NEW YORK, JANUARY 28, 2021 - Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown℠) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Found.ee(pronounced FOUN-dee), the comprehensive advertising and digital marketing platform that provides artists, managers and labels with a range of tools to build, target and optimize promotional campaigns. With this transaction, Downtown will acquire the intellectual property and technology that underpins the Found.ee platform.

“Artists across the spectrum are increasingly opting for independence and taking a more active role in all aspects of their careers, especially when it comes to marketing and promotion. The technology, tools, and access Found.ee offers creators and their teams is yet another example of how the music industry continues to evolve. Our acquisition of Found.ee, its technology, and unique expertise in both the digital advertising and music industry ecosystems, is an ideal complement to Downtown’s existing portfolio of artist and label services,” said Downtown CEO Justin Kalifowitz.

Used by more than 25,000 artists and labels from around the world, the Found.ee platform was developed specifically to provide powerful ad tech tools that deliver more effective digital advertising campaigns across online, mobile, social and audio channels. Found.ee enables users to develop custom interactive ads, related promotional tools and analytics that can improve the effectiveness of digital campaigns while empowering creators to more directly identify and engage with fans. Downtown subsidiary CD Baby©, which is a minority investor in Found.ee, already uses the platform to power its existing promotional and marketing capabilities available to CD Baby artists.

"We're so excited to join Downtown. Since day one, Found.ee has helped musicians leverage data, insights and advanced marketing tools to shape their own destiny. I truly can't imagine a better home for Found.ee, and I’m excited to continue delivering more tools that help creators of all kinds chart their own path," said Jason Hobbs, CEO of Found.ee.

Hobbs will join Downtown following the transaction closing, which is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2021.

The acquisition of Found.ee comes following unprecedented worldwide growth for Downtown. In 2020 alone, the company made several key acquisitions, including the global music distribution and analytics firm FUGA℠, the France-based audio fingerprinting technology company Simbals, and Africa’s largest independent music publisher Sheer Publishing Africa. Additionally, Downtown acquired the catalogs of both Motown icon Mickey Stevenson and Sia’s longtime co-writer Chris Braide, as well as independent London-based music publisher Good Soldier Songs, including an ongoing deal (that has since been renewed) with The 1975. Also in 2020, the Company’s music publishing division announced it had reached a deal to represent the catalog of iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, as well as a record number of client contributions to works nominated at the upcoming 63rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards.

About Downtown

Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown℠) is a modern global music company. We help millions of creators, rights holders and their partners to manage their music as a business and get paid fairly for their work. We service more than 20 million music assets from hundreds of countries across six continents, including some of the world’s most well-known songs, from a catalog that spans 100 years of popular music, including music for film and television, and the single largest independent sound recording catalog in the industry. Our integrated platforms help democratize global music rights management and simplify the distribution, monetization, and promotion of creative works. Working with creators at every stage of their career, from emerging songwriters to iconic performers, our business model drives equity across the entire global music industry supply chain.