Instrumental launches $13m fund to invest in independent artists in partnership with BCI Finance

Data-driven artist and repertoire (A&R) platform, Instrumental, is launching £10m (approximately $13.2m) fund to invest into independent artists.

The initiative, called the Instrumental Music Fund (IMF), is a partnership with BCI Finance and aims to accelerate the careers of early stage recording artists that need financial help to amplify existing momentum on a particular track.

Instrumental will begin to deploy the fund immediately to artists with qualifying tracks, as identified via the company’s platform.

Talent will be supported by the company’s Artist Success team providing expertise around social media and influencer marketing, audience development, digital advertising, content marketing, playlist pitching, press and radio.

BCI Finance, through its Credit Opportunities Fund, runs a specialist direct lending strategy focused on providing loan capital to innovative tech enabled lending businesses to help them scale

Instrumental uses data science to discover and profile high potential artists releasing their music through DIY distribution platforms and promoting themselves on social media. The technology has been used by major labels and global organizations like Live Nation, Disney and Entertainment One.

The launch of the music fund reflects Instrumental’s recently announced commitment to becoming an “artist first” business and is at the core of a new growth strategy following the deal with Tencent Holdings and Tencent Music Entertainment.

CONRAD WITHEY, INSTRUMENTAL

Conrad Withey, CEO of Instrumental, said: “We are incredibly excited about the IMF. For some time, we have known our tech was a window into the fastest growing independent artists on the planet and this facility will now allow us to support that talent financially as well as strategically.

The DIY music sector is thriving, and many young creators remain steadfast in their ambition to stay independent. Access to funding though can remain a real challenge that the IMF will aim to address.”

SAM KEMP, BCI Finance 

Sam Kemp, MD of BCI Finance, added: “The music industry’s continued digital disruption and the emergence of global streaming platforms has created unprecedented levels of near instant data.

The potential for artists to launch new content and for that content to be identified at an earlier stage and on a much more granular level is super exciting.

We hope we can leverage our experiences of working across a number of lending businesses to support Instrumental on their quest to identify and support emerging talent.”

See press coverage from Music Business Worldwide here: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/following-tencent-investment-ar-platform-instrumental-launches-13m-fund-to-invest-in-independent-artists/