Collab Capital Invests In The Future Of Music Licensing
While recently watching ‘The Best Man Holiday,’ the water works began as soon as Anthony Hamilton and Marsha Ambrosius started singing Stevie Wonder’s hit song “As.” The way they used that song to shift from the last physical embrace of the couple into the eulogy and homegoing for Mia was pure mastery. Now take a moment and think about your favorite movie or TV show. Think about how it made you feel as you watched. Whether it’s getting you teary-eyed about a romance like me or making your heart pump in an action thriller, 9 times out of 10 that emotion was elicited through music.
I’ve always had an appreciation for the critical role music plays in movies and TV shows. In fact, production companies spend $1–2 billion /year licensing music to help bring their stories to life through sound. However, I didn’t know how painstaking the process is to get those licenses. That is until I met Jarrett and Bryson, founders of Music Tech Works in 2018. Though their product was very early at the time, Jarrett’s experience and knowledge of how the music industry works kept me engaged. I was excited to learn more about the challenges in music licensing and what ideas Jarrett and Bryson had to solve them. Currently, performing rights organizations use a variety of proprietary tools including spreadsheets, custom applications and ill fitting project management software to manage hundreds of requests for commercial licenses. The closed networks of record labels and publishers can be challenging to navigate for those seeking to locate or discover music to license for commercial purposes. Concurrently, music license seekers are faced with high barriers of access and decentralized data, making it hard to find the right information to engage a rightsholder. These inefficiencies result in lost time for seekers and potentially millions in lost revenue for rights holders.
Over the last two years we have watched their growth from an idea to a viable solution for the music licensing industry, and today we are excited to announce our investment into Music Tech Works (MTW). They are tackling a very specific problem for a large evergreen market by replacing antiquated processes with an easy to use software solution. They have also normalized and cleansed 60 million records to create one of the largest rights holder indexes in the World — we couldn’t pass on this investment. This extensive database will give MTW a considerable head start on any new market entrants, while providing the best source of data and utility to customers. With our investment they will continue to grow this database, build the team, add functionality to their product.
At Collab Capital, we do not stop with the financial investment. We also pair our portfolio companies with ‘Growth Partners’ who are industry experts that have the experience and networks to help scale these companies efficiently and effectively. We are excited to announce that Music Tech Works will be working with Tirrell D. Whitley, media executive and multicultural marketing leader and expert, well known for his agency LIQUID SOUL. Tirrell will work as a trusted advisor and resource to MTW in fostering connections and relationships that will further support in finalizing larger partnerships within the entertainment industry.
This is our second investment on our road to disrupting the wealth gap by supporting incredible Black founders who are building innovative companies. If you are interested in learning more about Collab Capital and excited about our investment in Music Tech Works, be sure to follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter.
Barry Givens
Managing Partner, Collab Capital
