Musicians have a need to perform, whether it’s a subway platform or a stage. But they also need money to create their art. Street musicians get tips. But what if you allowed more people to view the performances beyond who are in front of the musicians at that moment?
appLOUD is a new startup with a clever new app. Think of it as an instagram video feed of live music only, no food shots, baby shots, or selfies, and which creates a micro-crowdfunding platform aimed at the mobile generation.
Content is uploaded by fans who witness great live music and they can tag the twitter handles of the artists featured. Within 10 seconds a fan can help the artist make money by sharing their videos. Once the twitter handles are tagged, the app automatically adds links to tip the artist (or their favourite charity), buy tickets to their next show, or buy their music.
Crowd funding platforms can help artists raise money (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, pledge music, patron) but they are made for desktop audiences and require a lot of work. Plus 50% of Kickstarter campaigns do not reach their goal. These platforms are not optimised for the mobile generation or for immediacy. appLOUD is.
A $1 tip on appLOUD provides money to the artist than several hundred streams on Spotify or YouTube. appLOUD then collects 10% of the tips and affiliate fees towards music and ticket sales. Eventually, they think venues and promoters will pay a subscription fee to access their data. If you are a bar in Barcelona, you may want to know which artists your locals are listening to so you can fill the empty nights at your bar.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Cecilia Pagkalinawan , the startup has raised only a small Angel round. Her previous startup was StyleTrek.
appLOUD has raised $130,000 in seed funding from angels Victor Alvarez (Alvarez & Marsal), David Freschman (Fashinvest, ARCangel Fund) Mike Walsh and Structure Capital (investors in Uber, Salesforce, Tesla). It also has advisors with track records in music such as Elissa Coughlin formerly from Shazam, Jeanne Meyer formerly from EMI and is on the board of the Grammy Foundation, Nelson George music critic/film director/author, Maurice Bernstein from Giant Step (has worked with Amy Winehouse to Q-tip), Binta Brown M&A and IPO lawyer, Rob Scott who manages artists(co-founded Robot Heart and managed Scumfrog).
Pagkalinawan did a lot of research to figure out the app, meeting with musicians, managers, labels and venues to really understand what was lacking and needed from the emerging music scene, especially near her home area of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where there are many new music venues.
CTO/Cofounder Adam Bellmore joined in March and our the Chief Creative is brother Jovito Pagkalinawan who joined in June.
