Dequency raises $4.5M to build decentralized music licensing platform on Algorand

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dequency, the world's first Web3 music synchronization licensing marketplace, today announced that it has raised $4.5 million through an investment round led by Borderless Capital.

All visual productions that use music require a synchronization license (AKA "sync license") negotiated between the parties. Dequency is building a first-of-its-kind decentralized music licensing marketplace for music and visual creators to connect, collaborate, and transact directly with one another. Analogous to Bitcoin's trustless digital payments, Dequency eliminates third parties from music licensing transactions to increase speed of payment, reduce fees, and give control of the system to market participants.

When Dequency launches, the marketplace will be the only option to license music on-chain for blockchain-native content such as motion-visual NFT projects, games, and metaverse productions.

Dequency Co-Founder and CEO Keatly Haldeman is passionate about growing the music creator economy and leveraging Web3 tools to optimize for complete financial alignment with creators. "As the market for digital visual art grows, the addressable market for musical art grows meaningfully via sync. The Dequency platform facilitates communication and direct transaction between music and visual creators, giving them the opportunity to benefit from this explosion of artists entering the space."

The funding will go toward building out Dequency's peer-to-peer function, enabling music creators to upload their work to the platform and directly license for use in visual art projects.

Co-founder George Howard adds, "Licensing of music into film, tv, or other applications in 2022 is currently akin to booking travel in 1975; inefficient, rife with unnecessary intermediaries/rent seekers, and closed off to those unable to get through the corporate gatekeepers. At Dequency we are guided by a "purpose, not product" mindset to help creators establish and maintain sustainable careers on their own terms."

Borderless Capital is leading the capital raise into Dequency with a $1.5 mil investment. Rounding out the cap table are strategic institutional partners Endeavor and Riptide Music Group, and individual investors Steve Kokinos (CEO Algorand), Vinny Lingham (Co-founder & former CEO Civic), Lyndon Rive (Co-founder & CEO Solar City), Peter Rive (Co-founder & CTO Solar City), Kimbal Musk (Founder Big Green DAO, board member SpaceX & Tesla), and Tosca Musk (Founder & CEO Passionflix).

David Garcia, CEO and Founding Managing Partner at Borderless Capital, said
"Music was part of the metaverse world even prior to the existence of the Blockchain. We are really excited to join Dequency and support their vision of native on-chain music synchronization licensing, power the entire creator's economy and bring it to the next level."

Currently in development, Dequency is building on the Algorand blockchain. Founded by legendary cryptographer and Turing Award-winner Silvio Micali, Algorand is an open source public blockchain based on a pure proof-of-stake consensus protocol that supports quick, efficient, and secure transactions anywhere in the world.

"Algorand was purpose-built to enable new economic models that remove friction and promote inclusion. Dequency's vision of a peer-to-peer music licensing marketplace does just that--it prioritizes creators and removes inefficiencies for artists trying to build sustainable careers," said Steve Kokinos, CEO of Algorand. "It was exciting to see them make history with the first ever on-chain sync license during Decipher this past Fall, and it's a privilege to support them now as they enter this next phase of building out the platform."

About The Dequency Team:

Dequency was founded in early 2021 by music industry veterans Keatly Haldeman, George Howard and Mark Ross. Haldeman, a lifelong musician, is co-founder and former CEO of Riptide Music Group, a publishing company and record label specializing in the synchronization of music to picture. Riptide's roster includes songs by artists such as Foster The People, Selena Gomez, Migos, Quavo, Ziggy Marley, Big Gigantic, Black Flag, The Turtles, Goldfish, and Fatboy Slim. George Howard, JD/MBA, was recently named one of America's 50 greatest Disruptors by Newsweek Magazine. He is a founding member of Open Music Initiative (OMI), a collaborative effort between MIT, Harvard, and Berklee to create an open source protocol to increase transparency for royalty distribution. He is the former president of Rykodisc; cofounder of digital music distributor TuneCore;  a Distinguished Professor of music business/management at Berklee College of Music; and author of 2017's best-selling book: Everything In Its Right Place: How Blockchain Technology Will Lead to a More Transparent Music Industry. Mark Ross is the CEO of ACME Innovation which creates access to the metaverse for media companies, and has founded or financed a multitude of entertainment related companies and startups including Audigent, Music Audience Exchange, Riptide Music Group, Project M, and Sir George Martin's GrandMaster Music. Visit: www.dequency.io.

About Borderless Capital
Borderless Capital is a modern financial institution investing capital and co-building financial products that accelerate access, bootstrap adoption, and create value globally through the Algorand Borderless Economy. As a thought leader in blockchain with deep expertise in the Algorand ecosystem, they advise our portfolio companies on go-to-market strategies to effectively build their network effect. For more info: https://www.borderlesscapital.io.

About Algorand
Algorand is building the technology to power the Future of Finance (FutureFi), the convergence of traditional and decentralized models into a unified system that is inclusive, frictionless, and secure. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for defi, financial institutions and governments to smoothly transition into FutureFi. The technology of choice for more than 1000 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com.