music can be in VR. More artists will get involved and build high quality fan experiences to put the 360 video to shame. Still, I’m cautious about VR — I’m not sure if 2018 is going to be THE year, just like 2008 wasn’t the year of streaming, but important foundations were laid by players such as Spotify and Soundcloud.

And that brings me to the last topic. Soundcloud. Creators are frustrated with it and are exploring other means to connect to fans. One successful medium for this is Instagram which will continue to grow in importance. But there are more gaps. Tech is changing and so is the online media culture. In 2008 it was necessary to provide light weight experiences, but now the web is video driven and everyone has a device with 2 cameras in their pocket. Producers are making tracks on Garage Band on their iPhones and then demoing the track via Snapchat and Instagram stories instead of uploading a snippet to audio platforms.

If 2017 was not already it, 2018 is going to be the year of video. It will provide musicians with a handy tool to deal with new challenges since 2018 will also be the year of the smart speaker.

Try new things. Push the new tech to its limits. When you find something you enjoy and that works well: focus on it.

Have a good end of year!

Bas

Free competes with paid and abundant competes with scarce

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

Facebook recently launched a sound library including tracks you can use for free on videos. People criticized the concept in a music business discussion group (also on Facebook, ironically). I would hear the same rhetoric that people have when they say bands shouldn’t perform for free, because it’s not just a bad practice, it is also bad for your peers.

But let’s look at the reality that people in music are complaining about.

1. There are many different types of artists

There are always going to be people who find it awesome to see their music used by other people: even if they don’t get any money for it. They may be college students who are just happy to see their music travel. They may be people working full time jobs who do a little music on the side and don’t depend on the income. They may be professional producers who put out these tracks to libraries as a type of calling card.

Either way: there is always going to be free music and you will always have to compete with it.

2. Giving your music away for free can actually work

You have to have a monetization strategy at the end of this, but the easiest way to win attention online is to make great ‘content’ (in this case music). This content should be available with as few barriers as possible: which means making sure it’s available for free. The second part of your strategy should include steps on 1) how to hold people’s attention after you capture it, and 2) how to identify opportunities to monetize your fanbase (I wrote about it in detail in this thesis).

But sometimes you don’t need a strategy for monetization. It’s not easy to get signed to big labels nowadays and it usually requires you to show that you can build up your own audience. One of my favourite examples of someone who successfully leveraged free is Alan Walker. An EDM artist with tracks that have more plays than some of the most popular tracks from stars like Kendrick Lamar. How? He released his somewhat odd music through NoCopyrightSounds, which specialised in providing YouTubers and Twitch streamers with music they could use for free, without fear that their videos would get taken down. Eventually, they soundtracked the whole subculture and put a new sound in EDM on the map (read more).

3. AI is going to one up everyone

We are seeing amazing developments in AI. The most recent example is Google DeepMind‘s AlphaZero, which beat the world’s best bot in chess after spending just 4 hours practicing. Startups from Jukedeck, to Amper, to Popgun, to Scored are all trying to make music generation easier.

We already see more music being released than ever before, but so far it has still depended on human output. Through AI, music is already being untethered from human productivity. Standing out in abundance is a minuscule problem compared to what it will be 5 years from now.

Free music libraries are the least of your problem

There is no singular music business or industry. Everyone is playing by different rules and all those rules will be upended every time there’s a big shift in technology. From the record player, to the music video, to the internet, to AI and blockchain, music is the canary in the coal mine and you have to have a pioneer mentality or else you are falling behind every day.

The people who are one step ahead may be underground today, but some are the stars of tomorrow.

By all means, let us discuss the ethics. But be careful not to let your opposition blind you to the point where you cannot see how a new generation of music is thriving and leaving you behind. Because then it’s too late. For you.

How I got over a quarter million plays on my Soundcloud

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

Building up a following as a DJ in the social web’s early days: a how-to for time travellers. 💫

Back when I was in college, my friend and I would go to a lot of parties. We also used to rap in a band together. Up until then, I had always been writing a lot of lyrics and would visit every hiphop gig in my city. When there was nothing better on, we’d go to student parties in a local club that gathered around 800 people every week, and in between dancing and chatting, we’d be rapping our lyrics over the beats of popular songs.

