This startup brings Bitcoin payments to the music and podcast industry
The latest industry initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles tend to dominate the tech news space – and for good reason. Yet the tech titans are not the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming tech companies, Built In The Future 5 launched across seven major US tech hubs. Each quarter, we’ll feature five tech companies, nonprofits, or early-stage entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who might be working on the next big thing. Read our summary of Austin’s rising companies from the previous quarter here.
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Over the past few years, several technology companies—including many based in Chicago—have released new products that disrupted the music industry. Now, Wavlake is looking to make its mark on the industry after raising pre-funding and announcing plans to expand its payment platform for streaming artists.
Wavlake was co-founded by musicians and producers Michael Rhee and Sam Means. Through the use of blockchain and Web3 tools, their platform helps support artists financially. Wavlake is a music and podcast streaming platform that allows artists to receive Bitcoin payments from their fans.
“I had been frustrated with music recommendation algorithms on streaming platforms for a long time. Then I learned about the Lightning Network and how it allowed people to transfer Bitcoin to each other almost instantly around the world. The technology seemed like a great way to build a new kind of music streaming service that better connected artists and fans, Rhee told Built In via email.
In December, Wavlake closed a pre-seed round led by Trammell Venture Partners, an Austin-based VC firm focused on backing early-stage Bitcoin-native startups. Wavlake did not disclose how much capital it raised; however, it said the funding would be used to grow the company and its products.
We hope this helps inspire other companies and developers to create new and interesting music applications that are both fairer for artists and more fun for fans.”
With the new capital, Wavlake plans to bring more artists and creators onto its platform. Over the next year, Rhee and Means said they will also build out the Wavlake team and improve the foundation of the platform to better accommodate the growing artist base.
By continuing to build blockchain-enabled tools for creators, Wavlake hopes it can inspire others to create new technologies to support artists and their work.
“We are not building any custom blockchain technology or issuing any kind of special token,” Rhee said. “We hope this helps inspire other companies and developers to create new and interesting music applications that are both fairer for artists and more fun for fans.”
