Jam is a social media platform with a focus on music, but aimed at all different types of artists including musicians, designers and video creators.
Launched by CEO Choi Sang Yeon in August last year, the platform lets creators upload their own content and connect with other artists to form collaborations. Choi, who has been involved in the industry for the past ten years, says that only 3-5% of aspiring singers are able to make debuts through local agents, with the rest often having to give up their dreams. With the number of wannabe-artists dropping, he had the idea to keep help artists dream alive by working with others.
Jam is open to many different types of artists including song writers, lyricists, vocalists, rappers, photographers, designers, video directors and sound engineers. The service was initially in beta for the first 10 months, and over that time over 3000 artists used the site to upload 6000 different types of content.
The user base has continued to grow since Jam was taken out of beta and officially launched in June. New features were also added, such as the ability to found a “company” online with other artists. Through the company feature, artists can work together and even meet offline to create content.
Long term, Jam United plans to connect companies with record producers to help realize their music. The startup has already partnered with producers and music companies such as RBW and MusicCube to help promote albums to the masses.
Aside from this, Jam also lets individuals and groups sell their music online with profits initially split 80/20 between artists and Jam United respectively. As artists become more active their user level increases, and the amount they can take home also gets higher.
Music can be streamed or downloaded, and one aspect that artists will like is that they can price their content themselves. Jam also helps distribute music to popular music services such as Melon, and plans to work with cafes and other venues for better even exposure.
“We plan to give artists as much exposure as possible through producing albums and music services at retail venues,” says Choi. “Our goal is to create a stepping stone for successful artists.”
Jam isn’t stopping at the local market, and plans to eventually release its service in English, Japanese and Chinese so artists from around the world can collaborate together.