Then one day we stumbled upon the drum ‘n bass scene (with regular parties in my hometown being hosted by the renowned Black Sun Empire). I always thought electronic music was not for me, but it changed the way I looked at electronic music. Instead of trying to make beats on FL Studio, I started playing around with making electronic music. Then, one day, I stumbled upon a simpler tool that allowed me to mix tracks together. It carried the tacky name Mixmeister, but it is still my all-time favourite tool for making mixes from the comfort of (what was then) my bedroom.

I still wish a company like Native Instruments or Ableton would buy this firm, and release a better and renewed version of their software that hasn’t worked on my Mac for years. But I digress.

Up until then, I had been writing lyrics. Lots of them. Daily. I was involved in the “textcee” scene, which is how people participated in online rap back when it was still a little tricky to record and upload tracks. I participated in battles, topical challenges, wrote about complex (and often silly) subject matter, and really got my creativity out — all in text format. It was easy to distribute, light-weight, and it had its communities and forums.

Pre-Soundcloud

For DJs, it was harder. Bandwidth was not great, and back in 2006 or so, when I started, there were no good online communities. There was no Soundcloud, there was no Mixcloud, and YouTube only allowed videos of up to 10 minutes. My tools of choice, for hosting DJ sets, were YouSendIt, uploaded.to and MegaUpload. They were iffy and you always had to monitor that your files were not taken down, but they would do.

I thought a lot about the format. I never mixed over 80 minutes, because I wanted to make sure that fans (if I had any, and it was hard to tell pre-Facebook & Twitter) would be able to burn it to CDs and listen to it from their cars or home stereos.

I would write detailed information about my tracklists, for a number of reasons:

  1. It’s only fair that the creators of the music get acknowledged – especially since I was sharing their music without permission;
  2. If one of my listeners liked a track, I wanted them to be able to know what it was (there was no such thing as Shazam);
  3. I put detailed time markings, so that people would be able to identify the transitions and the amount of work I’d put into blending tracks together.

I would post them to the forums where I was already going (as well as my MySpace), where I already had my fans because of my texts, together with the links. Here’s an example of such a tracklist:

Then I started a blog on Blogspot to post all the mixes. People would subscribe via RSS and get the posts through their RSS reader. I even added a way to get email updates when the RSS feed would be updated, by using a popular tool at the time called FeedBurner. When posting my mixes to forums, I would also always include download links but also a link to the blogpost, so I could build up my followers there, too.

I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was doing really helped with SEO. If people were Googling those tracks, they’d often find my blog, because not everything was on YouTube, today’s major streaming platforms were non-existent, and the underground was not represented well on iTunes. By sharing my mixes everywhere, I was also generating a lot of backlinks. I was publishing multiple mixes per month. Throughout 2007 I published as many as 35.

Then Soundcloud arrived on the scene

I’m not sure how or when I discovered Soundcloud, but it must have been in its early days back in 2008. I managed to register my first name as my username, which I have held on to ever since, despite people trying to hack my account and even being hit by a trademark claim by an American rapper (after I rejected offers to buy it).

This is where things really started taking off. Now I was able to collect streams instead of downloads. It was so incredibly convenient. No wonder DJs flocked to the platform. All fans had to do now was hit play, but the option to download and listen in high quality was there too. On top of all that, I was able to timestamp my mixes in a much more interesting way: by commenting the tracks.

Something else happened too. By tagging my mixes, it was possible for others to find my work. And by browsing tags, I was able to find other DJs. This was a first. Never before had there been as big a community of DJs. Never before had it been so easy to connect to others. Never before had it been so easy for producers and DJs to connect from the comfort of their bedrooms.

I started listening to other DJs. Commenting everywhere. I continued the same strategy of tracklists and tagging, which maybe also helped my SEO on Soundcloud. But I also didn’t give up on my website until many years later when Facebook was more established and it was getting hard to get people to visit websites. Owning your audience was important, and I always knew this. I needed to have my own place to keep the people who are interested in what I do connected to me.

Then in 2009, Soundcloud changed the rules of the game for DJs.

The first big DJ revolt on Soundcloud

When Soundcloud started, they allowed everyone to upload 4 tracks every month. Tracks could be of any length, or at least long enough to fit a DJ set, but if you wanted to upload more than 4 in a month, you would have to get a paid account. This was great for DJs, but it didn’t last.

