Stationhead Raises $12M to Boost Music Social Audio Platform
Stationhead, a Social audio app for musicians and fans has raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Buttonwood Group Advisors (BGA) and joined by others, including famous DJ and music producer Diplo. Stationhead offers anyone a chance to run a kind of streaming radio program and for artists and fans to interact in live conversations, claiming as many as 600,000 simultaneous listeners to some shows.
Stationhead Social Audio
Stationhead was founded by musician Ryan Star, formerly of CBGB, whose own catalog has garnered more than 40 million listens on Spotify with around 200,000 monthly listeners. His immersion in the field led him to found Stationhead in 2017, though it only launched last year. Staionhead’s pitch was that it would not only serve as an artist’s platform but democratize the creation of digital radio shows and open DJing to the world. The platform claims to have 5 million users in 200 countries listening to 30,000 stations (legally) playing more than 70 million songs. The shows let hosts meld music and conversation from the hosts and any listeners they choose to let “call in” to the show.
“Stationhead is the next evolution of music online. By building this with great empathy for artists and fans alike we have grown to become the preferred global platform of the new generation to consume music together,” Star said. “On release week, we are the heart of the action. The completion of this raise signifies Stationhead’s growing & pivotal role in the entire music ecosystem.”
Stationhead represents how social audio is evolving after its white-hot moment during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantines. People are looking for more than just talking in a disorganized fashion. Stationhead’s format helps create coherent experiences as shepherded by the hosts and marked by the music that plays while they listen. It’s the same idea behind Amazon’s Amp mobile app, which may not be a cover version of Stationhead but is at least humming in the same key.
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