HIFI Opens Applications for Membership into Music Industry’s First Financial Rights Organization
NEW YORK, July 1, 2020 – HIFI, the financial rights organization for the music industry, announced today that it’s opening up applications to join its membership community. HIFI is an independent collective of creators and supporting parties dedicated to artist-centric financial innovation and transparency. Beyond its advocacy, HIFI builds and provides its members with innovative business and financial management products designed to serve the needs of music professionals throughout their careers.
“While the music industry has evolved dramatically over the past two decades, the financial solutions available to artists and their teams are historical relics by comparison,” said Damian Manning, Founder and CEO of HIFI. “We represent a new kind of artist organization, one that is focused on protecting the financial rights of its members. And rather than compete with other music organizations, we’re building innovative products and services that work in concert with them to financially empower the creator class.”
The first such product HIFI has made available to its members is its complimentary Royalties Dashboard, a financial platform that aggregates data from labels, distribution services, PROs, music publishers and others. The HIFI Royalties Dashboard provides music creators with a powerful, consolidated view of their current and future earnings and can advise them on steps to accelerate their careers.
“Our Royalties Dashboard is the first tangible expression of HIFI’s mission,” says Manning. “It allows rights holders to see what they’re earning across all of their royalty accounts, helping them make better business decisions. HIFI regularly hosts workshops and events to gather feedback and engage our community. A unified dashboard was a frequent request. And it will serve as a springboard for a suite of products that we’re building for our members.”
The next product on HIFI’s ambitious roadmap? Cash Flow, which pays artists twice a month like a salary. This guaranteed revenue stream insulates artists from the ups and downs of most royalty payments, helping them pay their bills, get an apartment, get credit and take advantage of options generally unavailable to non-traditional earners. HIFI is currently deploying Cash Flow among its charter members.
Said Manning, “It’s not right that artists are asked to sacrifice the predictability of a salary in order to pursue their talent. The security of a consistent paycheck is another top priority for our members. HIFI can collect their royalties and guarantee a predictable income. As an independent, we collaborate with our artists’ music services to facilitate Cash Flow. It’s our independence and innovative technologies that make products like the dashboard and Cash Flow possible. There’s so much we can do for HIFI members and we’re just getting started.”
“HIFI puts my financial needs as an artist front and center. Their dashboard lets me see all my earnings in one place, which gives me a real advantage in my conversations with labels and publishers. And their support and advocacy will help me and other artists own and control our rights for the long-term.” – Jonathan Dagan aka J.Views
“There’s never been a more important time for HIFI. They offer much needed transparency and access to royalties data across a multitude of revenue streams, and their financial services are thoughtfully designed to help effectively manage an artist’s career.” – Max Gredinger, Artist Manager at Foundations Music
“My partners and I are thrilled to see HIFI helping artists better understand their finances. The transparency and innovation they bring to the table is ushering in the future of the music business.” – Justin Kobay, Partner at LL Business Management
Matt Pincus recently joined HIFI’s board and is a backer via his new investment vehicle MUSIC, a joint venture with LionTree. Pincus was formerly the Founder and CEO of SONGS Music Publishing which was acquired in 2017 by Kobalt.
HIFI was founded in New York by a group of industry veterans and technologists who recognized that the unique business and financial needs of music professionals weren’t being met by the market. Manning, a serial founder and startup investor in music tech, assembled a cross-domain team of experts and recruited forward-thinking advisors to help guide the organization, among them Platoon’s Denzyl Feigelson, Splice’s Steve Martocci, and Will Page, formerly Chief Economist at both Spotify and PRS for Music. In addition to MUSIC, backers of HIFI include notable venture capital firms Lerer Hippeau and Flybridge Capital.
To learn more about HIFI and apply for membership, visit: https://hi.fi