At the end of October MBW revealed that data-driven A&R platform Instrumental had sold a minority stake in its business to Tencent Holdings and Tencent Music Entertainment.

Today, we learn that the UK-born firm is launching £10m (approximately $13.2m) fund to invest into independent artists identified through their platform.

The initiative, called the Instrumental Music Fund (IMF), is a partnership with BCI Finance and aims to accelerate the careers of early stage recording artists that need financial help to amplify existing momentum on a particular track.

Instrumental will begin to deploy the fund immediately to artists with qualifying tracks, as identified via the company’s platform.

Talent will be supported by the company’s Artist Success team providing expertise around social media and influencer marketing, audience development, digital advertising, content marketing, playlist pitching, press and radio.

Investors in the Credit Opportunities Fund include High Net Worth Individuals, successful entrepreneurs, and family offices, including Blenheim Chalcot, a highly successful venture builder known to build digital businesses that transform industries.

Blenheim Chalcot invests in a variety of sectors, including fintech and media. Successful investments include ClearScore, Salary Finance, Modulr, Oakbrook Finance, Liberis and Instrumental.

BCI Finance, through its Credit Opportunities Fund, runs a specialist direct lending strategy focused on providing loan capital to innovative tech enabled lending businesses to help them scale

Instrumental uses data science to discover and profile high potential artists releasing their music through DIY distribution platforms and promoting themselves on social media.

The technology has been used by major labels and global organizations like Live Nation, Disney and Entertainment One.

The launch of the music fund reflects Instrumental’s recently announced commitment to becoming an “artist first” business and is at the core of a new growth strategy following the deal with Tencent Holdings and Tencent Music Entertainment.

“The DIY music sector is thriving, and many young creators remain steadfast in their ambition to stay independent. Access to funding though can remain a real challenge that the IMF will aim to address.”

Conrad Withey, Instrumental

Conrad Withey, CEO of Instrumental, said: “We are incredibly excited about the IMF. For some time, we have known our tech was a window into the fastest growing independent artists on the planet and this facility will now allow us to support that talent financially as well as strategically.

“The DIY music sector is thriving, and many young creators remain steadfast in their ambition to stay independent. Access to funding though can remain a real challenge that the IMF will aim to address.”

“We hope we can leverage our experiences of working across a number of lending businesses to support Instrumental on their quest to identify and support emerging talent.”

Sam Kemp, Instrumental Music Fund 

The fund’s MD, Sam Kemp, added: “The music industry’s continued digital disruption and the emergence of global streaming platforms has created unprecedented levels of near instant data.

The potential for artists to launch new content and for that content to be identified at an earlier stage and on a much more granular level is super exciting.

“We hope we can leverage our experiences of working across a number of lending businesses to support Instrumental on their quest to identify and support emerging talent.”

 Music Business Worldwide