10 months ago, I co-founded my second startup. As crazy as running 2 simultaneously may seem, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. For as long as I can remember, music has been the center of my life. This passion led me to writing and producing my own music, and last year, I was fortunate enough to find myself being mentored by Grammy-winning producer Ivan "ill Factor' Corraliza. 

One day, he revealed the harsh reality of the music industry today: artists get paid about .003 cents per stream, and on top of that, labels often times take even more revenue and the rights to their music. This means, to make minimum wage as an artist, you need about 10 million streams per year. 

I wondered why music, which inspires and shapes our culture, is so undervalued by the industry. This question led us to a potential solution: maybe music shouldn't be valued by the industry - it should be valued by the culture. Together, we started Eko Music which embodies exactly this. Fans can become an artists' street team and connect more deeply with them, and collaborations can be facilitated in one ecosystem. 

Recently, we have opened a community round where anyone who wants to be a part of this movement to reclaim financial and creative freedom for artists can invest in us. We raised over $100,000 within our first week, led by Timmy McCarthy (founder of the largest Raising Cane's franchise) and we haven't even gone fully public with our campaign yet. 

To top things off, a couple of my former college professors, Ross Jackson (investor/advisor) and Kevin Steidel (co-founder) have also joined our vision and it's been amazing getting to build a company with the people who taught me how to be an entrepreneur. 

If anyone would like more information on what we are building, please reach out. We are artists building for artists with a vision to transform the way music exists in our culture. Our launch will be in early 2026.