TuneGO is betting that ‘Big Data’ will find the next big superstar faster. But will the platform ultimately favor artists willing to pay more to make it in the music industry?
TuneGO is raising big money on a ‘big data’ idea. And it just might change the time it takes to find and propel the next big superstar.
But is it fair to up-and-coming talent? Or worse, taking advantage of them?
The Las Vegas-based music technology platform recently launched an invite-only platform. The portal allows record labels, talent agents, and playlist curators to discover new talent while managing artists. TuneGO’s artist discovery platform would determine the likelihood of an artist’s mainstream success.
How? The portal automatically gathers data and analytics from a variety of sources. These include online activity, fan engagement, and industry feedback.
John Koul, TuneGO’s co-founder and CEO, describes it like this:
“In the music industry today, it is difficult to know which new artists to back and which new content to push. Our portal takes the guessing out of this equation as the data we collect helps to quantify a number of important factors that, in turn, can help music industry decision-makers to determine the next potential superstar or hit single.”
The portal allows music supervisors, playlist curators (Apple, Spotify, etc.), and A&R executives to automatically scan songs. The company says that all of its tracks have been through a focus group of hundreds of music fans. This helps determine the ‘track rating.’
TuneGO claims to provide insight on how the song compares with all major label releases in that genre. That gives it a gauge on how it’s likely to perform.
In addition, the company will help labels “discover new talent with quantifiable data.”
Its new portal allows labels to discover tracks with high track ratings. In addition, they could track activity related to artists that they’re recently signed. The portal also syncs real-time information to multiple departments at the label.
Now, this sounds great at first. As a music label, manager, or an A&R executive, imagine using just data to help you determine who will become the next Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. As an artist using TuneGO, imagine key players in the industry checking out your tracks. All thanks to TuneGo’s ‘Big Data’ platform.
In fact, investment firms see a very promising platform for the music industry. TuneGO has recently announced that it has completed its Series B financing, totaling over $7.7 million. Private equity firm Falcon Capital led the financing round. The company has now raised $13.4 million since its inception in 2013.
TuneGO said that it will use the proceeds to enhance its Big Data technology platform and global infrastructure. The company will also increase the size of its engineering team. According to the music technology platform, it’s now connected to many of the world’s leading music and entertainment companies.
But, after reading the company’s press release, one key fact stands out.
TuneGO’s algorithm – whether intentional or not – will unfairly favor some artists over others. That is, those willing to pay up a lot more.
Why? TuneGO makes money from artists who dream of making it big. Just take a look at one service TuneGO offers.
“FAST-TRACK OPPORTUNITIES
Do you want to unlock these opportunities faster? You can by purchasing a Diamond TuneGO Song Review and earning a high Track Rating on your song. With a Diamond Song Review, you will get feedback from 200 music fans. Plus, if you score a 10 Track Rating, you’ll automatically unlock every opportunity on TuneGO.”
Packages start at $19.99 for 30 reviews, and can go up to $139.99 for 200 reviews. Keep in mind that only the $139.99 package compares artists’ tracks to “100,000 major label releases in your genre.” This, according to the company, helps musicians gain insight on their “market potential and likelihood of chart success.”
Of course, this is the same “insight” TuneGO promises to share with music managers, A&R executives, and major labels. There’s no word on whether artists who pay less will be considered on TuneGO’s ‘Big Data’ platform.
So, will TuneGO’s portal only consider musicians willing to pay more to use the platform to ‘make it’ in the music industry? Unfortunately, it seems so.
I’ve sent an e-mail to a company representative. I’ve yet to hear back.
Featured image by Capri23auto (CC0)
This kind of thing always generates dreck. Look at most of current music. It’s all garbage, written like a sugar-high robot wrote it. F off and go away, MBA parasites.
How dare they come up with a profitable business model?!
What artist can afford $140?!
Capitalism is evil.
Dis da last article any one wrote about this company. LOL What they did with 8 Million $ in 2 years
check their site- looks mad old and can’t really tel what dey do like security or some shit. Give me 8 million $ too then- ill make a large party at least