There’s an angel investing platform called Indify known by music industry insiders that is connecting emerging artists and record labels with the funding they need to build bigger careers. Artists can use it to build a more profitable music career and investors can use it to connect with emerging artists seeking funding for their next single or album. Launched in 2015 as an artist-discovery platform, Indify grew into an essential tool for music industry talent scouts. Since 2015, Indify’s discovery algorithm has identified artists poised for breakout success. The first artist the company helped to secure funding and resources was Pink Sweat$ (10.5 Million Monthly Listeners on Spotify) and some early Indify finds featured on the platform include Khalid, Post Malone (featured in 2015), and Billie Eilish (featured in 2015 at 13 years old).
This angel investing platform now pairs strategic investors with songs by emerging talent using proprietary data that identifies artists poised for a breakthrough but in need of financial and marketing resources. Investors in the company include Kerry Trainor, the former CEO of SoundCloud and Vimeo; Anthony Saleh, the manager of Nas and Kendrick Lamar; and Courtney Stewart, who manages Khalid through Right Hand Music Group. Josh Feshbach, a partner in artist management and funding company Thrice Cooked Media, and Golden Kids Group Management CEO Nick Mueller are among those who have invested in talent
What we are interested in delving into next is the 50-to-100 tier to see if we can build independent superstars is this alternative route
Shav Garg (Cofounder and CEO of Indify)
What does a typical indify deal look like?
The company has three principles that are core to the platform:
- Artists always keep ownership of their music.
- Artists always keep 50% or more of their music royalties after the initial investment is returned.
- Artists always keep creative control.
Unlike labels, indify does not require acts to sign long-term contracts or give away ownership of their songs. Instead, artists grant their investors a percentage of streaming royalties for the songs — often just one track — and indify takes a 15% cut of the investor’s share of profits after recoupment. Although indify has a relatively low profile, some of the biggest names in finance and music are boosters, including Reddit founder and one of indify’s earliest investors, Alexis Ohanian, who frequently posts praises on the platform backing shock-pop singer Leah Kate. Her song “10 Things I Hate About You” has earned over 43 million Spotify streams since its April 22 release.
Fun Fact
In October 2015, a few months after Matt Privia, CTO of Indify, built the first version of indify (tracking 40,000 new artists at the time), Connor Lawrence, the CEO and COO of Indify alerted his partner Shav Garg about the artist known as Khalid today. Khalid was ranked at No. 55 on the Indify platform at the time. At this time back in 2015 his name was Kai! He was at 60,000 SoundCloud plays and had less than 1,000 followers, but Indify caught on to the fact that he was growing across the platform organically so the founders (Shav Garg and Connor Lawrence) found his contact info and called him. He told them he was 17, living in El Paso, Texas and recording music on his cellphone. He had uploaded his first track to SoundCloud only 25 days prior to them reaching out.
The founders of Indify then helped him get a spot in feature story on the blog Pigeons and Planes along the line of “20 artists that are going to blow up.”After that they went out to Atlanta to meet Khalid and his manager, Courtney Stewart; and changed his artist name back to his real name: Khalid and the rest is history.
Indify is built around a proprietary discovery algorithm that identifies artists poised for breakout success. This technology continues to underscore Indify even as the platform has evolved. Today, Indify operates as a marketplace where artists can connect with investors equipped to support their careers.
Click here to learn more about Indify for artists and investors.
Source: June 4,2022, issue of Billboard