Queen Latifah joins Indaba Music
Yesterday I got the word that one of last year’s FlashFWD winners, networking/musical collaboration site Indaba Music, received significant funding (exact amount unknown) from singer/actress Queen Latifah. It was mutually decided that she join their board of directors as her name and clout in the industry would make her a great addition to the team. To quote Indaba Co-founder Mantis Evar, “As she herself once struggled in her search for career opportunities, Queen Latifah appreciates Indaba Music’s dedicated support of all musicians.”
Latifah’s investment is smart, very smart. Aside from giving back to the industry that started her professional career (when she was a teenager), it’s a great business decision. By investing in a company whose mission statement is to give a platform for people to connect and create together, it’s ensured that it won’t be going away anytime soon. Musicians will always be creating music; the variable is how much they will make and if they will make it a career as opposed to being a hobby. This makes the supply of content on Indaba potentially infinite, so even if 10% of their ever-growing membership (currently 550,000+) chooses a premium account, there’s money to be made.
With Latifah’s influence and connections, maybe she could get Drake to use a young producer’s beat or have John Mayer sing on top of a high school teacher’s poppy blues riff. Ok maybe not those exact musicians, but regardless, she could make the connection between the hobbyists/fans and popular musicians. If the musicians can understand the social media amplification and money to be made from the sale of these type of collaborations, they would probably agree to it. However, this is just one of the ways that she could be of assistance while being on their board. That being said, it will be very exciting to see where Indaba is headed for the rest of 2011.
