When I started Valholla Entertainment in 2005, the music business was a lot different than it is today. During this era, independent record labels needed a physical distributor to have their music in big box stores and even to reach mom and pop stores across the country. If you had the capital, you’d have to manufacture albums and distribute them to stores yourself. This was extremely difficult but that’s what we did, regionally, in a very small scale.
In 2008, iTunes became the largest music vendor in the United States and independent digital distribution (or aggregators) allowed independent labels to get their music to fans without the need of a major distributor. In 2010, we started commercially distributing our music through a company called TuneCore. This was game changing for us. Because of budget constraints, we started to focus on digital versus physical (CDs, vinyl, etc.).
In 2015, we released an album from singer/songwriter Kirby Maurier that would go on to be one of the highest selling independent R&B albums in the South Atlantic Region (according to data from Nielsen Music, formally Nielsen Soundscan) of that year. In 2017, Miami New Times named our company Record Label of the Year. This is around the time when everything changed in the music business, thanks to streaming.
Before streaming, independent labels with small budgets could compete with labels who had bigger budgets. Today, that just isn’t the case. Thanks to the low barrier of entry for artists, music is now in an “attention economy”. This means that artists with the most attention, gets the most streams. So, without the right resources, great music can fall on deaf ears and make less of an impact.
This is why we’ve decided to raise funding for our wholly independent operation. We will be selling 30% equity of our company with plans of raising $4Million in total which will give us a runway of 3 years. With this funding, we will be able to compete in this new era in music. We also will help investors through consultation, seeking to invest in the music sector.
Due to SEC guidelines, we will only seek funding from accredited investors. We are excited for this next phase of our company with plans of turning this regional independent operation to a global entertainment juggernaut.
If you’re interested in finding out more, or being a part of the future of Valholla, please contact me via email at [email protected]. I look forward to working with you in introducing new music superstars to the world.
Vince “Valholla” Eyma
Chairman/CEO