Drew Leahy is Tackling the Music Industry with MyBandStock.com
22 year old Drew Leahy is out to change the music industry with his company Mybandstock.com. Drew is juggling a growing startup and school at the University of Michigan. He mentions how this balance is one of the toughest things for him to do right now. Mybandsotck has recently signed a client from a major record label and received a round of angel funding to go with coverage on NPR and Techcrunch.com. Read on to see how Drew is changing an industry and what its like being a young entrepreneur…
How did your idea for Mybandstock first come around?
I was working for Evan Frankfort, a grammy award winning producer/composer in Los Angeles, after the summer of my freshman year. My buddy was visiting, who co-founded an independent record label with me and few other friends, and we had the idea of a stock market for bands. You could invest in bands and eventually cash out when the band was huge. Over the past 2 and half years the idea has evolved through several iterations, from working with small indie bands to focusing on granting access to the biggest acts in the industry.
Could you explain your take on the old business models in the music industry and how you are helping improve it?
We’re just trying to pick up the pieces from an industry that can’t make as much as money by selling music as a stand alone product. For the most part, fans are becoming less and less willing to pay for music every day. The reality is that the value of music has been dropping ever since Napster hit the scene, and the advent of Myspace / Last FM / Pandora has made music consumers even less willing to pay.
At MyBandStock, we provide personal, digital experiences for fans that they cannot get anywhere else. Video chat with an artist on tour, watch your favorite band record in the studio, or watch a band rehearsal live. Overpriced VIP meet-n-greets leave fans always wanting more, and we’d like to provide experiences to fans that are accessible, reasonably priced, and meaningful.
How are you marketing mybandstock? Have seen campaigns succeed? Fail?
The first business model that we launched totally failed, which was based on selling stock in small local artists. We definitely fell on our face and learned a lot. We marketed the website through bands, going to concerts, and social media. We had a good response online and in print to the concept, but had a hard time getting fans to pay for stock in local bands. Currently, we market our service to fans directly through the band.
How do you use social media with mybandstock? Is it a big/small focus? Any campaigns you are focusing on?
We’ve done some targeted advertising experiments and used twitter to gain followers. We have always had a good response from the press for our company and have great traction through blog write-ups and referrals. Right now our company is focused on marketing directly to bands, so we are using social media to get in contact with artist managers and music companies.
What is the revenue model behind Mybandstock?
Fans pay for shares in bands on our website. Shares allow them to buy merch, music tracks, access, and also give them a ranking with the band that gives them certain perks. We take a cut of all the transactions happening on the website and also make money from affiliate advertising.
What has been the hardest part about starting your own business?
Balancing school and relationships has been really tough. And keeping myself financially afloat. I spend so much time maintaining the business that it becomes hard to take on more part time jobs. In fact, the business took up a significant amount of time and I have taken some time off of school to make this work. The goal is to see where this goes and come back to finish my undergrad after this once-in-a-lifetime-experience.
What are your goals for the next 5 years?
I want to make this thing go, start an MBA, and also write a record. I am a musician and have sang all my life – why not write an awesome record with some great songwriters and my favorite musicians? If everyone in the industry hasn’t heard of MyBandStock or who I am, then I probably haven’t done a very good job marketing the company.
Describe being young and running your own company in ONE word:
Exhilarating.
Where can people find you or mybandstock online?
The best place is to visit www.mybandstock.com and suggest a band to be on the site. Check out the video on our site to see how it works.
Category: Entrepreneur Interviews, Young Entrepreneurs
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