Music Infrastructure Company, or MusicInfra, has appointed Jules Parker, former Global Head of Songwriter and Publisher Partnerships at Spotify, as its Chief Business Officer.
Parker joins the New York City-based music rights startup after nearly nine years at Spotify, where he created and led the streaming platform’s global songwriter and publisher partnerships division.
During his tenure at Spotify, Parker oversaw the launch of several songwriter-focused initiatives including Songwriter Pages, Written By playlists, clickable song credits, Noteable and Spotify Songwriting marketing channels, Songwriter Wrapped, and the Spotify for Publishing analytics portal.
MusicInfra made the announcement on Thursday (September 18) as it closed its second funding round led by MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from existing investors Raine, Snö Ventures and UTA Ventures. The company did not disclose the size of the round, though sources indicate it was likely in the high seven figures.
MiddleGame Ventures, which led the financing, specializes in early-stage fintech companies working to digitize global payment systems. The firm invests from seed through Series B in companies.
“This funding round from MiddleGame Ventures, alongside the continuing support from our existing investors Raine, Snö Ventures and UTA Ventures, validates our mission and accelerates our ability to build critical infrastructure for the music industry.”
Björn Lindvall, MusicInfra
The investment comes as MusicInfra, which operates teams across the US, Europe and Latin America, is building what it describes as a “global clearinghouse” for music rights. The platform aims to help digital streaming services, rightsholders and collecting societies navigate licensing agreements.
Commenting on the new funding, Lindvall said: “This funding round from MiddleGame Ventures, alongside the continuing support from our existing investors Raine, Snö Ventures and UTA Ventures, validates our mission and accelerates our ability to build critical infrastructure for the music industry.”
Parker joins MusicInfra’s leadership team that includes Hipgnosis co-founder Björn Lindvall as CEO, former YouTube head of publishing partner engineering Greg Quillard as Chief Technology and Product Officer, YouTube alumni Ryan Seay as VP of Product, Joe DiPalo as VP of Operations, former Meta music GC Aileen Atkins as Head of Partnerships, and engineers from Gracenote and Google.
Lindvall said: “Our team brings together decades of experience building the systems that power today’s music ecosystem, and with this investment and the team’s collective expertise, we’re perfectly positioned to positively impact some of the industry’s most persistent challenges and help improve the music landscape for all participants.
“We are also excited about Jules joining MusicInfra, bringing his deep and far reaching music and tech experience, at a time when our company is accelerating fast and gaining scale.”
The new developments at MusicInfra come amid the wave of deals in the music rights space. Earlier this month, New York-headquartered Reservoir Media acquired Miles Davis’ music publishing catalog. Reservoir will also partner with the late Jazz icon’s estate on name and likeness opportunities.
Last month, fresh from having raised $500 million for music rights acquisitions, GoldState Music acquired the catalog of Grammy-nominated producer and entrepreneur Yung Lan, best-known for hits including Fetty Wap’s RGF Island, Morgan Wallen’s Cowgirls and Girl Gone Missin’, Lil Uzi Vert’s That Way, Roddy Ricch’s Boom Boom Boom and Bacc Seat feat. Ty Dolla $ign, and NBA YoungBoy‘s Renada and Nurse.
Other deals in the music rights space over the past few months are Hopeless Records’ purchase of the catalog of indie label Fat Wreck Chords, home of NOFX and other influential punk bands; Pythagors Music Fund’s acquisition of rock producer Kevin Shirley; Create Music Group’s purchase of the catalog of Pack Records; and Reservoir’s acquisition of the publishing catalog of Lastrada Entertainment.
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