INgrooves Founder Robb McDaniels Launches Faction To Disrupt Music Management
With labels and the music industry offering less and less support, managers have become the linchpin of most artists' teams. But except for those who give up 50% equity to join mega-management groups like Red Light, most managers are left with no road map and little support. Faction hopes to change all that.
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INgrooves Music Group Founder and former CEO, Robb McDaniels has launched Faction, a technology driven startup that aims to serve and empower music managers. Founding launch partners include Kevin Zinger and Ivory Daniel of Regime Management, the managers of Everlast, Dilated Peoples, Madchild and Common Kings.
Faction is designed as a scalable management services company that delivers proprietary technology, centralized infrastructure and a collaborative culture often missing in the music industry. The startup will charge managers a share of commissions for the services. Manager will also participate in an equity pool, further aligning the collective interests of all involved.
“Artist managers, and talent managers more broadly, are the CEOs for their creative clients but have been lacking the tools and collaborative culture to operate effectively,” commented Robb McDaniels. “Faction is the first management company to provide managers with a suite of technology tools, services and partners to help them operate their businesses more efficiently and transparently, and all for a fraction of the cost of doing it on their own or joining a larger management company and giving away up to 50% of their income."
Faction will offer centralized services to its managers, including digital marketing and social media, tour marketing, business operations, accounting, HR and an idea incubator to help managers and artists develop and commercialize new brands and products. By Q2, Faction managers will be able to create their own “factions” and invite key business partners like labels, publishers, booking agents, etc to all collaborate and share information.
Launch Partners
"Faction is the first business model we have seen that combines technology, services and ownership together to create a culture and platform that can actually make a difference in our daily lives,” added manager and launch partner Ivory Daniel.
Additional partners include Kino Childrey (The Initiative Group), Paul Stepanek (Paul Stepanek Management), Marc Friedenberg (MJF Management), Brian Ross (Elliptic Artist Management) and Anna Axster (Axster Bingham Co.). Collectively the managers represents and broad cross section of talent including , Ryan Bingham, Jamestown Revival, Dilated Peoples, Royce Da 5’9”, Sick Puppies, Everlast, Blackalicious, Trevor Hall, Slaughterhouse, Madchild, Common Kings and Poncho Sanchez.
Funding
Faction has raised initial capital from angel investors, including some music industry executives along with Manatt Venture Fund and TechInvest. Faction is based in Los Angeles and has plans to open offices in New York and London later in 2016.
