*Larry Page used to be a drummer.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/15/united-masters/
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Stoute explains that the plan is to “Look at music like gaming. You monetize the game to all the people who are most engaged. I wanted to bring that theory and thinking to music.” It’s off those whales, those super fans, where musicians make a lot of their money. And finally someone built a way to deliver ads for what artists do sell to people who’ve listened to their album 50 times for almost nothing.
Stoute had already been working on an ad agency for culture makers called Translation since 2004, and the company will join UnitedMasters as part of Translation Enterprises. Beyond musicians, UnitedMasters will also work with brands looking to advertise to specific segments of listeners. For example, it could assist alcohol magnate Diageo to market its Puff Daddy-affiliated vodka Cîroc to the rapper’s fans.
The startup world’s biggest rap fan Ben Horowitz is so smitten with the idea that he’s joining the board of UnitedMasters. “Steve thought: What if there were a platform that instantly enabled musical artists to market themselves globally as effectively as the top technology companies market to their customers?” Horowitz wrote in a now-published blog post shared with TechCrunch. “Such a platform would free musicians from dependencies on the old model while increasing their income tenfold. It would create unprecedented intimacy between artists and fans, while making artists truly independent.”
It was Larry Page himself that pushed Alphabet to lead the startup’s $70 million Series A. “People don’t know Larry was actually a drummer. He has a deep sensitivity for the artist” says Stoute. Page was stunned that musicians couldn’t keep track of the fans that bring in the most cash and retarget them. So Page worked with Google’s Corp Dev leader David Drummond, a former radio DJ, to invest all the cash UnitedMasters needed....
