8tracks, the crowd-curated (read not Pandora) internet radio service, announced on Tuesday its SeedInvest campaign is officially open to the public. The platform is looking to sell up to $11 million Series A preferred stock to investors.
The company went on to Twitter to announce the campaign’s opening:
It’s official! Now anyone can invest and own a piece of @8tracks – go here to find out more: https://t.co/KOEtAnhAEU pic.twitter.com/gXVqqbjuBp
— 8tracks (@8tracks) June 14, 2016
As previously reported, the company, which utilized the ability to “Test the Waters” under Regulation A+ before the rules went into effect last month, topped $33 million in indicated interest from over 40,000 potential investors through the funding portal earlier this year. Its registration rocketed to over $25 million immediately as fans of the platform rushed to support the young company.
8tracks’ business model is predicated on the fact that about 80% of all music listening is delivered through some form of radio: traditional, satellite, or Internet. The platform reports that it reaches 5 million monthly active users who stream 20 million- 30 million hours of music each month.
8tracks’ CEO David Porter previously stated:
“At 8tracks, our product literally comes from our community. Bringing people together over a shared love of music is in our DNA. As we explored funding options, it was a logical step to ask our community of listeners and DJs to become actual owners. We’ve been thrilled and humbled by the level of response already.”
Launched in 2008, 8track hired its first full-time employee in 2011. It then raised $1.2 million during a Seed round from Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, 14W (backed by Len Blavatnik, whose Access Industries owns Warner Music Group), and a handful of angels from the music sector. Going from cottage industry to big business has taken some time but today they claim the spot as the third largest digital music company around. Funds from the campaign will be used for global growth and building upon the website’s already substantial listener base of 16 million individuals.
Porter revealed in a blog post:
“In February, we asked members of our community if they’d like to invest in 8tracks, but we never expected the amazing response we got! Over 40,000 people showed interest in owning shares in 8tracks, so we embarked on a path to make it possible. We began 8tracks with a simple premise: the best music discovery experiences happen through people. Today, every single one of the 2,000,000+ playlists people have created on 8tracks reminds us how a shared love of music can build a true community.”
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