By Aliza Hava - Founder/CEO of Musician’s BASS

If you or anyone you know has ever dreamt of “making it big” as a successful musician, then you’re well aware of the trials and tribulations artists face when building their music careers. From navigating shady industry types who promise the world to signing bad record deals, the path to success can be ridden with landmines.  

In the current digital era, where streaming has decimated record sales and vastly redefined what “making it” means, the zero-barriers-to-entry of the DIY or “New Music Business” has created a massive opportunity for independent artists to develop their careers on their own while defining success for themselves.

However, in order to break through this already saturated, highly-competitive, andincreasingly DIY market, independent musicians need to think strategically and be like swiss army knives approaching their art from a business perspective. The challenge is that most of them have no clue where to begin. That’s where Musician’s BASS comes in.

Musician’s BASS - Business Administration Software for Success, endeavors to be the go-to, all-in-one solution for self-managing artists, bands, and their teams. This includes fanbase growth, analytics, legal, social media management, and more. Designed by the principles of form and function, artists experience a guided workflow and learn to manage themselves by using the necessary tools for the tasks at hand.

As an independent singer/songwriter, concert producer, and music educator for most of my life, I’ve worked in different facets of the industry and have watched as the advent of big tech has shifted the power structures of major labels. More and more artists are choosing to go the DIY route by distributing their own music and building their careers from the ground up rather than trying to get signed the old-fashioned way. With nearly 40% of all revenue from recorded music in 2018 coming from indies, with close to 10% growth from the previous year, one thing is very clear. The old model is flailing and the future of music is independent.

Even those who aren’t in the music business are starting to agree. Recently, Musician’s BASS took home the Grand Prize in the Venture Division of the Monterey Startup Challenge hosted by CSUMB.  Had it not been for the Santa Cruz New Tech MeetUp, I would not have known about the Startup Challenge, nor realized how much of a supportive and growing tech community Santa Cruz has. I feel very fortunate to be living here as a founder of an emerging music-tech company, and believe this is the perfect place to plant my startup’s roots and build my team. 

That said, I’m actively seeking a technical co-founder who’s interested in building vital business management tools for the new frontier of musical entrepreneurs. For inquiries, please write to me at aliza@musiciansbass.com.