Exclusive: Soundsupp.ly Receives Funding From Lightbank

Soundsupply is a new company, formed in early 2012, that takes the ‘deal site’ approach to selling music. Called “Drops,” Soundsupply creates bundles of 10 digital albums, charges $15 for them, and gives people a 10 day window to purchase the deal. The company has just taken on seed funding from Lightbank, the same people responsible for Groupon.

The currently undisclosed amount of funding received will give Tim and Eric Mortensen, the two founding brothers, the opportunity to make Soundsupply their full time responsibility, trying to grow the originally bootstrapped company into an influential music destination. Though the retail experience may be the obvious angle for Soundsupply, music discovery is also at the forefront of focus and one the founders are passionate about.

The company has already created 6 Drops, with the 7th being released March 18th. No bands have been announced for Drop 7 yet, but I’ve heard it is set to include Cursive’s newest album, ‘I Am Gemini’. One of the highlights that makes the service attractive to bands is the ability to actually make some money and gain exposure, all within a 10 day window. Past Drops have proven finically rewarding to the point of at least a few artists receiving a 90x return over their Spotify royalties.

The idea of bundling digital music is a simple and brilliant one that begs other bigger players in music retail to clone the experience. As a first mover, Soundsupply really needs to capitalize on mind and market share, giving users little doubt they are the pioneers and can grab the big names and best music.

With the new influx of cash, you’ll begin to see things like an improved site design, making navigation easier, along with improvements to the download service and other small refinements. Long term, the guys behind Soundsupply are still open to exploring different aspects of the changing music industry. While bundling music may be the start, they aren’t opposed to tweaking the formula and thinking big picture.

Here’s my June 2012 Hypebot interview with Co-Founder Tim Mortensen