In October 2009, Soundcloud switched over to a model with a maximum amount of minutes per account. Even if you’d upgrade to the most expensive monthly package there was no way to get rid of the maximum. It caused an uproar (link to discussion with participation of the founders – but layout is messed up, because it’s a cached page). I participated and tried to be understanding. The model made sense for producers, who were more likely to spend money on Soundcloud. It sucked for DJs though. I wanted DJs to think about what kind of model would allow for Soundcloud to monetize them and very actively participated in the discussion.

The people who participated in that discussion got lucky, and it’s really a token of how user-centric Soundcloud was in those days. A link was shared with the participants, where they could list their accounts, and they were given 30 extra hours. For me, that was about 30 extra DJ sets and it has lasted me to this day (I never matched my 2007 streak) — and I should have probably mentioned this in my ‘Benefits of Being an Early Adopter‘ piece. And props to David Noel, who was Soundcloud’s community lead. The email exchanges (and exchanges on Soundcloud’s support community) that I had with him stuck with me. I was writing my thesis at the time and when I graduated and got into music startups those exchanges were a big inspiration for my early career.

Life goes on

As Soundcloud grew into the giant it is today, I grew along with it. My taste grew, my following grew, my tactics and strategies evolved, and I saw new genres flourish on Soundcloud, such as moombahton.

Before all the download-gate bullshit, that make you jump through hoops, follow random accounts, like Facebook Pages, etc., it was pretty convenient to get free downloads from Soundcloud. I actually set up an IFTTT script that would automatically download tracks I favourited to my Dropbox. This way I could discover new music while I was working at Zvooq by day, in passive mode, and then by night play around with the files in my mixes.

I participated actively in the new, emerging online scenes. Commenting on tracks and connecting to amazing new talent emerging from the internet, rather than from a particular network of DJs. This got me a lot of listeners. I started making mixes in which all tracks were available to download for free. This had value in different ways:

  1. I knew for sure that all DJs would be ok with me uploading this;
  2. People would listen to them, because they knew they can find and quickly download new tracks through there;
  3. I would link to all the tracks and afterwards comment on them to let people know I had featured their work. Sometimes they would share my music on their social media (this is before the repost function on SC).

If you’re not communicating your music this way, if you’re not networking with your inspirations, you’re not doing it right. This is probably how I got most of my plays from 2012 to now. Tactics and landscapes change, but some principles are true forever. Participate!

Other tactics not listed above:

  • Make playlists on 8tracks with the tracks of my mixes in order to promote my mix;
  • Try to win followers via social listening platforms like turntable.fm;
  • Make short mixes and post them on YouTube in order to find new audiences;
  • Facebook & Twitter accounts through where I would connect to segments of my audience.

My demise as a net-DJ

Then things got harder. It wasn’t any particular issue, but a lot of factors combined to halt me.

I switched to a Traktor S4 controller with Traktor software, so now I had to do all my mixes live. I’m a perfectionist, so this decreased my output. Digging also got harder: the communal nature of Soundcloud changed and a lot of DJs stopped offering their tracks as downloads (even when they’re not selling them). Others would put their stuff behind download gates, which just made it a pain in the ass to collect tracks and way more time-consuming. This also decreased my output.

As the number of mixes I put out decreased, so did the growth of my followers and my exposure to my audiences that were not directly connected to me. Followers ‘churn’ even when they stay part of your follower count. This means that followers go inactive on the platform they follow you on, so the follower count no longer translates to playback or other forms of engagement. This doesn’t matter so much when you’re new, but if you’re working on something for over a decade, it matters.

All of this compounded. It’s been about 5 years since I had a mix that got ~5k plays. And 8 years for 15k. But the lesson here is: to rack up following & plays, you can get lucky with a hit or just be insanely productive.

