Photo Credit: Markus Winkler
Days after disclosing that its initial non-fungible token (NFT) project had generated $2 million, “Web3 music specialist” Public Pressure has formally announced a $6 million funding round.
London-headquartered Public Pressure, which arrived on the scene in its current form four months back, revealed the multimillion-dollar raise this morning. Before debuting in the Web3 arena in August of this year, Public Pressure had in 2015 rolled out “as an online community and magazine dedicated to giving a voice to emerging artists and labels,” according to higher-ups.
Now, bringing this original vision to the Web3 space and the contemporary music landscape, Public Pressure says it’s working “to empower the artist/fan relationship while creating new revenue streams for creators and the wider music industry.”
Scytale Ventures, a self-described “digital asset manager with a focus on blockchain solutions,” led Public Pressure’s $6 million round, which likewise drew support from Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood, Energy Web founder Ed Hesse, Web3 and crypto investment firm Matterblock, and Munich-based VC HV Capital, per the business.
(Public Pressure was built on Polkadot, which is said to boast “the lowest total electricity consumption and carbon emissions per year of the six proof-of-stake (POS) blockchains” and to have been designed specifically “to support the transition of music to Web3.”)
Moving forward, Public Pressure – which says that it has offices in the U.S., Europe, and Hong Kong – intends to continue building out and pursuing its overarching music-related goals. And in a statement, Scytale founder and CIO Mark Cachia touted Web3’s perceived long-term significance for artists.
“We believe that music and artists will be one of the industries that will most benefit from Web3,” said the former Erste Group exec Cachia. “Public Pressure is the first music project on Polkadot and this kind of forward thinking gives us confidence that the team at Public Pressure are best placed to execute a win-win strategy for artists and also investors.”
In a statement of his own, Public Pressure founder and president Sergio Mottola, who’s also a founding partner at Milan’s Twelve Ventures, said in part: “Web 3 is about creating a fairer internet where the user owns their data and identity. For us, it is about creating a more equitable music industry where artists control the relationship with their fans and oversee the distribution of their products.”
Earlier this year, Web3 music-creation startup Arpeggi Labs announced a $5.1 million raise, whereas Web3 music revenue share platform Reveel unveiled $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. Meanwhile, Warner Music has continued to lean particularly hard into Web3, including by launching Probably A Label and by overhauling Spinnin’ Records “to remain ahead of the industry’s curve.”