Last Monday, I discovered Boston-based indie musician Walter the Producer. His music isn't on any of the playlists I follow, and he has less than 150,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. If I hadn't searched for his songs on Shazam when I was at a brewery in Phoenix, 3,000 miles from home, I probably wouldn't have found him.
Finding new music has become a kind of game. Producer Walter also makes fun of this. His Spotify artist profile simply says, “If you make me a gatekeeper, I'll hunt you down.” Artists with deep pockets have always had an advantage over independent musicians when it comes to promotion. But changes to Spotify's algorithm, the rise of viral songs on TikTok, and changes in strategy at the likes of Pitchfork and Rolling Stone have made that significantly more difficult.
Creating music has never been easier. This dynamic inspired Groover's founders. The Paris-based startup was founded in 2018 as a platform to help independent artists promote themselves. You can submit your music to individual curators who can give feedback and spread the word about what they think is good music. Groover co-founder and CEO Roman Palmieri said he and his two co-founders founded the company to solve promotional problems they encountered in their respective music careers.
“It’s great that independent artists now have access to more music production and can generate more creativity, but the main challenge for artists is how to It’s about promoting your music, getting it heard by the right people, and getting the right curation by the right people,” Palmieri said. He said. “We wanted to create something that could solve this.”
Groover just raised $8 million in a Series A round led by OneRagtime, Techmind, Trind, and Mozza Angels. Palmieri said the company will use the funding to continue its expansion into the United States, already its largest market, and add new features for artists, such as coaching and promotional resources.
This company's business model is outstanding. His 3,000 and growing music curators on Groover set their own prices, and each transaction splits half the funds to the curator and half to his Groover. Palmieri said musicians will receive a refund if a curator doesn't hear the song within seven days, but 90% of requests are answered within that time frame.
While we like the concept of artists having more direct relationships with different curators, we're disappointed that pay-to-play has become the best option for these independent artists. The curators who work with Groover aren't just promoting the music they like, they're promoting the music they're paid to listen to.
but! We also understand that music journalism is shrinking as the number of independent musicians continues to grow rapidly. The solution is good, if not perfect. Given the fact that artists can choose who they work with at Groover, that outreach is relatively cheap, and that response rates are fairly high, this appears to be the most artist-friendly approach without promotion objectives. It seems to me.
Palmieri added that the majority of independent artists don't have better or more cost-effective options. They either relentlessly market their music publications or pay for PR with immense potential for attention, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee further success.
The system is also more effective for music curators, Palmieri said. And we often have a hard time finding diamonds in the rough in an ever-growing sea of new music. Groover's system helps you get paid directly for your work while making your job a little easier.
As a listener, it's become significantly harder to find new music, so I'm glad someone is working on solving this problem. I've seen numerous tweets and had multiple conversations with friends that show how this issue is felt across the board. She's the only person who still posts in the pretentiously named Music Aficionados Facebook group that my friends and I started in high school to share new music.
Groover isn't the only startup looking to help small musicians. GigFinesse is another startup that helps both musicians and venues book gigs more efficiently with a more streamlined booking and payment system.
As much as I love Groover, I loved GigFinesse. That said, I like startups that offer clear solutions on both sides of the table. Both of these startups are helping artists, but they're also helping people in the industry who need to get artists off the ground. Communities need each other to thrive. Every musician starts somewhere.