5 Questions with CEO Ryan Born of AudioMicro/AdRev -- EXCLUSIVE Q&A

Just in time for CES, let’s start off the New Year right by showcasing one of the hottest “under the radar” digital media companies you should know, but likely don’t (or haven't, until recently).  It’s AudioMicro, Inc. -- a company that is a client of ours at Manatt Digital Media and is best known for its AdRev service -- its mission is to empower content creators and owners to monetize YouTube.  For any doubters of the company’s “hotness," just chew on these recent kudos:
(1) Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 ranked AudioMicro/AdRev the 28th fastest growing tech company in North America; 
(2) Inc. Magazine named it the #2 fastest growing media company in the USA; and 
(3) The San Fernando Valley Business Journal ranked it the #1 fastest growing company in the San Fernando Valley.  As a result of this success, it's no surprise that Danny Zappin's Zealot Networks recently took a majority stake in the company for a reported $20 million.  

So with that, let’s learn more about AudioMicro/AdRev via my patented EXCLUSIVE  “5 Questions” Q&A with Founder & CEO Ryan Born:

(1) What is the reason your company exists (and what problem(s) are you looking to solve)?

AdRev (AudioMicro, Inc.) exists to assist right holders in maximizing the monetization of their copyrights by way of content licensing, administration, and distribution.  We do this via the various different technologies / divisions of our company - AdRev, AudioMicro, DashGo, and ImageCollect.  

In addition to YouTube monetization for music and video rights holders via AdRev, we currently own and operate the following services:

1.  a micro synchronization platform at AudioMicro.com that provides synchronization licenses to lower budget / small dollar video producers - including the leading YouTube MCNs (Multi-Channel Networks) nearly all of which are clients of ours, 

2.  a music distribution service at DashGo that distributes music into hundreds of retailers and collection societies including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube Music Key, Pandora, Shazam, Beats, and Sound Exchange, 

3.  a YouTube MCN of our own (called the AdRev Talent Network) with over 2,500 channels and growing, and 

4.  a photo library at ImageCollect.com with over 6,500,000 images (i.e. still photographs) that we license to leading newspapers, magazines, and bloggers.   

We look at ourselves not only as a YouTube rights management company (AdRev) and music distribution service (DashGo) but from a more over-arching perspective as a media company that licenses, distributes, monetizes, and administers content in all formats and territories.  Whether it's music (both sound recordings and compositions) via AdRev, DashGo and AudioMicro, videos via the AdRev Talent Network, or photos via ImageCollect, we make a great partner for content rights holders to work with to optimize various revenue opportunities in the new media environment.  

(2) How are you different from your competitors?

Our team and technology are what makes us different, and our numbers speak volumes for our successes relative to the competition.  

For team specifics, we collectively posses over a half a century of rights management and content licensing experience with folks like our President, Brian Felsen (formerly the President of CD Baby from 2008 to 2014), VP of Rights Management, Noah Becker (with a deep background in mechanical licensing having spent years at Sony/BMG and Ultra Music), and Ben Patterson (CEO of our DashGo music distribution division) who has spent over a decade distributing records to leading digital music retailers and collection societies.  My background is in accounting and I previously served as VP of Finance for WireImage (which Getty Images acquired in 2007 for $200 million) and together we have instilled a company culture of openness, client service, education, and transparency that sets us apart and it shows in our numbers.

From a technology perspective, we have an extremely scalable and agile product development team with a diverse set of skills that allow us to build industry leading products that maximize revenue opportunities for our clients by not only making markets (i.e. sourcing customers and new revenue opportunities that they otherwise may not have participated in) by also by way of continual product and process improvement.  We stay ahead of the curve by releasing new products and features quickly and improving upon those products in a constant process that involves regular feedback from our users and clients.  

(3) Why will you succeed (and what is your single most important ingredient for success)?

We've certainly had a good deal of success, at least as measured by awards for our revenue growth.  That being said, we are just getting started over here and our continued success will be defined by our ability to continue to provide the best products, services, and revenue opportunities for our clients.  At the end of the day, our success is undoubtedly defined by our people and our products.  For us, 2015 will be about continuing to attract top talent to our team at all levels - employees, advisors, and board members too - and continuing to build new products, forge new longstanding partnerships, and where we don't build/launch in house, we plan to further accelerate our growth and momentum by way of M&A, as was the case with DashGo, which we recently acquired back in December 2014.

(4) What makes you unique (and what do you enjoy most outside of building your business)?

I've learned a lot about myself on this entrepreneurial journey and I believe that one of the qualities that makes me unique is my extreme desire for action.  Scott Lenet, our board member from DFJ Frontier calls me the "GSD guy".  GSD stands for "Get Stuff Done".  Once I decide to do something, it's not only going to get done, but it's going to get done properly and quickly.

We have a little one at home and my wife and I have become quite an expert at Play-Doh molding and pretend play.   The morning and evening hours when I get to spend time with the family are by far the most enjoyable.  Whether it's building cakes with Play-Doh or hitting the playground on weekends, time with my family is the most enjoyable time spent.   

(5) What digital media trend is most interesting to you (and what is the least)?

Our daughter is only 3.5 years old and has never watched TV (in the traditional sense).  She gets all of her media via an iPad streaming YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Instant Video.  I think it's highly likely that she will never pay for cable TV in her lifetime and there are entire generations just like her to come.  It's this shift from traditional media delivery and consumption towards 100% digital / streaming that I'm most interested in and while both ad supported and paid subscription models appear to be what will prevail in the long run, we are currently focusing a great deal of our efforts on the ad supported side of media streaming.   The shift in advertising dollars from offline to online, in particular to online video advertising, if the most interested trend that I'm focused on at this particular moment. 

As far as the least interesting, that's a tough one.  While the me-me-me / instant gratification / selfie culture that we live in today can at times be bothersome to see, it's just a natural evolution of where technology and culture has taken us today. I'm hopeful that we can continue to offer products and provide services that go beyond the short term and build long lasting revenue for our clients.