BeatBread names artists advocacy council

The council will be steered by music professionals comprising Artist Partner Group’s Mike Caren and label owner and founding member of the alternative rock band The Presidents of the United States of America Dave Dederer, among others.

BeatBread says the council will meet regularly to discuss new plans for the funding platform. The team will also share knowledge and advice with the company’s CEO Peter Sinclair and other executives.

“We are honoured that some of the leading artist advocates working today have signed on to help the BeatBread team provide more artists with greater access to capital and more leverage in the new music industry,” Sinclair said. “BeatBread’s core mission is artist empowerment. The experience, insights, and advice of this amazing group will help us further develop industry leading funding products that place control and power where it belongs, in the hands of artists and creators.”

BeatBread also announced a partnership with UK body the Featured Artists Coalition to launch a series of workshops, round tables and other events for its members.

Last month, the funding company bolstered its senior leadership team by naming Melissa Holloway as vice-president head of product, and Joseph Wirija as vice-president head of finance. Both executives report to Sinclair.

BeatBread partnered with UnitedMasters in August last year to offer eligible independent artists cash advances ranging from $1 000 to $1m based on artists’ streaming and social data. BeatBread says advances are repaid from streaming and airplay revenues over a period determined by the artist. Repayments do not touch other revenue streams like touring, publishing, synch and merchandise.

At the time, Sinclair said: “Our mission is to empower independent musicians by expanding access to capital in a way that doesn’t sacrifice artist ownership or choice. In the legacy music industry, artists were forced to sacrifice control of their career and their masters to access growth capital.”

BeatBread, which was launched in November 2020, has also struck deals with Symphonic Distribution, Horus Music and Indie Amplify. The platform said it had already made hundreds of advances to artists and labels in six continents to date.