2017 Under the Radar: MusicSpoke scores thousands of sheet music sales
August 29, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Editor’s note: Startland News picked 10 early-stage firms to spotlight for its annual Under the Radar startups list. The following is one of 2017’s companies. To view the full list, click here.
The sheet music publishing industry is worth more than $1 billion.
Yet when working with traditional publishers, composers hardly see any of that money. Models put revenue for publishers as high as 95 percent with only 5 percent slated for composers.
Jennifer Rosenblatt and Kurt Knecht say the trend is pushing composers toward self-publishing as an option, which is why they co-founded MusicSpoke in 2014. Since then, the platform offers more than 1,000 scores and has sold more than 85,000 units of sheet music from self-published composers.
MusicSpoke keeps 30 percent of the sheet music sales, which is significantly lower than traditional publishing fees the sheet music industry, Rosenblatt and Knecht said. The company has grown at an average annual rate of about 260 percent and has raised about $120,000 in investment capital to date.
After spending a decade in Lincoln, Nebraska, Rosenblatt and Knecht set up shop in Kansas City in July 2016. The pair thought their business’ new home would be a better place to grow MusicSpoke.
“We are delighted to be growing in KC,” Rosenblatt said. “We love the support for the arts and entrepreneurship KC provides. We are looking to hire and grow the team next year.”
Later in 2017, MusicSpoke is expected to launch the Icon Series, which involves a collection of scores curated by the industry’s influential conductors, Rosenblatt said. The firm’s tests show that sheet music promoted by an influencer can sell up to 400 percent better than top-selling scores that are not promoted.
Rosenblatt is a 2017 Pipeline Fellow, has participated in ScaleUP KC! and is a part of the Sprint Mentor Network.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Report: Black women’s impact overlooked in KC startup community and beyond
Raise a hand if you know that black women have created more than 1 million jobs, Dell Gines challenged. A statistics-based question –– frequently answered with an expected, yet glacial silence –– acknowledges an unprecedented phenomenon in both the small business community and within the confines of the often-exclusive startup ecosystem, said Gines, Federal Reserve…
‘Class reunion’ collides with newer generation at Top VC-Backed Companies celebration (Photos)
It was a night of old school collisions, said Adam Arredondo, bringing together founders, executives, investors and a curated group of younger startup leaders for Startland’s Top VC-Backed Companies celebration. “The energy in the room was palpable. Many people said it felt like a class reunion, which in a way it was,” added Arredondo, CEO…
Techweek KC addition: Smart City Innovation Workshop builds bottom-up brainstorming
Kansas City residents, entrepreneurs, corporate partners, and city officials plan to come together during the Smart City Innovation Workshop at Techweek KC to brainstorm solutions to day-to-day challenges using smart technology. The workshop pulls into Union Station Oct. 8 — the first day of Techweek KC, which runs through Oct. 12 and is presented by…
Plexpod offers sneak peek at new women-centric Herspace concept (Photos)
Herspace — a freshly renovated wing at Plexpod Westport Commons, part of the KC-based Plexpod coworking community — is designed for women, said Gerald Smith, and it’s a long time coming. “This is front and center. It isn’t tucked away in some far away corner of an upper floor,” said Smith, noting 90 percent of…