Music Industry Moves: Moment House Closes $12 Million Series A Round; UMG Partners With Tomorrowland

William Earl
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Moment House, the live media platform founded in 2019 by Arjun Mehta, Nigel Egrari, and Shray Bansal, has closed a $12 million Series A round led by Forerunner Ventures. According to an announcement, Moment House has processed 1 million tickets across 168 countries hosting appearances and performances by Tame Impala, KSI, Halsey, St. Vincent, Kygo, Kaytranada, Tiny Meat Gang podcast, Brockhampton as well as the podcasts “Wine & Crime” and “My Brother, My Brother, & Me.” Events digitally hosted by Moment House also include Justin Bieber’s New Year’s Eve livestream and the virtual version of Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala earlier this year.

Investors participating in the round included UTA Ventures, IDEO, Halsey, Whitney Cummings, Kaytranada & manager William Robillard-Cole, Dumb Money Capital (Devon Townsend, founder of Cameo, and Cody Ko), Noel Miller, actor/singer Tom Felton, Parcast Founder and Spotify executive Max Cutler, former YouTube executive Shishir Mehrotra, Clubhouse’s Aarthi Ramamurthy, Adobe’s Scott Belsky, Discord’s Anjney Midha, Defy Ventures, Work Life Ventures and media entrepreneur Richard Rosenblatt.

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They join early investors Troy Carter, Scooter Braun, Steve Stoute and UnitedMasters, Palm Tree Crew Investments (Kygo & manager Myles Shear), Post Malone co-manager Austin Rosen, Logic manager Chris Zarou, Jared Leto, as well as tech industry leaders such as Matthew Ball, Google Ventures CEO David Krane, former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, Sequoia partner Jess Lee, Box CEO Aaron Levie, and Patreon CEO Jack Conte.

The platform was launched out of the Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young Academy for Innovation at USC.

+ Tomorrowland (pictured) has partnered with Universal Music Germany to release future content and artists via a newly established label. Virgin Records Germany via Virgin Music Label & Artist Services will allow Tomorrowland access to worldwide distribution through Universal Music Group as well as resources and personnel.

One of the world’s biggest music festivals, Tomorrowland has been held annually in Boom, Belgium since 2005 (but was canceled due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021), drawing more than 400,000 people from 200 countries to the two-weekend extravaganza, which sells out in minutes each year. In addition, Tomorrowland has expanded to a winter edition in the French Alps, its own fashion label (TML by Tomorrowland) and the radio station One World Radio.

The partnership will be led in Berlin by Alexander Neipp, Daniel Schmidt and Magnus Textor (Virgin Records) and Tina Adams (Virgin Music Label & Artist Services). The first release under the new label will be the song “You Got The Love” by Never Sleeps, a new project from Afrojack ft. Chico Rose, due out on August 27.

+ Reservoir Media has reached a deal with the group Alabama for interest in its recorded music rights catalog. Among country music’s top-selling and most awarded artists, the band set — and still holds — a record streak of 21 straight No. 1s.

Tuesday, Aug. 24

+ Kristen Burke has been named president of Warner Music Canada, succeeding Steve Kane who has been with the Warner Music Group company since 2004. Burke arrives from Universal Music Canada, where she spent 20 years and was named EVP and general manager in 2018. She starts on Oct. 18 and will be based out of Toronto, reporting to Simon Robson, president, international, recorded music for WMG.

Warner Canada is home to such artists as Billy Talent, Brett Kissel, Charmaine, Just John and Scott Helman.

“I’m honored to be asked to head up Warner Music Canada,” said Burke. “As a country, we’ve always been a hotbed for talent that goes on to find a global stage and I want to make sure that we’re tapping into the diverse music scenes across Canada to help develop the next generation of talent. Steve has built an incredible team here and I know we’re going to do him proud as we write the next chapter in Warner Music Canada’s story.”

<img class="size-full wp-image-1235048316" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg&quot; alt=" - Credit: Warner Music Canada" width="1000" height="562" srcset="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg 1000w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg?resize=150,84 150w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg?resize=125,70 125w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg?resize=681,383 681w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg?resize=450,253 450w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kristen-Burke.jpg?resize=250,140 250w" sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px" />Warner Music Canada

Added Robson: “We’re so excited that Kristen is coming onboard to lead Warner Music Canada. It’s such a key territory given the incredible talent which has come out of Canada over the years. Kristen has a great reputation across the industry, combining great strategic insight with an instinctive empathy for artists. … And, of course, I want to pay a huge tribute to Steve for almost two decades of service. He’s a hugely respected figure in the Canadian music industry, and a much valued colleague, who has signed and worked with some of the most compelling acts in Canada over the years. We wish him all the best for the future.”

Burke serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Country Music Association and The Remix Project, which offers programs and services for young people from marginalized and underserved communities who are trying to enter the creative industries or further their formal education.

+ Elsewhere at WMG, Warner Chappell Music has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Scottish band The Snuts. The indie rockers are signed to Warner Music’s Parlophone Records and their debut album, “W.L.,” topped both the UK and Scottish charts earlier this year. In 2019, The Snuts released their first single, “All Your Friends,” which was produced by in-demand hitmakers Inflo. The song was inclided on the “Mixtape EP,” which included soundscapes created by the band used as interludes between songs.

+ Kobalt has signed Australian electronic music duo Cosmo’s Midnight to a global publishing deal covering creative, synch, and administration services for their catalog and future works. Comprised of twin brothers Cosmo and Patrick Liney, Cosmo’s Midnight have worked with such artists as Tove Styrke and co-wrote and produced BTS’s 2020 song, “Fly To My Room.” The duo is managed by Astral People.

+ Sony Music Publishing UK has signed British singer-songwriter Mimi Webb to a global deal covering both catalog and future works. Webb’s debut single, “Before I Go,” is a TikTok hit amassing more than 85 million views.

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