Steve Stoute launches UnitedMasters with $70M in VC Funding
Steve Stoute, the former president of Interscope Records, has launched a new company call UnitedMasters with backing from Silicon Valley VCs. Over the past year, Stoute secretly raised a $70 million Series A round, led by Google’s parent company Alphabet and joined by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, 20th Century Fox and Stoute's Translation LLC.
“It’s very important that an artist’s jobs is to be a great artist” Stoute said. “The infrastructure around them should be helping them get more money at efficient rates, not owning their masters and taking from them.”
UnitedMasters, which is already working with about 1,000 artist, claims it will give musicians an alternative to exploitative record label 360 deals.
The company said it will bring together artists and brands in the hope of driving more attention and sales for both groups using data. UnitedMasters wants to be the data layer for the music business.
The company currently has a team of 40 and is actively recruiting both tech talent.
