SongTools is an all-in-one artist toolkit to launch your song. Pulse 2.0 interviewed SongTools CEO and co-founder Danny Garcia to learn more about the company.
Danny Garcia’s Background
What is Danny Garcia’s background? Garcia said:
“I have been working in music marketing & tech since my teens. First building a music blogging service that at its peak had 50K monthly visitors. I then went to NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music because I wanted to go deep in the making and business of music. During college, as an artist manager, I also built one of the first and largest playlist networks in the world, which gave me a front row seat to the critical role of playlist curators in the ecosystem. “
Formation Of SongTools
How did the idea for the company come together? Garcia shared:
“As a digital marketer, I realized that accessibility (financial and technical) were keeping emerging music creators from getting a fair shake at finding their audiences. I joined forces with an amazing and incredibly experienced set of partners to make my vision music growth tools for all artists a reality.”
Responsibilities At The Company
What are your primary responsibilities as CEO? Garcia replied:
“People– making sure we have the right people doing the right things to achieve our ambitious goals. Talking to customers and making sure what we are building is relevant & helpful. I always take a portion of sales calls and customer service tickets every day to ensure that I keep a close pulse of our audience and make sure their needs are being met. Finally vision: ensuring the team is moving along the right trajectory to continue delivering fantastic results to all of our customers and stakeholders.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for SongTools so far? Garcia reflected:
“So many! I loved speaking at a panel at SXSW in 2023 and sharing our Funnel framework for music promotion and some artist success stories. The reaction of the audience and other panelists provided amazing validation of our mission and direction.”
Core Products
What are SongTools core products and features? Garcia explained:
“We have two core products and several free supporting services.
1.) Playlisting: One-click automated promotion to tens of thousands of the world’s most influential playlist curators. The beautiful thing is that the system automatically shows the most relevant tracks to curators making it a delightful experience to discover new music. It is also a fixed price for artists and labels to promote tracks, ensuring a level playing field for all music to be discovered.
2.) Instant Digital Ads: One-click set up and launching of digital ads on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook (more coming soon). It’s like magic, because we automatically generate high-converting creatives using the latest AI tools, and launch them without the artist having to figure out how to do digital marketing or even opening a Facebook Ads account.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Garcia and the team faced in building the company? Garcia acknowledged:
“The music industry is rife with challenges. In an industry that is, unfortunately, full of unreputable characters and players, building trust is the most challenging and critical success factor for those who are in it for the long haul, like us. We overcame this challenge by earning the trust of our users and the curator community. We did this by 1) partnering with individuals with impeccable character and reputation in the music industry, like our advisors, and 2) by building processes and tech, like our zero-tolerance playlister community vetting and our bot-detection heuristics that remove all doubt of our competence and intentions.”
Evolution Of SongTools’ Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Garcia noted:
“It has evolved immensely! We started first as tools for playlist curators to improve curation, then we launched the ability for artists to promote to that curator community. Last year we expanded our tool portfolio to include digital ads automation, landing pages, blog posting, and more.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of SongTools most significant milestones? Garcia cited:
– 1.5M placements on playlists made via the platform
– 75,000+ artists, labels, and agencies on the platform
– 130K+ playlists managed via the platform
Funding
When asking Garcia about the company’s funding information, he revealed:
“We recently raised a $3M seed round.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Garcia affirmed:
“Three things: technology, community, and outcomes. We focus on scalable platforms that optimize and streamline every component of the music promotion space we choose to tackle. We deliver better outcomes through superior tech, strong partnerships, and leveraging a growing community of users and curators whose trust we have earned.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of SongTools future company goals? Garcia concluded:
“We aim to be the marketing automation platform for all content creators, starting with music.”
