Kesha — sure, “brush my enamel with a bottle of Jack” Kesha — is now a startup founder. However should you suppose her journey from raunchy pop star to CEO is surprising, then you definitely haven’t been paying consideration.
Kesha has all the time embraced contradictions. She exploded onto the pop scene in 2010 with irreverent ear sweet like “Blah Blah Blah” and “TiK ToK,” stylizing her identify with a greenback signal regardless of throwing shade on the egregious wealth of Hollywood. She didn’t let individuals dismiss her as a one-dimensional, glitter-clad get together woman. As beleaguered excessive schoolers studied for exams amid Kesha’s rise to fame, they whispered in frustration about how the world’s most well-known get together woman received a near-perfect rating on the SAT however turned down a full experience to Barnard Faculty to sing about peeing in champagne bottles.
The most important contradiction of Kesha’s story is that regardless of residing the dream of a pop star on the floor, her years within the highlight have been nightmarish behind the scenes. Now, drawing from her personal expertise struggling by the hands of predatory file contracts, Kesha is constructing an app referred to as Smash, which is a approach for musicians to seek out each other, make music collectively, and set up clear, artist-friendly contracts amongst collaborators.
Smash goals to set itself aside by utilizing a built-in system to generate contracts between artists. The phrases of the contracts rely on what every artist decides — for instance, a musician might determine to license a beat for a set charge or request a proportion of royalties over time. Smash would fund itself by taking a small lower of funds made by way of the app.
“One of many items of leverage, particularly over youthful music creators, is you want a approach into the membership,” Kesha’s brother and Smash co-founder Lagan Sebert advised TechCrunch. “With Smash, we wish to give music creators the keys to get into this membership of execs and different creators with out them feeling like they should signal something away, or make any massive selections about the remainder of their lives.”
After establishing herself as a powerhouse pop star, Kesha sued her producer Dr. Luke in 2014 for alleged sexual, bodily, and emotional abuse. He instantly countersued her for defamation, sparking a high-profile authorized battle and reckoning with the darkish aspect of pop music.
Although Kesha sought to get out of her recording contract with Dr. Luke, the court docket dominated in opposition to her, forcing her to launch three extra albums with him.
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It was solely this month — on July 4, a date chosen very deliberately — that Kesha launched an album with out Dr. Luke for the primary time. However regaining her personal creative company isn’t sufficient. Now that she is a completely impartial artist, she needs to assist make sure that different younger musicians don’t fall sufferer to exploitative file offers like she did.
“One of many issues that basically motivated her was when she went by way of this lengthy authorized battle to regain the rights to her voice, regain rights to her music,” Sebert mentioned. “I feel the motivation behind Smash greater than something was to attempt to give music creators entry to the group they should create music independently.”
Constructing the band
If Kesha and her brother have been going to construct an app, they have been going to wish some technological experience.
Years in the past, Kesha attended an ACTAI Ventures occasion and met Lars Rasmussen, who co-founded Google Maps and was one of many first traders in design unicorn Canva. The 2 stayed in contact, and when it got here time to construct Smash, Rasmussen launched her to Alan Cannistraro, who would turn into the app’s CTO.
Cannistraro spent over 12 years at Apple, the place he labored on merchandise for creatives like Last Minimize; he additionally managed a staff of engineers to construct the primary ever apps for iOS, like Distant, iBooks, iTunes, and Podcasts. He went on to begin Rheo, a social video startup, however he has all the time had an curiosity in music.
“Within the late ‘90s, when my buddies have been all utilizing Napster, I used to be saying to them, ‘What the hell, you want this music. Why are you screwing the artist?’” Cannistraro advised TechCrunch. “It’s all the time simply been in my worth system that artists should be supported.”
When Kesha, her brother Lagan, and Cannistraro began working collectively, Rasmussen turned one in all their first traders. Kesha even introduced the app as a part of Rasmussen’s Panathēnea pageant in Greece.
“Smash is a group platform for music creators. It’s a spot the place you possibly can go to attach, to create, and to rent, all whereas retaining the rights to what you create,” Kesha mentioned on the pageant. “The objective is to shift the ability again to the fingers of the creators.”
“The contracting is protected — it’s all clear, and then you definitely get to decide on, and also you get consent over the place your artwork and the place your voice goes, and the way it goes into the world, all whereas retaining the rights to what you will have simply created,” she added.
The Smash app stays a piece in progress, desiring to open to some artists later this 12 months. However to check a few of the tech instruments that the corporate has created up to now, Smash hosted a contest the place artists might submit remixes of Kesha’s music “Boy Loopy” — the 5 winners of the competition could have their remixes launched on Kesha’s file label for what Sebert calls an “trade customary remix charge.”
“I regained the rights to my voice again for the primary time in my grownup life about one 12 months in the past, as a 37-year-old lady,” Kesha mentioned at Panathēnea. “Predatory offers like which can be regular.”
