Creative platform EVENwhich allows artists to sell music directly to fans, said it has closed a $2.2 million seed round led by CSA Partners.
The platform positions itself as the first stop before artists release music on streaming platforms. In return, fans get access to exclusive content and experiences. The company’s CEO and founder, Mag Rodriguez, says he started building the platform last February as a way to help black and brown artists preserve their creative work.
Rodriguez said EVEN is trying to address other pain points artists have today, such as getting compensated or properly credited, by making it easy for them to connect with their fanbase, allowing fans to support artists and avoid paying fees to reseller platforms .
One of the biggest problems is that black and brown artists are often not properly credited as the source for many mainstream trends. This situation is worse for artists dealing with streaming platforms, some of them have been accused of not properly compensating one of their performers in a fair manner.
It has become for fans increasingly expensive to support their favorite artists. For example, concert tickets go to resellers who then raise the price, or opportunities only go to exclusive credit card members instead of someone within the artist’s core fan base. All of this often leaves out black, brown, and other fans from marginalized communities who can’t afford resale tickets or qualify for expensive, exclusive opportunities.
“Some of the biggest artists in the world are black and brown, but the companies that serve them are not run by people who look like them, hence this big problem of artists not getting paid enough or on a daily basis,” Rodriguez added.
Rodriguez says the company plans to use the seed money for hiring and growing the business. The platform, which is currently in beta, is currently free and ad-free and generates revenue by charging transaction fees. EVEN is built on the blockchain to provide more transparency regarding such transactions.
The company plans to work with artists like French Montana and experiment with products such as a chat feature that allows artists and fans to communicate. EVEN hopes to launch later this year with over 600 artists; Rodriguez said the waiting list of those wanting to join the platform is currently above 4,000.
A 10-year veteran of the music industry, Rodriguez was introduced to the tech world after helping to create an arts program for the gener8tor, a startup accelerator in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2018. As that program grew in popularity, he was introduced to investors involved in the accelerator, who then introduced him to others who helped him secure seed funding.
He is now part of a lofty club: Less than 5% of all venture capital funding goes to Latino founders each year. Since fund managers are also woefully underrepresented (less than 5% of VCs are Latino) Rodriguez said that when compiling his cap table, he made sure to include several fund managers, such as Raquel Filmanowicz, who identifies as Latino and is the founder and managing partner of VC 414.
Speaking to businesskinda.com, Filmanowicz said Rodriguez’s “creative and innovative approach to solving a tricky problem in the music industry” made him “exactly the type of entrepreneur VC 414” looks back on. “We are impressed with EVEN’s early traction and extremely proud to be an early investor in EVEN Labs.”
Other investors in the round include gANGELS, gener8tor and angel investors Daniel Rotman, Adie Akuffo-Afful and Ogo.
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