Area4 Labs Inc. Raises New Funding for Live Music Discovery Platform Hearby

Area4 Labs today announced it has secured funding to expand its live music discovery platform Hearby which provides detailed information where music lovers can find and safely support socially distanced live shows and live-stream events via the Hearby app on the web at www.hearby.com.

Area4 Labs Inc. today announced it has raised a total of $1.5 million in seed capital with a recent round of funding led by London-based Namier Capital. The funds will accelerate expansion of its AI-driven live music discovery service — aimed at increasing the awareness and distribution of information on live music in communities across North America.

Launched in March 2020, Hearby captures information on more music shows than any other source — by far — across 70 US and Canadian cities. While the big touring acts are easy to find, Hearby aims to cover it all — going deep into local music scenes and neighborhoods: from pedal guitarists to techno DJs; from hip-hop ciphers to Irish jam sessions; from experimental sound artists to cover bands.

Then came Covid. Just before lockdown, on a single day in March, Hearby listed details on 290 live music shows in New York City. In Los Angeles, it was 210 shows that same day. In still wintery Boston, well-wrapped punters had 85 shows to choose from the numerous smaller, more intimate local venues. Since lockdown live music has all but collapsed — though there is a pulse. There are shows happening. There is a future and technology & data are part of it.

“It’s perhaps counter-intuitive to raise money right now for a business about people gathering together around live music,” admitted Gary Halliwell, CEO of Area4 Labs the small Cambridge-based start-up founded by data entrepreneur Halliwell & MIT professor Ian Condry. “We are tracking an uptick in live shows over the summer in the northeast US as people have started to figure out social distancing & streaming. But it’s only a few percent of the show volume of normal times,” he added.

The company expects to re-start publishing up-coming show information in September and October to support these shows and artists and to get this information to the public.

“We set out to use technology in new ways to help fans of all kinds discover live music across the country. That need hasn’t gone away. It has only intensified,” said Ian Condry, Area4 Lab’s Chief Anthropologist and author of two books about the spread of global cultural movements: Hip Hop Japan and The Soul of Anime.

The latest funding allows Area4 Labs to accelerate expansion to international cities — the UK is currently in the works. The company currently tracks show activity across 86 North American cities/metro-markets.

“We invested in Area4 Labs because of the data and business model the team had developed and because we totally agree it’s very difficult and time consuming to find live music. With the capital to accelerate and expand internationally, we believe Area4 Labs will have a huge impact on the economic security of musicians, and emerge a new player on the global music tech stage as the recovery and return to live indoor shows occurs”, explained Mark Beilby of Namier Capital.

“Area4 Labs provides a cost-effective AI driven solution for widely distributing live music show information, honed by years of experience in reshaping industries through disruptive data solutions,” he added. “Their mission to provide new ways to find live music in the community and support musicians and venues is more relevant than ever.

Original article by Linares PR+