In the process of starting D.I.-Why, I realized that bringing on investors might not be a bad idea. If you take a look at the companies shaping “the new music industry,” investors are heavily financing their trek toward profitability. Why should my baby be any different?
To get things rolling, I put together a deck. A PowerPoint deck. A bunch of slides telling you why my company is the best thing since sliced bread. In about a dozen well-crafted slides with excellent bullet points and graphics that convey a solid understanding of the music industry and its players, I state my case for D.I.-Why.
This part makes perfect sense to me. You can’t expect an investor to invest in an abstract.
I bounced this deck off of a couple people and (surprisingly…) got the same response: you need to identify an exit strategy.
The more I thought about it, I couldn’t help but feel sort of insulted by what I read into that statement. This isn’t a critique of my friends, mind you, but of the whole investor concept and cycle.
You see, I don’t want to have an exit strategy. There shouldn’t be a plan to sell my company for $1.3 billion to someone looking to expand their presence in my area. I don’t want to be “ripe for acquisition by a major label with a desire to ensure their place in the shifting industry paradigm.” And I’m not interested in the type of investors who are solely looking to see what level of exponential growth awaits the money they sink into my endeavor.
Part of me feels that this is why the bulk of the music industry is so fucked. People with too much money are dictating the ebb and flow of something best delivered and created on emotion. Remember, this is the music industry: spending more money doesn’t automatically equate to a better product. But a lack of passion and creativity spells certain doom.
Having a head for business shouldn’t be considered a strike against you either. I don’t doubt that folks like Lou Adler and Ahmet Ertegun were good businessmen. They had to be. But their love of music and passionate belief in their artists were what made them successful. In fact, when Ahmet Ertegun finally sold Atlantic Records, he used the money to finance a soccer team — his other passion! Ultimately, good business people aren’t always good music-business people.
D.I.-Why exists to help create better, smarter musicians. That’s the vision pure and simple. There’s a heap of strategy in place, and we’re already showing success (and yes, proof of concept…) with the artists we’ve engaged. If you share the vision and have the passion, there’s room for you to invest. But if you’re just looking to turn a buck — kindly move along …
