Founded less than four years ago in a Bryant University dorm room, music management startup Artist Republik has taken yet another major step as the company expands its reach in the music industry.
After raising millions in capital and onboarding more than 100,000 artists onto its platform, the company has been purchased by Friendable Inc., a mobile and marketing tech company.
Friendable also announced the acquisition of Fan Pass Live, a startup which allows fans to connect directly to artists via livestream. Combining the services of Fan Pass alongside the distribution, marketing and artist tool kits of Artist Republik offers a new opportunity for growth and additional services for both companies, according to former Artist Republik CEO Nicholas Cianfaglione.
"Artist Republik was a powerful, rapidly growing startup that prior to the announcement was single handedly dominating the independent music market representing 100k+ artists from 192 different countries," Cianfaglione said. "But building a new and better digital record label is a massive undertaking and is not one that can be done alone. So the goal here is to bring both of the companies together, combine resources, brain power and more to change the music industry forever."
The Providence-based Artist Republik offers a multitude of subscription and marketplace services for up-and-coming musicians, from promotion on social media to mastering and selling tracks.
"The biggest thing is live shows, merchandising and live streaming. Artist Republik has a strong digital presence and Fan Pass has a growing live shows and merchandising presence, so together we complete the full scope of an artist’s career," Cianfaglione said.
Cianfaglione said he will be helping Friendable with the transition to make sure Artist Republik "reaches its full potential under the new owners along with advising them on best practices and strategies." Cianfaglione will serve in an advisory role as part of Artist Republik's board of directors.
In 2021, before the acquisition, Artist Republik raised around $2 million in funding. The investors included wealth manager Lameck Humble Lukanga, former Bryant University president Ron Machtley, the rapper Hopsin and David Beirne, one of the original five general partners at Benchmark Capital.
In a statement, Robert A. Rositano Jr., CEO of Friendable, said all three companies had been in discussions for the past 15 months, eyeing a partnership.
"As our management teams began to engage more frequently, the opportunity arose to combine our two offerings and truly offer a platform and services that would allow Fan Pass to push the boundaries of our offering in the music industry with a shared philosophy of truly putting the artist first," Rositano said.
Cianfaglione said success in the music industry comes down to understanding the market, which is a strength Artist Republik and Fan Pass bring as new Friendable companies.
"I believe most markets today are crowded or have a good number of companies," Cianfaglione said. "Both of our companies are built, powered and guided by music enthusiasts and music artists which gives us a leg up by having a unique connection and empathy with our users & customers."