I’m at peace with what happened and now that I’m in Berlin, with talented friends as producers, plus friends in companies like Ableton and Native Instruments, I’m slowly getting back into DJing and producing. I haven’t put out a track in a decade, and no mix in 2 years, but I’m surrounded by the right people to get back into it… and do things right with all the experience I’ve collected plus that surrounds me. (if I actually end up having enough time — the irony of working in music)

Key takeaways

If I had to distill this into key lessons (and I do, because I owe it to you after reading 2000 words), these would be my main takeaways:

  • GET THERE EARLY. I got really lucky with being early to Soundcloud, but it also helped that what I was doing back then was not as common as it is now. Stay on top of developments in sounds and genres, and be slightly ahead of the curve, so you can shine a spotlight on up & coming talent. It will pay off when someone blows up.
  • BUILD YOUR FOLLOWING. Don’t trust in platforms: own your following. Connect them to your presence in many places, get their email addresses. Make sure your following is loyal, build trust, be consistent. If you’re slightly ahead of the curve, they know they’ll always discover new artists through you.
  • ALWAYS CREDIT PEOPLE. Scenes are small. Help each other. If you play someone’s music: list it. Don’t have time to provide a tracklist? Then you don’t have time to be a DJ. Sorry.
  • BE HELPFUL. This is connected to crediting: help people to understand the music they’re listening to. They’ll connect to you for this.
  • BE CONSISTENT & PRODUCTIVE. My best days were when I was a student. I don’t know how I found the time in between college and 12-20 hours of side jobs per week, but often I’d get home and get to mixing. I’d be doing stuff with music almost every spare minute. That’s the only type of dedication that really works.

I’ve had my run. Maybe I’ll do it again, but in a different way. I still like DJing, but prefer to do it live now. Besides, I have other ways to enjoy music now, such as my day job at IDAGIO, as well as MUSIC x TECH x FUTURE.

But to the generation that’s out there, on the cyber highways, hustling: best of luck & I hope this piece helps you.

The Chris Brown problem on Spotify

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

How do we deal with bad players in music when every listen translates to payment?

For a few weeks in a row now, Chris Brown has appeared in my Spotify Release Radar. I’m not sure why, because I don’t follow him, nor do I really listen to similar music, but that’s a different topic.

The issue I have is: I do not want my streams to put money into the pockets of abusers (Chris Brown has a history of violence towards women, and victim-blaming). So that means I can’t really listen to my Release Radar in the background, or most curated playlists for that matter, because I want to make sure Spotify never plays those tracks to me.

I’m singling out Spotify here, because I’m an avid user: basically all streaming services have this problem. I’ve made the case for a global ban button for particular artists before, when I wrote about the Moby problem on Spotify. Basically, in curated environments, it would be nice to give some control back to the user and let them blacklist certain artists they’re not comfortable with.

Not only would this give listeners a more manageable overall experience, but it would also allow people to immediately make sure their money doesn’t go to abusers (and in the aftermath of the Weinstein fallout, surely Hollywood’s revelations will start spreading to the music business too).

But there’s another issue: in the streaming era, how do we listen to controversial artists without sending money their way?

For example, some brutal details around rapper XXXTentacion came out a while ago. He comes across as an abusive monster, and regularly gets into fights with fans. Yet, he’s still very popular. I’m curious why – is the music that good? I opened Spotify to check him out, but stopped myself from hitting the playback button, being aware that listening means money will go towards him (or his label, and seriously, they should do a Netflix and drop this dude + donate profits to causes that help victims / survivors of abuse).

But the ‘Chris Brown problem’ is that dudes like this keep being put into popular playlists, keep appearing in users’ personal playlists through algorithm recommendations. As listeners, we need a way to shield ourselves, and prevent our money from going into the pockets of these people.

If Spotify and other services are serious about their passive ‘lean back’ experience: give us a blacklist button. Let us ban Chris Brown.

Meanwhile one Reddit user has a suggestion for when artists you like collaborate with such people (which I’m sure a lot of readers won’t like):

Comment from discussion Snoop Dogg's new album cover features him standing over Trump's dead body.

What the End of the App Era Means for the Music Business

Posted on | by Bas Grasmayer

The average smartphone user downloads less than 1 app per month, according to comScore. The era of apps is ending, and we’re moving in an era of artificial intelligence interacting with us through messaging apps, chatbots, voice-controlled interfaces, and smart devices.

What happens to music in this context? How do you make sure your music stands out? How do you communicate your brand when the interface goes from visual to conversational? And what strategic opportunities and challenges does the conversational interface present to streaming services?