Apple Investing In UnitedMasters

• Apple Inc. is investing $50 million in UnitedMasters, a four-year-old artist-services company that helps musicians distribute and market their music while allowing them to keep their copyrights. Bloomberg reports that UnitedMasters recently raised $50 million in its Series B funding round, valuing the business at $350 million. Alphabet Inc. and Andreessen Horowitz, which invested in UnitedMasters in 2017, are also participating in the round.

UnitedMasters was launched four years ago (with $70 million in Silicon Valley backing) by former label exec and artist manager Steve Stoute, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, was formerly President of Urban Music at Sony Music and Interscope Geffen A&M. UnitedMasters is described as “an alternative to the traditional major label system, which typically requires artists to give up the rights to their music in exchange for an advance, distribution, marketing and promotion. Artists choose to pay a $5 monthly subscription fee or give a 10% take to UnitedMasters, and retain ownership of their music.”

“We’ve always been about trying to help artists and the best way to empower them is to make it easy for them to create and get their music out there,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of services. “We want artists to be focused on creating the best music on the planet. That’s their art and skill and it’s hard to have to be the marketing person and the finance person and the salesperson and do all these things when you’re starting out.” In an interview, Stoute said, “I know it’s David and Goliath, but artists signed to a major label shouldn’t have an advantage over artists that choose to go independent.” Steve Stoute discusses the Apple deal and a lot more in an in-depth conversation with The Breakfast Club, posted online.