Sound Royalties Helps New Jersey Hip Hop Veteran, Mesa, Produce New Tracks for a Global Audience

Mesa, a multi-talented, 32-year-old rap artist and producer from West New York, N.J. has topped well over 17 million streams on Spotify. And though he isn't a household name yet, the royalties earned from digital downloads and streams make up a significant part of the artist's income and allow him to finance new creative projects to scale his business, career and revenues even higher.

Like many independent artists, Mesa works with a distributor to place his songs on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal, Pandora and other platforms. The more copyright-protected tracks he can place on these platforms, the more income-producing royalty streams flow into his bank account. With royalty income, Mesa accessed Sound Royalties' financing to enable him to create even more music.

"There is a new generation of savvy, independent artists who are taking control of their careers and their earning potential," said Alex Heiche, founder and CEO of Sound Royalties, the leading music industry finance firm serving songwriters, producers, performers and other creatives in the business. "The digital streaming market is exploding, creating opportunities for copyright holders to generate multiple royalty streams that have long-term value, potentially paying dividends for years to come."

Created in 2014 by Heiche, a music fanatic with a background in software and specialty finance, Sound Royalties enables artists to secure funding for creative development based on their royalty income, without putting copyrights at risk. This artist-friendly approach empowers talent to pursue their ambitions without the hurdles of credit requirements. Sound Royalties has won favor among creatives with its policy of never taking ownership of copyright royalties, as well as providing multiple funding options that the customer can choose from.

"When I chose to be independent, I also decided I was only going to do things first class, whether it was a studio recording or a music video. And that takes capital," Mesa said. "Knowing there was no risk of losing any copyrights made working with Sound Royalties a no-brainer."

Following his first deal with Sound Royalties in 2017, Mesa has collaborated with the company on a financing package each year since. In 2018 the partnership resulted in a new album and in 2019, through his largest deal yet, funding has gone toward production expenses as well as income-producing business investments. He plans to release another new album this year along with two new music videos, teaming up with New York rappers Vado, Oun-P, Fred the Godson and Smoke DZA.

Mesa has received other offers throughout his career, but felt they weren't putting anything back into the creative process. "After working with Sound Royalties for the first time, I finally had a partner that put my interests first," he said, "like an extension of my creative family."

"Mesa is a perfect example of what we set out to do for creatives who have been frustrated with how the traditional business model in music has worked for decades," said Heiche. "Demand for original content is going up around the world and with new emerging technologies there are more ways than ever to reach a global audience, which is great news for creatives."

While many artists dream of fame or celebrity, Mesa's dream for his career in music is to establish generational wealth for his family and his young son. "Royalties are like owning a piece of property that will continue to make money and generate value," he said. "My parents did not leave much, and I want to break that cycle for my son and his kids."

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