Image Credit: EngineEars

Music celebrities including Kendrick Lamar have invested in MixedByAli’s EngineEars platform, in a total funding round of $1m.

EngineEars, a music tech startup, has raised a tuneful $1 million in its first funding round. The investors include an impressive lineup of celebrities, with Kendrick Lamar, Roddy Ricch, DJ Khaled and more getting involved.

Founded by MixedByAli, EngineEars features a marketplace where independent audio engineers can offer their producing services and get paid for it. Artists and labels can search and book engineers for whatever music project they’re working on. It was launched to give a boost to behind-the-scenes workers in the music industry like producers, engineers and songwriters who don’t always receive the recognition they deserve.

Producers, artists and labels alike have invested in MixedByAli’s platform. Multi-Grammy Award winning engineer Derek Ali, who’s worked with Drake, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion, launched EngineEars as an alpha version in January this year.

Image Credit: MixedByAli (via Instagram)

Speaking to Billboard about the platform, Ali said: “The independent music sector is growing at such a rapid rate. More platforms are being made available for artists, for producers. Engineers, we’re getting the most love now than ever. Why isn’t there anything cultivated for these people?

“This is a platform built for engineers, by engineers. The problems that we’re fixing with EngineEars are issues that I deal with on a day-to-day basis. For the first time, you get paid instantly. You get credited. As engineers, we live off credit, we grow our name and we grow our business off credits. We’re also giving artists access to some of the top-tier audio engineers.”

The full list of investors also included Bas, Cardogotwings, Ella Mai, G, Ibrahim Hamad of Dreamville, Kenny Beats, La Mar Taylor of XO, Masego, Meko Yohannes of 10SummersMustard, Russ, Smino, Young Guru, and the EQT indie label. 

An invite-only service, EngineEars has 120 engineers verified with 2,000 more on a waiting list. Since 2018 the service has provided educational courses and workshops in four countries. In the future the platform is looking to add new features, sell beats, and offer contract negotiations.