UnitedMasters is an American music distributor based in the United States founded by

Steve Stoute Steve Stoute (born June 26, 1970) is an American businessman and record executive. Stoute is the founder and CEO of the Translation, a marketing agency, and the author of ''The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the ...

in November 2017. UnitedMasters gives artists the ability to distribute music to all major streaming services. Distributed artists are eligible to participate in advertisements, brand partnerships, and other promotions that can earn them money and new fans. UnitedMasters gives artists access to their streaming and social data, this gives them information on how to maximize their fan engagement. The company claims to represent 1 million artists, one of the more notable being rapper NLE Choppa. On February 16, 2023,

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the county seat, parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, E ...

rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again noted that he owns a percentage of the company and has had several talks with

on ''Rap Radar'', a music podcast.

History

Formation

UnitedMasters was launched in November 2017 by Steve Stoute with a $70 million Series A led by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

's corporate umbrella

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alongside venture firm

Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z, legal name AH Capital Management, LLC) is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Andreessen H ...

and

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, fo ...

Music distribution

In 2018, UnitedMasters rolled out the distribution feature on its platform titled Releases. The Releases feature allows artists to upload their music and album artwork and distribute their music to all major streaming services through the UnitedMasters platform. In 2019, UnitedMasters announced the appointment of its first President, Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood. Wirtzer-Seawood formerly served as Head of Music Partnerships at Instagram. Prior to that, Wirtzer-Seawood spent two years as the Head of Digital at

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

's entertainment and management company, Parkwood Entertainment. In 2022, UnitedMasters distribute songs for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 by cooperating with several artists like

Nora Fatehi Nora Fatehi (born 6 February 1992) is a Canadian actress, model, dancer, singer, and producer who is predominantly known for her work in the Indian film industry. She has appeared in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films. She made her debut ...

Rahma Riad Rahma Abdulredha Mezher Al-Sibahi ( ar, رحمة عبد الرضا مزهر السباهي; born 19 January 1987), better known as Rahma Riad (), is an Iraqi singer and actress. Her father, Abdulredha Mezher Al-Sibahi, better known as , was a wel ...

, Balqees,

Manal Manal was an Argentine rock group. Together with Almendra and Los Gatos, they are considered founders of Argentine rock.RedOne Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...

Partnerships

In 2018, UnitedMasters announced a global partnership with the NBA. In early 2019, UnitedMasters artists helped launch the Bose Frames products by featuring the product in their music videos. UnitedMasters helped identify ambassadors for the campaign and Bose assisted in the development and promotion of each artist's music videos. In a 2019 partnership with

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHe ...

and

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

, UnitedMasters helped major radio stations including Power 105.1 in New York City and Real 92.3 in Los Angeles celebrate emerging artists in their cities. Through 'The Come Up Show' series, independent artists got the opportunity to submit music for the chance to receive major radio play, $25,000, and a distribution deal through UnitedMasters. Also in 2019, UnitedMasters announced a partnership with

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. In June 2020, UnitedMasters has partnered up with

Cash App Cash App (formerly Square Cash) is a mobile payment service available in the United States and the United Kingdom that allows users to transfer money to one another (for a 1.5% fee for immediate transfer) using a mobile phone app. In September ...

to launch a new grant program called "Cash for Change", to highlight songs by artists that address social and political climate. In August 2020, UnitedMasters and

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...

announced a partnership to allow

artists to distribute their original songs through all streaming platforms,

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Appl ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

among others. It will also allow artists to sign deals with brands like the NBA. In September 2020, UnitedMasters has partnered up with

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

to feature licensed music for creators. That also includes with

CDBaby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that " ...

Distrokid DistroKid is a service by an independent digital music distribution service, founded in 2013 by American entrepreneur Philip J. "Pud" Kaplan. DistroKid principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell ...

, and other music distributors. In March 2021, UnitedMasters raised $50m in a Series B

venture round A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among ...

. Funding was led by

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

, with follow-on funding by

's corporate umbrella

and

. In August 2021, UnitedMasters,

Symphonic Distribution Symphonic Distribution is a digital music distribution company launched in late 2006 by Jorge Brea, in Tampa, Florida. Symphonic Distribution delivers music from independent record labels and musicians to online retailers such as Spotify, iTunes ...

, and Horus Music partnered with music funding company
beatBread
to offer clients more access to capital. beatBread's chordCashAI technology provides an automated advance experience for independent musicians while enable clients to choose their own terms and retain ownership of their music.

Technology

In July 2019, UnitedMasters unveiled its new iOS app which makes the features of the UnitedMasters platform available on mobile devices. The iOS app allows artists to easily distribute music directly from their text messages, Dropbox, or iCloud to major streaming platforms including

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

, Tidal, and

. Similar to the desktop platform, artists can view streaming stats, playlisting details, financial earnings, and social stats as well as access opportunities for brand partnerships.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
American companies established in 2017 Companies based in New York City Companies based in San Francisco