Founder of music platform Shodement on disrupting the music industry as we know it

Jay Lamusica, Founder of Shodement, the on-demand artist development platform, has come a long way since the inception of the business in 2012. Launching an AI-Powered app to boost independent artists’ careers, raising a $13m advance facility  for UK music creators or self-funding a sold-out festival in London with headline acts going double platinum-selling, are just a few examples behind the successful entrepreneur disrupting the music industry as we know it.

With global living experience of music, this Italian-born entrepreneur, with Nigerian roots and now a Londoner, understands music from the view of different perspectives and cultures. His idea for  Shodement was built in college after Jay’s friends were rejected by a local record label, leading him to the decision to build the label of the next generation instead himself.

The first years in business were an uphill battle with humble beginnings and many failed projects. However, after the initial hurdles, the business gained momentum and received its initial investment from Axial Capital Partners, after discovering Jay when he was producing shows for artists in London at the age of 19. Shortly after, Jay connected with Crowd Emotion’s CFO, Chris Wallis at a London Business conference, who offered him mentorship in business.

In the fifth year, the business reached its second breakthrough with the signing of Colombian star, Angelica Lopez who went on to win Lukas Awards Artist of the Year. This breakthrough led to Shodement building up its client base with projects for brands including Oxfam and Content Capital, launching festivals, discovering double platinum-selling records, and promoting artists around the world.

In 2020 everything changed for Shodement. The Covid-19 lockdown forced musicians to operate with teams on-demand and Jay was already an established music industry executive pioneering this trend already. The team took the decision to time this market shift with the launch of the technology division of the business and make their resources available to the whole music industry on demand.

The market shift was pioneered by Merck Mercuriadis, founder of Hipgnosis as one of the leaders in that area, and he was able to translate the potential of music content to the finance world. The technology was launched around the same time and thanks to music becoming a popular asset created by its artists, the value is now understood by leading private equity firms.

In the first 10 months of the app launch, the business attracted an M&A offer from a Global conglomerate, which Shodement later turned down in order to maintain customer focus.  “The reality is, I do think when you are part of a bigger organisation you tend to focus a bit less on the customers and it becomes more difficult to execute. From my view we are just getting started and we prefer to stay independent”, said Jay following the rejection of the offer.

In 2021, the business expanded the offering with a £10m ($13.5m) advance facility which came through thanks to the massive shift in the market and the boom of streaming. The concept is built around giving creators unlimited capital and teams on demand, so they can scale worldwide without losing ownership of the music rights. The Shodement team works closely with the artists and build them from zero to a “Music style IPO” to build Superstars of the next generation.

The company is now valued at over £3 million in 2022 with new investors confirmed to join their new financing round after scoring the fifth consecutive year with a breakthrough artist, making this 28-year-old Award-winning music executive one of the most promising music entrepreneurs in the industry. Shodement recently announced that the company is officially starting to sign new acts from this quarter, whilst the business continues its mission to build the future of the music industry and using its success to fund social responsibility projects like their youth-led yearly festivals such as Global 12, providing hundreds of jobs for young diverse creatives in London.