Even with a handful of heavy hitters in the world of music streaming, there’s plenty of room for more players. At least, that’s how the founders of Fanburst sees it. And, as a business that centers around music and by extension, the streaming world, we’re inclined to agree.
Over the course of a phone call, the founders regaled the history of Fanburst, its original goals and what they hope to achieve down the line.
Fanburst, like SoundCloud before it, is a music streaming platform. However, unlike the Cloud, Fanburst posts no limits for artists. Yes, yes, you read the right, no limits. None. Zippo. Zilch. And why, you ask, would they want to do that? Because they want to make money with artists, not from artists.
After consulting for various artists and labels, both the team behind Fanburst realized that artists lacked a lot of vital tools to help achieve success. Most of their consulting gigs had them building websites for artists so they could upload music, a tedious task that got them wondering why this was the only route an artist could take. They also found out that though platforms like SoundCloud boasted huge numbers and amazing reach, they limited the amount of music an artist could upload. This limit forces artists to either delete and replace the old music with new music or fork over $100+ per year just to be able to showcase their catalog. This didn’t sit well with either founder and thus, Fanburst was born.
As they see it, Fanburst is to music what YouTube is for video. It’s a platform that allows artists to upload as much as they want, so fans can dive deep into a catalog and consume every track. But that’s not all. Fanburst aims to develop tools for artists to help them succeed. Though fairly tight-lipped when it came to specifics, the idea is to help artists achieve their goals. Fanburst wins when artists win.
The streaming platform, though young, boasts a roster of over 50,000 active artists as of mid-2017 which includes the likes of Joey Bada$$, Odesza, Bonobo, and Wyclef Jean to name a few. Fanburst has a hopeful outlook for their business and isn’t looking to disrupt the industry, but instead become a place on the internet that puts artists first. And in a world where platforms seem to squeeze creators more and more to feed their bottom line, it’s a welcome sentiment.
So if supporting a platform that puts artists first and doesn’t drag you down with ads sounds dope to you, give Fanburst a look. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your new favorite artist there.
