HITCO Entertainment acquires stake in – and partners with – ‘revolutionary’ fan-funding platform Corite

Fan funding platform, Corite – co-founded by Universal Music Sweden alumni Mattias Tengblad (CEO) and Emil Angervall (COO) – has inked a partnership with L.A-based HITCO Entertainment.

HITCO, run by L.A Reid and Charles Goldstuck, has acquired a minority stake in Corite and will help the company launch in the US. The two firms plan to launch a joint scouting program in the States to identify up-and-coming artists.

Alongside the new partnership, HITCO founder and co-Chairman, Charles Goldstuck, becomes a Board member at Corite.

Goldstuck said: “The collaboration fostered by Corite between artists and the fan community points to the next chapter in the evolution of the music experience.

“Our alliance with Corite strengthens our commitment to the independent artist and fan communities.”

“The collaboration fostered by Corite between artists and the fan community points to the next chapter in the evolution of the music experience.”

Charles Goldstuck, HITCO

Corite enables fans to directly invest in their favorite artists, and to earn a proportion of said artists’ streaming royalties in return.

The firm’s expansion into the US follows its initial launch in Sweden back in 2019 and subsequent expansion into Europe.

HITCO’s investment, at an undisclosed level, sees Reid and Goldstuck’s firm join Tagehus to lead a new funding round into Corite. Both Almi Invest and existing Corite backer, Charles C. Adams, also participated in the funding round.

To date, Corite says that thousands of artist-investors have signed up to its platform. It has run more than 100 campaigns, says the company, generating millions of streams on Spotify alone across over 200 releases.

The platform’s artist collaborations so far include Danny Saucedo, Sabina Ddumba, Kid Travis, and King Charles.

HITCO Co-Chairman and Founder L.A. Reid said: “Corite has built a foundation for true innovation.

“Fans have always invested in artists by purchasing music, tickets, merchandise, and memorabilia since the onset of the industry.

“Corite now gives fans the opportunity to actively back artists and be jointly awarded for any future success. It’s revolutionary.”

“Corite has built a foundation for true innovation… It’s revolutionary.”

L.A. Reid, HITCO

Mattias Tengblad, CEO and Co-Founder at Corite said: “Ruled by artists, backed by fans. We are building a world run by independent artists, driven by the power of the fans.

“The partnership with HITCO means that we will have an experienced and talented American team at hand, ready to scale up and create a more democratic playing field for artists.”

“Ruled by artists, backed by fans. We are building a world run by independent artists, driven by the power of the fans.”

Mattias Tengblad, Corite

Tengblad and Angervall have impressive history in digital music: the duo co-founded Universal Music Group‘s TuneCore rival, Spinnup, as well as Universal’s flagship streaming playlist brand, Digster.

In September 2019, Corite and London-based AI-driven talent discovery business Instrumental entered into a global partnership that would see Corite leverage Instrumental’s TalentAI platform to identify emerging musicians on the verge of success on its fan funding service.

By December 2019, having releasing its platform in beta in October 2019, Corite claimed to have already gathered thousands of registered users and closed 10 campaigns for 10 artists collecting over $24,000 in total during that time.

HITCO’s roster includes Grammy Award-winning artists such as SAINt JHN and Big Boi of OutKast in addition to Dixie [D’amelio], D-Nice, Rubi Rose, Chelsea Collins, BJRNK and Aiyana-Lee.Music Business Worldwide