beatBread inks $100m deal to ‘empower’ artists

beatBread announced that it intends to use the “acquired financial firepower to bankroll the careers of emerging professionals and to offer multi-million dollar deals to some of the world’s biggest artists.”

Its execs added that the advances are issued in part based on applicants’ presence on streaming platforms.

beatBread also disclosed Tuesday that it has paid “more than 500 artists and labels across multiple genres, six continents, and a broad range of career stages.”

The company added that while the size of beatBread’s advances ranges from $1 000 to $2m, October had brought with it the rollout of an exclusive invite-only investor network consisting of music companies and distributors as well as “high net worth individuals”.

“This investor network, for its part, can approve even larger advances than those issued via beatBread itself, with an overarching goal of equipping independent labels and distributors with the financial capacity to compete for major artist deals,” beatBread said.

beatBread’s co-founder and CEO, Peter Sinclair, said their business objective is to provide indie labels and artists better economic terms and the freedom to choose their own partners and maintain creative control.

“Our initial artist fund powered more than five hundred advances to artists and independent labels, keeping ownership in the hands of artists and creators,” Sinclair said. “Now we’re scaling our capital sources to fund the next 1 000 deals, and expanding the size of our advances in the process.

“Major label deals are no longer the only option for artists seeking to fund their careers. Our mission is to empower artists and independent labels with better economic terms and the freedom to choose their own partners and maintain creative control.”

In June, the company sealed a seven-figure deal with ‘Middle of the Night’ singer Elley Duhe who has hit more than 633 million streams on Spotify. About nine months ago, the two-year-old company also closed a $34 million seed round.