Breakr is a black owned, HBCU alumni founded, hot new music app that connects influencers with artists to facilitate the “breaking” of new music. Record labels and artists management groups have utilized influencers to “break” new music for years with high ticket promotional contracts on Tik Tok, IG, etc. The music industry knows exactly how to monetize the power of influence but what about the influencers themselves or independent artists? Breakr gives any level influencer the power to set their own price for the content they create and any level artists to reach out directly for a partnership. It cuts out the messy middleman and democratizes music for all.
Breakr is one of the seven chosen recipients out of 1,200 applicants of the Andreessen Horowitz’s Talent x Opportunity Fund, set up to support entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds who have the “talent, drive, and ideas to build great businesses.”
Meet the four FAMU (Florida A&M University) alumni that found music’s hottest new app Brearkr: Ameer Brown, Anthony Brown, Rotimi Omosheyin and Dan Ware. Ameer, Rotimi and Dan met at FAMU while pledging the same fraternity (Alpha Phi Alpha) and Anthony is Ameer’s older brother.
Ameer Brown, Breakr Co-Founder, and CTO: Ameer Brown is the genius behind Breakr and Head of Product at Breakr. After years working in the music and promotion industry, running his own brand for a decade and working with major recording artists, influencers and DJs around the U.S., he saw first hand the problems both influencers and artists faced when collaborating with one another. As an engineer by trade, naturally Ameer invented a technology to solve this problem. Ameer told Built In, “We consider this a Trojan horse,” Ameer Brown told Built In. “We’re solving this one problem in terms of allowing influencers to charge off their social capital. But we believe that, down the line, we’re going to resolve this problem for brands in a more streamlined manner. And we’re also going to be able to solve this problem for record labels at scale. There’s a lot of opportunity down the road that keeps me excited and keeps us up at night, working hard.”
Anthony Brown, Breaker Co-Founder, CEO: Anthony (Tony) Brown, Ameer’s older brother is the Chief Executive Officer of Breakr. Tony comes from the financial services background, having worked as a principal at Acumen Fund and both J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. In an interview with Afrotech, Tony said of the opportunity in Breakr, “There are ~20mm emerging artists worldwide generating ~40,000+ songs a day, suffering from extreme content saturation. This environment makes generating consumer and label awareness a gargantuan task for new artists. Simultaneously, there is 157 million micro to mid-tier influencers who are not effectively monetizing their social capital and not currently organized as a collective to facilitate the breaking of new music digitally.”
Rotimi Omosheyin Jr., Breakr Co-Founder, President of Partnerships & Marketplace acquisition: Rotimi (Timi) Omosheyin is the Head of Marketplace Liquidity and Strategic Partnerships at Breakr. Timi holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administrations (MBA) and has an extensive background in sales and business development. Most people would be scared to start a business during COVID but Timi saw an unique opportunity and told Afrotech: “As COVID-19 exacerbates existing trends toward greater use of digital channels, new tech-enabled music platforms will have to emerge to fill the void created by crumbling traditional business models used to promote new music and support artists. With live events being few and far between in this new normal, artists must rely 100% on online music promotion to promote their new music.”
Daniel Ware, Breakr Co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer: Daniel (Dan) Ware is the Chief Marketing Officer at Breakr with an extensive background in growth marketing. Dan has worked with brands such as Pepsi, Nike, Twitch, and more. Now Dan is bringing his growth marketing expertise and disruptive focus to the music industry with Breakr. Dan told Afrotech: “there is a massive untapped market of creators, influencers, and deejays who are willing to integrate new music into their content. However, no platform exists to organize the sourcing, filtration, and payment process for micro-to-mid-tier influencers looking to participate in the music promotion business.”
For more information on Breakr, visit www.musicbreakr.com.
