My Top 10 EXCLUSIVE CEO Interviews of 2014 - Digital Media Companies/Execs You Need to Know

Long-time readers of my blog know that I have a long-running EXCLUSIVE Q&A series with CEOs of some of the most innovative digital media companies that I believe you should know.    I "hand pick" them -- and believe their stories are both interesting and instructive.  My series is called "5 Questions with ...." -- and each exec answers the same questions in their own words (and with real insights you won't find anyplace else).  2014's list is impressive -- with most execs and companies achieving significant strategic milestones during the year (including major M&A and financings).  Coincidence?  I would like to think not!

In any event, for your reading pleasure, here are my Top 10 "5 Questions with ... “ exclusive interviews of 2014 -- as measured by you, my readers:

(1) Stephanie Horbaczewski, CEO/Founder of StyleHaul -- sold her leading fashion-focused MCN to Euro-based RTL Group in Q4 for a deal that values the company up to $200 million.  That buys you a lot of style.  And Stephanie has it.  And now, a lot more of it.

(2) Colin Digiaro, President of Woven Digital -- just recently closed a major $18 million Series A round of financing.  Significant cash to accelerate its reach to its target core young male Vice-like audience.

(3) John West, CEO/Founder of Whistle Sports -- this leading sports-focused MCN also just recently closed a major round of financing -- $7 million -- with British mega-media company BSKYB.  Expect much more to come in 2015.

(4) Jack Conte, CEO/Founder of Patreon -- another featured company that successfully raised significant capital -- $15 million to be exact.  Based in the Bay Area.  Focused on the arts -- and financing through crowd-funding.  A different kind of crowd-funding.  Subscription-based.

(5) Oscar Hoglund, CEO/Founder of Epidemic Sound -- one of my favorite CEOs on this list.  Based in Sweden.  Serial entrepreneur who has been serially successful.  And, tackling (successfully!) the white hot issue of global music rights for our borderless digital video world.  Coming soon to the States.

(6) Jocelyn Johnson, Founder of VideoInk -- my favorite new "must read" publication -- exclusively digital video-focused.  Very LA (because that's where most of that digital video "action" is ...).  Am proud to be a regular contributor.

(7) Dmitri Williams, CEO/Founder of Ninja Metrics -- LA-based analytics company born, bred, and run by PhDs.  A different "take" on ad-tech.  Gaming-focused.  Highly respected.  Closely watched.  We at Manatt Digital are investors.

(8) Nicolas Gonda, CEO/Founder of Tugg -- another "share economy" company that is focused on solving the financial realities of indie visionaries, but this time on the movie/video side (as opposed to Patreon which is largely, though not exclusively, music-focused).

(9) Sean Wycliffe, CEO/Founder of Dealflicks -- love the problem this company is trying to solve -- filling empty movie theater seats via efficient "real-time" pricing.  Makes sense.  Let's see if 2015 brings in real dollars.  The opportunity is now.

(10) Phil Shalala, CEO/Founder of Krush -- a social media marketplace focused on action sports and street-wear -- empowering emerging artists and brands to market their passion projects.

2014 -- a banner crop of innovative CEOs and digital media companies.  Honored to have this kind of access to real innovators.

Stay tuned for an equally impressive list for 2015, as the VC world increasingly focuses on the disruption, opportunity and power that is "digital."

5 Questions with Epidemic Sound’s CEO Oscar Hoglund -- My Exclusive Q&A

My readers know that I am deeply interested in all facets of the music industry -- both professionally and personally.  Last week at the inaugural Digital Entertainment World conference in LA (a great event, by the way), I met an extremely intriguing digital media company called Epidemic Sound based in Stockholm, Sweden.  I spent time with the company’s smart, passionate and charismatic CEO, Oscar Hoglund (should be an umlaut over the “o” in Hoglund by the way) to discuss his company’s disruptive new “take” on the music publishing business -- both from the composer’s perspective, as well as the music licensee’s perspective (i.e., television, movies, YouTube).  Among other things, including Hoglund’s endless string of career successes, here’s the statistic that got me -- Epidemic Sound now represents nearly 50% of all music heard on Nordic TV!  Think about that for a second -- and then you can imagine the global opportunity here.  This is not your average start-up.  From the sounds of it, the music publishing revolution is happening now ... and emanating from Sweden.

Here is my exclusive Q&A with Oscar -- a company definitely worth watching closely ... very.

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

Ninety percent of all music used in TV and online visual content is called production music.  It’s music used as soundtracks that bring to life the spooky stairway or romantic summer sunset.  And it’s a $5 billion industry. But the old-school way of licensing that music is extremely complex, with a million players involved in creating, reporting, billing, blocking – and often suing – one another.  It’s totally crazy and broken.  And it’s made even more complex and broken as visual content is watched anytime, on any platform, worldwide.  We created Epidemic sound to reinvent production music with the first library that gives visual content creators use of professional-quality soundtracks in any country, on any platform, forever, for only a small fee.  No additional charges are ever required of anyone, which is unique for a professional quality music library.

(2)  How are you different from your competitors?  

Despite claims by every other professional quality production music library, someone else – more than likely a Performing Rights Organization (PRO), commonly called collecting societies – will charge you or block the viewing of your content, after you paid good money to license a library’s music.  In contrast, with Epidemic Sound you pay only once and you’re free to use the music in any country, as often as you like, on any platform, forever, because instead of representing music, we own it, and can do with it as we please.

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

We’re already starting to succeed. Epidemic Sound now represents almost 50% of all music heard on Nordic TV, is quickly spreading across European broadcasters and production studios East and West, and is being licensed by many of the biggest YouTube multi-channel networks on either side of the Atlantic.  And the reason why this is happening is twofold: we’re unchaining production music from broken, old-school licensing practices; and we’re giving the composers a better way to make a living making music, by paying them when they create the music, so they don’t have to cross their fingers and hope they get paid some time in the future.

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

If you’re asking about me professionally, after a stint as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, I joined Zodiak Television where I started 5^thElement, one of Zodiak’s fastest growing production companies, and served as a member of the management team before we sold it to the De Agostini Group.  At Zodiak I lived the music-licensing nightmare day in and day out, which is why my partners and I started Epidemic Sound.  But outside of work it’s all about my kids, and finding time for runs with my wife along the water in Djurgården.  For me it doesn’t get better than time spent with them.

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

The most interesting digital media trend to me is how quickly the world is shifting to streamed content, towards access instead of ownership and how much of it is mobile first.  The pace of change seems to be faster than ever before and the potential audience is incomparable.  I have to admit that the bug for digital media on wearable technology hasn’t bitten me yet, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time, since I’m usually a fairly early adopter. I live in Sweden, it’s freezing, so show me smart hats, gloves and boots with tech in them and I’ll give it a try!