Merge.fm Connects Fans and Musicians in the Creative Experience

Samantha Strauss September 3, 2010 Tweet

We are living in a new age of “transparency”, yet, the only way we seem to know what’s going on with our favorite artists in the music industry is if they communicate something through their fanclub or (if they are big enough) something gets leaked on Access Hollywood. But at some point you’ve probably wanted to know what your favorite band was working on. Or, as an artist, maybe you’ve wanted to collaborate with other artists, but haven’t had the right means to organize it. That’s what Merge.fm is all about.

Merge.fm encourages your favorite artists to share what they are working on with the public and every member of Merge.fm is encouraged to preview an artist’s music. Once previewed, fans can subscribe for $4.99 to the artist’s page and will be notified when new music is uploaded. The artist then benefits from their fans’ subscriptions monetarily. It’s a win-win situation for all: the fans get access to unreleased music and are able to provide feedback, and the artists get to hear what their fans think while funding their efforts.

Merge.fm was founded by University of Illinois students Adam Steele, Will Leinweber, and August Knecht. The company won the 2009 Cozad new venture competition, was selected for iVentures10 and are part of the 2010 class of Illinois Launch. They are funded by Illinois Ventures and currently working out of the incubator at EnterpriseWorks.