Live performance is the only irreplaceable asset.
While revenue per stream stays flat or dips due to content overload, live ticket prices have surged as fans crave irreplaceable experiences. Data: Pollstar (tickets), Royalty Exchange/IFPI (streams).
I’m a drummer. That matters more than it sounds. I look at every deal through two lenses: The Drummer (would I actually use this?) and The Builder (I co-founded CoinShares and took it to the Nasdaq). I don’t invest in tech that replaces musicians. I invest in tech that gets them paid.
In 2012, Danny Masters & I pivoted from commodities to Bitcoin. Everyone thought we’d lost the plot. Same pattern here: I see the undervalued asset before the consensus forms.
Today, I see undervaluation in the live layer of music tech. While VCs chase Generative AI, I’m chasing the unscalable, uncopyable value of human presence.
My thesis:
Spotify is a billboard, not a bank. The only asset in music that cannot be copied by AI, downloaded, or commoditised is presence. I fund the pipes that turn a $0.003 passive stream into a $50 sweaty ticket. If you keep them on a screen, I’m out. If you get them in the room, I’m in.
Because live is the only irreplaceable asset.
Streaming solved distribution, but it broke monetization. Artists are drowning in noise while starving for income. The data is brutal: on Bandcamp, only 5.4% of the 706,000 artists who responded to the 2021 survey earned $600 or more for the entire year. The top 2% take 60% of the revenue.
This is why I’m investing in tools that don’t just add more streams or downloads — but that actively drive fans from passive listening into the one thing that can’t be commoditised: live, in-person connection. As a drummer, I’ve been in the room. I know what artists actually need vs. what Silicon Valley thinks they need.
We’re seeing a slowdown in pure streaming growth, and I think part of the reason for that is that humans crave a deeper connection with the artists they love.
I’m not here to ‘disrupt’ the industry or save it. I want to help independent artists turn digital attention into sustainable real-world revenue.
To work with me, you must believe that live is the only asset that can’t be commoditised.
The market data backs the intuition
The Market Opportunity
The money has moved. In 2014, the money was in the MP3. In 2024, the money is in the moshpit. The recorded music industry is a $30B game of pennies. The live industry is a $67B empire of experiences. I invest in the bridge between the pennies and the empire.
This is where indie artists can actually capture more of the live pie.
Look at recent growth rates: DSPs grew 15% in H1 2025 but labels only 3.8%; streaming itself slowed to 6.2% in 2024. Live was the standout performer. Tech that funnels passive streamers into live events & tickets is the highest-ROI place to play.
Recorded music (the replaceable digital layer) vs live music (the only irreplaceable asset). Data: Goldman Sachs Music in the Air 2025 forecast, cross-checked with MIDiA Research.
Pure Digital Tools Aren’t Enough Any More
Streaming has become commoditised and passive: 70% of listeners are in “passive” mode; weekly music time now trails social video. 8.2 million indie creators are self-releasing. Music creators are projected to reach 244 million globally by 2031 (up from 127 million in 2024), according to MIDiA Research. Of independent labels surveyed by MIDiA agree it is getting harder than ever to cut through the noise (87%).
My feeds on social media are so choked with irrelevant content I barely go on some of the channels any more. Fandom is eclipsing: 20% of 16–19s prefer fan-made versions; on at least one major platform (Deezer), 28% of new tracks delivered to streaming are already AI-generated, per MIDiA Research. For someone trying to help indie artists make a living, that’s not a good thing.
Digital is great at distribution — but terrible at creating the one thing that can’t be copied or algorithmically replaced: the shared, sweaty, in-person moment; the conversation with a random human standing at the bar in a venue where you learn something really interesting (I’ve met some founders this way).
I Don’t Fund Revolutions. I Fund the Empires that Survive Them
I back Evolution, not Revolution. I made my money by building a regulated, institutional-grade asset manager for crypto, not by trying to burn down the banks. The founders I back in music will do the same: work with labels, venues, and platforms, not against them. Old soldiers outlast bold soldiers.
I built infrastructure for an asset class that the establishment didn’t understand yet. Music isn’t broken, it’s underserved by the tools available to it. Same pattern, different industry. I’m not here to put music on the blockchain.
But music is a graveyard for VCs. Read Part 2 to find out why I’m investing anyway….
Sources: MiDiA Research – Independent Label & Distributor Survey; Future of Labels; Future of Music Streaming; Music Metric 2025-H1; Global Music Forecasts 2025-2032