The last thing I wrote was breaker — a platform that connects record labels, artists, and brands with social media influencers to run large-scale campaigns in a programmatic manner — when it closed a $4.2 million round in 2021. In the past two years, Breaker has hired over 30,000 influencers and generated $3.5 million in deals with creators. Now, to fuel growth, Breaker has secured an additional $1.9 million in his investment at a valuation of $20 million.
Slow Ventures will lead the expansion, which the company will use for recruiting and product development. Breakr is led by Marc Benioff, a16z/TxO, former Tik Tok CEO Kevin Mayer, RGA Ventures, Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures), Complex founder Rich Antoniello, and Ro Tony. To date, it has raised $8.7 million from an impressive list of investors including (Plexo). Capital), Ant Selah (WdrCo), and Quiet Capital.
While Breakr’s user growth highlights the scale of the creator economy, the modest size of this funding round and the total deal value over the past two years suggests that many of the sector’s business models are still It shows that it is in its early stages.
Still, there is much hope. goldman sachs I estimate that Total addressable market for creator economy could reach $480 billion by 2027.
Players who pay attention to and do business with Breakr will also tell their stories. These include Def Jam, Samsung, Billboard, Rolling Loud, Live Nation, Meta, Tidal, Epic, Kit Kat, P&G, Celsius, Mountain Dew, White Claw, and more. Labels and brands use Breakr to connect music to their campaigns. Meanwhile, musicians include Megan Thee Stallion, Future, Rick Ross, Gunna, J.I.D., Sleepy Hallow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Pink, Young Thug, Kanye West, Brent Fayers, Toby Nwigwe, Includes the Pink Panther, Armani White, Charlie Ona Friday, and Nas. Investor).
There are many platforms on the market today that connect creators, brands, and content (not just music but other media) to build influencer campaigns. Breakr’s unique selling point is that it effectively treats this basic concept as a programmatic opportunity, similar to how online advertising is created, sold, and distributed today.
“Breakr wants to be Google Ad Words, powered by creators,” co-founder Anthony Brown told TechCrunch. “With the underlying audience data, a ton of liquidity, and intelligence capabilities, I think going to Breakr and spending $15,000 should be as easy as setting it and forgetting it on Google. We believe.”
The company recently started with a more hands-on approach and exited closed beta as a self-service SaaS platform. SaaS platforms are backed by wallets that act as escrow accounts. You can pay money from your wallet for your involvement and services provided.
“This move to a SaaS model aligns with our goal to streamline and democratize the influencer marketing process, making it more accessible and efficient for a wide range of users inside and outside the music industry.” Brown explained.
Currently, Breakr is set up like a three-sided marketplace. On the creator side, individuals submit their profiles to the platform to be considered for campaigns.
On the music side, artists (or labels) submit music to specific campaigns. And once the music is selected, it will be promoted to new audiences. Musicians may pay to have their music used, but as a result, they also take a cut of some of the revenue generated by the campaign.
On the marketing side, brands look for influencers to run promotions and access each influencer’s 40 data points (language, voice location, type of interests, etc.). You can also check those influencers’ past content and engagement rates, or more pointedly, scrutinize their brand safety and see if the influencer in question is dabbling in fake followers. You can also run some diagnostics (to determine how much of a factor, if any, it’s for them).
“The creator economy, especially the music sector, is rapidly evolving with a shift to direct, curated, and scalable relationships between digital marketers and creators. Traditional management tools are becoming obsolete and more efficient is paving the way for relationship-focused technologies. These include platforms that move away from high-cost, short-term campaigns and make it easier to deliver personalized content and offers to creators. “This trend toward continuous, evergreen marketing has proven to be effective, emphasizing the importance of ongoing engagement over one-off interactions,” said Brown.
While music marketing is the company’s main bread and butter, Breaker hopes to eventually branch out into other areas such as film and television.
