Five minutes with Hans Brouwer
Hans Brouwer, CEO and founder of international creative music agency, MassiveMusic, speaks to Transform magazine about what the future of the agency has in store following its acquisition by music licensing platform Songtradr. He discusses the global implications for the audio branding industry going forward, how MassiveMusic and Songtradr are complementary, and how the partnership will enable a transformation for the B2B music industry.
What are the next steps for MassiveMusic?
For now, the first step will be glueing the four companies on the client server side together. Songtradr has two pillars: a tech and data oriented one, and a client service pillar. As part of the latter one, Songtradr has already acquired three companies in the past, with MassiveMusic being the fourth. I will lead the four companies now and merge them into one solid pillar to fit in the wider Songtradar ecosystem.
In the last couple of years, I told brands that we service and cater to anything they might need in the world of music, and now that has really become true. Before, in fact, we couldn’t really service or deliver to the lower end of the content or the fast end of the content, but now we can. The Songtradr platform is completely equipped with a tech site that can take care of that.
How is the acquisition almost a partnership with Songtradr as their offerings are so complementary?
The first reason that made me accept Paul’s [Wiltshire, CEO of Songtradr] proposition when he first called me, is the fact that the two companies are ridiculously complementary to each other. The new company as a whole is better than each singular one by themselves. The second reason is that Songtradr’s culture is very close to the one of MassiveMusic. We’re all music fanatics with our hearts in the right spot, and it felt immediately the same with Paul, who is also a musician. These two ingredients coming together pushed me to sell.
Officially, it was of course an acquisition because I sold my shares to Songtradr, but to me, it’s not about the money. It’s about the synergy between the two and the fact that it will secure a lot of future work for brands because our position is unique in the world. It's always easier to be successful surrounded with other specialists and on a bigger scale than only just MassiveMusic.
How will this ‘partnership’ enable a transformation for the B2B music industry?
The goal is to become the leading B2B music platform in the world, and I think this can be achieved quite fast because the company is completely tech enabled. The more artists and music owners upload music, the more people who need music on the other side can feed off of this - it’s the perfect marketplace for B2B music.
What are the global implications for the audio branding industry going forward?
Our 13-year experience with sonic branding can now land in more cities and with many more brands, as we’re adding six cities to our roster. This way, more local and global brands can benefit from our expertise and experience. By being part of the Songtradr group, together with three other music agencies, we will all share our intel, which will only make the end-product better. We’re already in a good position with MassiveMusic and audio branding as we speak, but it can only be better now that we have more colleagues, offices and expertise.
