Sustainable, Scaleable & Profitable Business: Guest Post from David Ponte, Co-Founder of Audiomack

By David Ponte, Co-Founder of Audiomack

There I was, sitting in the dark, in the way back, watching all of these innovative and game-changing music tech companies receive accolades and celebrate each other’s milestones. My company’s headquarters was only a few blocks away from the Gramercy Theatre where the FlashFWD Awards were being held, but it seemed like it could have been a continent away (or let’s say, New Jersey).

My name is David Ponte and I am the Co-Founder of Audiomack, a music distribution website specifically tailored to help artists showcase and distribute their music. The site was conceptualized by myself and the Co-Founder/CEO, Dave Macli. Both of us are hip-hop fans and digital advertising folks.

Most of the music tech companies being celebrated at FlashFWD received millions of dollars in funding, had large teams of talented engineers focusing multiple hours a day on perfecting the product offering, and proven venture-capitalists guiding the vision of the company. All of these qualities are considered ‘sexy’ by the majority.

Audiomack has absolutely none of that. In fact, when we were approached by investors who were ready to arm the company with hundreds of thousands of dollars and priceless connections, we turned them down. Not because we don’t want funding, (we do!) but because we have an “old fashioned” view on what a business should be; one that doesn’t align with what most VCs have in mind.

We grew Audiomack with the intent to create a great product that people would enjoy AND to do so in a way that allows our founders to profit from it. Too often startups lose focus on this goal.  They end up taking investment from VC’s who are only interested in finding the next Instagram.  This puts them in a position where there are only two outcomes: either sustain hockey stick growth and get acquired, or crash and burn when the money runs out.

So how does Audiomack plan on making more than we spend? We’re already there. In May we earned more than 3 times what we spent. Super sexy!

Since the core expertise of our founders is in advertising, we take advantage of the convergence of brands and media. Brands are looking for engaged audiences and we believe people are most engaged by the artists they listen to. Armed with the knowledge that revenue from albums and songs isn’t what it used to be, we want to bridge the gap between brand advertisers and the musicians who fans follow.

For example, Nas, one of the greatest MCs of all time, released a song on our site recently and it was in response to J Cole’s, ‘Let Nas Down’ song off his Born Sinner album. Over 100,000 people played this song within a few hours. You can read more about the back-story here.

There are many brands that would have chomped at the bit to be involved in what was a momentous moment in music in 2013. Although this was a unique circumstance, artists release songs and albums on Audiomack every minute. The audience is already there, engaged.

If the music is free, or sponsored by a brand, then the artist can be paid by the sponsor to release the music with the brands message attached. The artist is happy they got paid to make music. The fans are happy because they received the music for free, and the brands are happy they reached an engaged, targeted audience unobtrusively. Not to mention, the Audiomack team is happy because we know we have built a sustainable, scalable, and profitable business.

Call us old fashioned, but we like it that way.