{"id":17752,"date":"2023-10-17T14:00:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/can-steve-stoutes-unitedmasters-produce-another-record-label-success\/"},"modified":"2023-10-17T14:00:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T14:00:25","slug":"can-steve-stoutes-unitedmasters-produce-another-record-label-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=17752","title":{"rendered":"Can Steve Stoute\u2019s UnitedMasters Produce Another Record-Label Success?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The software maker, with investors including Alphabet, Apple and Andreessen Horowitz, allows musicians to upload to streaming services.<\/h2>\n

S<\/abbr>tick to your knitting.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the warm advice you expect from Grandmom, not Jimmy Iovine, the famous record label entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. Yet, UnitedMasters CEO Steve Stoute lives by Iovine\u2019s words and explains it like this: Go to Grandmom\u2019s house on a Sunday afternoon and catch her starting to knit \u2014 return weeks later, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ll discover a masterpiece or at least something that will keep you warm. But knitting is delicate and takes attention to detail and the ability to avoid distraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what entrepreneurs have to do when they build their business,\u201d Stoute tells Forbes.<\/em> If you take your eyes off the goal and start to chase \u201cspeed things\u201d \u2014 such as social media attention \u2014 \u201cbecause you don\u2019t want to miss out, then you\u2019re not knitting anymore. You\u2019re looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hip-hop is celebrating 50 years of knitting legendary music and replacing rock-and-roll as the top genre. Along the way, the culture produced entrepreneurs like Def Jam Records cofounder Russell Simmons, Andre \u201cDr. Dre\u201d Young and Shawn \u201cJay-Z\u201d Carter.<\/p>\n

Stoute, 53, wants to replicate their success and build on his own.<\/p>\n

Have you ever heard the theme song to Fox\u2019s 1992 hip-hop-inspired sitcom, Martin<\/em>? (If not, here\u2019s <\/u>the link<\/u>.) Stoute once represented the song\u2019s creator, Steve Keitt. That sparked his three-decade career in music and marketing, including time at Interscope Records and Sony Music, managing stars Kid \u2018n Play, Mary J. Blige and Nas. In 2004, Stoute started the creative agency Translation, sold the venture three years later for <\/u>nearly $15 million<\/u>, then repurchased the company.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Stoute launched UnitedMasters, a software maker that he calls \u201ca record label in your pocket.\u201d It allows artists to upload music that gets distributed to streaming platforms Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. UnitedMasters receives a percentage of streaming royalties while artists keep rights to original recordings, or \u201cmasters.\u201d Competitors in the digital record-label sector include <\/u>Brooklyn-based TuneCore<\/u>, <\/u>owned by French company Believe. In 2020, TuneCore reported it was paying artists $1.2 million<\/u> <\/u>per day.<\/p>\n

UnitedMasters has raised a total of <\/u>$170 million<\/u> and employs over 200 people. The company says it has over 1.9 million independent artists using the platform, and investors include Google’s parent company, Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz and Apple.<\/p>\n

Stoute has said that UnitedMasters would break even this year. However, the company didn\u2019t elaborate when asked specifically about revenue and how much it\u2019s paid artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re walking and about to run,\u201d says Stoute. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lot. We\u2019ve had a lot of successes and failures.\u201d<\/p>\n

UnitedMasters does have a mobile app for artists to upload music and says it collects consumption data, allowing individuals to market to potential superfans. However, previous complaints<\/u> <\/u>in the Apple store comment sections indicate errors in uploading music and lack of payment transparency. Stoute suggests the issues are resolved after UnitedMasters spent $100 million on technology infrastructure and hiring engineers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure is on,\u201d Stoute says. He says marketplace conditions favor UnitedMasters, as up-and-coming stars remain independent and avoid the tangle of record contracts. \u201cThe adoption of being independent and owning your masters is set,\u201d says Stoute. \u201cThat\u2019s now the new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the video to hear Stoute\u2019s vision for UnitedMasters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

MORE FROM FORBES<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The software maker, with investors including Alphabet, Apple and Andreessen Horowitz, allows musicians to upload to streaming services. Stick to your knitting. It\u2019s the warm advice you expect from Grandmom, not Jimmy Iovine, the famous record label entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. Yet, UnitedMasters CEO Steve Stoute lives by Iovine\u2019s words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\nCan Steve Stoute\u2019s UnitedMasters Produce Another Record-Label Success? | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The software maker, with investors including Alphabet, Apple and Andreessen Horowitz, allows musicians to upload to streaming services. 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