Metallica & More Invest in Music Artist-to-Fan Platform Medallion – Billboard

Medallion, a direct-to-consumer platform that helps artists build relationships with their fans, has raised $13.7 million in Series A funding, the company announced Thursday (Dec. 21). The funding will help Medallion, which is led by former Songkick CEO Matt Jones, “to accelerate an ambitious technical roadmap,” the company said in a statement.

The round was co-led by Dragonfly and Lightspeed Faction and included Coinbase Ventures, Infinite Capital, J17, Third Prime, Zeal Capital and previous investor The Chernin Group. Also taking part in the round were music industry investors including Metallica’s Black Squirrel Partners; Bill Silva Entertainment; Guy Lawrence of electronic duo Disclosure; Foundations Artist Management; producer duo Jungle; the band Mt. Joy; management company Method; DJ and producer Tiga; and TAG Music, a joint venture between Gabe Saporta and Atlantic Records.

This marks Metallica’s third notable investment in 2023 via Black Squirrel. In March, the band purchased Furnace Record Pressing, a vinyl manufacturer in Alexandria, Va. Then in August, Black Squirrel was the lead investor in a $5 million funding round for Word Collections, a publishing administration firm launched by TuneCore founder Jeff Price.

Launched in 2022, Medallion provides a white-label platform for artists to create online communities that deliver experiences and products to their fans. Its client roster includes such artists as My Morning Jacket, Sigur Ros, Santigold, Tycho, Greta Van Fleet and two of its investors, Mt. Joy and Jungle.

For Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, Medallion represents a shift in thinking about providing fans with more than music and content. “Medallion is building the infrastructure to enable artists to directly interact with their highest intent customers through new and exclusive products and experiences, while simultaneously owning the customer relationship themselves and driving net new revenue opportunities around their IP,” Hadick said in a statement. “We believe this paradigm shift will permeate across the entirety of the creator economy.”

“Artists only have direct relationships with a fraction of their fanbase. Medallion solves this problem by unlocking direct artist-to-fan connection,” said Will Leas at Lightspeed Faction in a statement. “The team has a history of building pioneering technology for the world’s biggest artists, and we are thrilled to back them on this journey.”

Medallion previously raised $9 million in seed funding from Betaworks, POAP Ventures, Polygon Ventures, The Chernin Group, Red Light Ventures, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and Tycho.