Direct-to-consumer music platform EVEN officially launched

Founded in 2022, the platform is the brainchild of American music industry professional Mag Rodriguez and aims to empower both artists and fans to support each other financially.

“I set out to build EVEN to fill a need for both artists and fans,” Rodriguez said. “Artists want to own the relationship with their fans and fans want direct proximity to their favourite artist. EVEN is designed to grow the music industry’s pie. With EVEN, artists have the opportunity to sell their music first, directly to their fans before its wide release on streaming platforms. It’s not EVEN or streaming platforms, it’s EVEN and streaming platforms. With this launch, EVEN continues to fulfil this proposition. I couldn’t be prouder of our team and all of our artist, label and distributor partners.” 

EVEN’s latest announcement, arriving alongside the release of a mobile app, also makes the company the first superfan app to count sales towards Billboard charting, with sales being directly reported to data compiling company Luminate. A key feature on the platform is Fan Connect, which enables artists to directly engage with their audience, announcing new releases, merch, exclusive content and more.

EVEN has also currently onboarded over 10 000 artists, including French Montana, Omarion, Hit-Boy and Jidenna, and plans to include an additional 3 million in its distribution and label network by the third quarter of the year. 

EVEN supports global payments in over 135 currencies. In January, Ghanaian rapper Kwesi Arthur, one of the first African artists to join the platform, launched his This Is Not the Tape III collection exclusively on EVEN before distributing it across other digital streaming platforms. Months later, speaking on Accra-based 3Music TV, the musician expressed surprise at the project’s success on the platform, despite the limited popularity of payment options like credit cards across Africa.

EVEN will compete with platforms like Weverse, developed by South Korean entertainment company HYBE.

Speaking at the Web Summit Qatar in February, Warner Music’s Robert Kyncl disclosed his outfit’s plans to capitalise on the superfan opportunity, stressing that major labels, due to their scale and global reach, are best positioned to assist artists in harnessing upcoming digital opportunities.