Tonos Builds Network: It Acquires Industry Sites, Financing

NEW YORK-With additional content, cash, and industry connections, Tonos.com is moving steadily forward with plans to assemble what its founders dub "the ultimate insiders' network for the music business."
The online site-announced late last year by award-winning artist/writer/producers Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster, and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and slated to launch in April-has completed a $7 million initial round of private financing from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and online entertainment company Shockwave.com Inc.
Private funding will be followed in time by a public offering, Sager says.
Culver City, Calif.-based Tonos also has acquired the Velvet Rope, an online forum on the daily goings-on at record labels, and Net Music School, an online site for music lessons. Velvet Rope founder Julie Gordon becomes a Tonos employee, according to Tonos CEO Matt Farber (BillboardBulletin, March 14).
The Velvet Rope becomes part of Tonos Insider, described as "providing a backstage pass to the inner workings of the music business." Net Music School becomes part of Tonos Mentor, a section offering "creative and business guidance."
"I would have loved if someone would have told me when I was 18 that I didn't have to give away 100% of my publishing," Sager says. "That's the kind of thing that we and our friends who are artists and writers are going to be able to share."
Noted producers and/or songwriters Rodney Jerkins, Max Martin, Diane Warren, Matt Serletic, and Byron Gallimore have signed exclusive deals to provide mentoring and collaborative services for Tonos.com, according to Sager and Farber, who dub them the Hitmakers. They will be featured in the Mentor section as well as in Tonos Challenges, which intends to offer singers, songwriters, and other industry aspirants "the opportunity to showcase their craft and collaborate with the Hitmakers."
Like its founders, Tonos' newest Hitmakers will not be figureheads but active participants, Sager says.
"Those names that you see are names that absolutely plan to be available to the public in whatever ways they feel most comfortable," says Sager. "The last thing that we want to be is a Planet Hollywood-just buying names."
"Suddenly people have access to people they never dreamed they'd have access to," adds Farber of the site's allure. "Suddenly we have the leading insiders in the business available to not only show people what they do, but to share that knowledge and insight in a collaborative way."
The site will appeal to different people on different levels, Farber acknowledges-whether they are a fascinated fan or a serious creative or business aspirant. But one can quickly become the other, he adds.
"A fan may come to see David Foster in the studio with Celine Dion and learn what really goes on behind the process, and suddenly they may want to get involved and create something themself," he says. "Or see something discussed on the Velvet Rope and form a strong opinion of their own. So creatively or businesswise, whether you are a fan or somebody who wants to be in the industry or [are] in the industry already, we're always saying, "Don't just observe, come and do,' and that's what Tonos is all about."
Tonos will field an A&R staff to help identify talent in ongoing contests at the site, Farber says, and to "package [winners] and present them to labels and publishers." "We don't want to be a label ourselves," Sager adds.
Although started by its founders with a vision to "give something back to a business that has given so much to us," Sager says they later discovered there was a very strong business behind the concept, something echoed in Sequoia's interest.
"The world has become fascinated with not just the star or the product, but the stars behind the stars and the product," Sager says. "People would rather stay backstage and see the process than sit in the fifth row."
Farber declines to say how Tonos will make money, except that there will be "multiple revenue streams."