Sound aims to become the next iTunes, secures $20 million in funding
Music streaming platform Sound has raised $20m in a Series A funding round led by a16z Crypto, the digital currency-focused arm of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Sound aims to disrupt the music industry by providing a platform that allows artists to earn more from their work, addressing what CEO David Greenstein describes as the “worst power imbalances” in the industry. Artists pay a small fee to upload their songs to the platform, and are then able to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that users can purchase using cryptocurrency. Artists retain control over the quantity and price of their NFTs, and Sound takes a flat fee each time a user mints an NFT. So far, Sound has generated $5.5m in revenue for artists who have uploaded their music as NFTs on the platform. Sound’s team of 16 employees has opened up the platform to all interested musicians, hoping to attract the next big stars. Sound’s funding round follows a seed round of $5m in December 2021, also led by a16z Crypto. Sound investors also include rapper Snoop Dogg, songwriter Ryan Tedder, Palm Tree Crew, A Capital, Sound Ventures, Collab + Currency, and Scalar Capital.
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