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Be Fun, a digital aggregator company, from Antioquia (Colombia) that is responsible for being the bridge between artists and digital platforms, in an interview with Valora Analitik revealed how it has managed to increase the income and positioning of more than 15,000 artists in the middle of the pandemic. In addition to what is its business model and how it became one of the 100 companies in Colombia with the highest economic growth during the contingency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the CEO of Be Fun, Juan Alvarez, during the several months that the pandemic has lasted, the company has generated more direct and indirect jobs and had a turnover three times more than what a company in its line would do in previous years. Valora Analitik (V.A.): what is Be Fun's business model? Juan Alvarez (J.A): Digital aggregators have been on the market for about eight years, approximately. Be Fun has almost a year of foundation and at the moment we have more than twice as many artists as the other aggregating companies in the country, we work on digital platforms in Europe, Asia, America, in short, many digital platforms. What we do is we sell artists' music in times of crisis. As at the moment there are no massive concerts, the industry is completely constrained, so digital stores come to be like an artificial respirator in order to ensure that music does not lose all its value and manages to rescue part of its royalties in the industry. Be Fun was born as an answer for artists and phonographic producers who need and want to sell their music in digital stores in Colombia and the world such as Deezer, Spotify, YouTube, in all these stores to get the best royalties for them.
V.A .: What is the balance you have of the pandemic so far? J.A .: For us at the beginning it was an impressive challenge, because we began to see this so impressive debacle, this complex situation: where artists have no way out at hand to really react to this world crisis. So we decided to start accompanying them in the best way we could and this is by selling their music on many platforms, making them have a password so they can see their income, where they are playing, in what places. Thus, they know how much money they are generating on each platform, making advances - when it has really been strictly necessary for very important conditions. So we have looked for a way to make that escape. That has allowed us to be one of the seven fastest growing companies in the Covid era in Colombia and that means that we are doing our job well. V.A .: What are the alternatives and options that are more at hand to reactivate the sector? What alternatives do you see? J.A .: For companies like ours there are startups that help us a lot. In Colombia, the orange economy only sells smoke, the private company if it supports and sponsors when it sees good results for them, it also joins and supports a lot of growth initiatives in the creative industry, in the orange industry, music and the performing arts. I think that the private sector of the liquor stores is very good, to us in particular, they have stimulated us a lot. They finance us to support the search for better resources, financing, accompaniment, business growth. V.A .: What is your perspective for the following year? Taking into account that it is expected to be the year of economic recovery.
A.G .: We managed to grow from last year to this year more than 120% and we hope to close the year with a turnover higher than that of all the companies in our line. We are doing it with the guarantee and with the search to be 360 for the artist and for the phonographic producer; which means that we not only mount your music on the platforms, but also seek to support ourselves in related rights, in copyright, in publishing in legal matters. In other words, all possible prospects for collecting money from royalties. We are aimed at those who are composers, performers, phonograph producers or publishers. According to the Medellín Chamber of Commerce, more than 14 companies dedicated to musical themes have been liquidated so far this year, although it is not an encouraging outlook, it is much more positive than the previous year, which corroborates the impact that the sector had music with the distribution of content on digital platforms. To date, this music aggregator handles hundreds of thousands of songs and they hope to end the year to have billed $ 100,000 million and increase job creation in line with the orange economy.