Musician’s BASS – Empowering Independent Artists to Succeed in the Music Business

One night Aliza (Ah-LEE-zah) Hava was listening to the Yellowjackets at  Kuumbwa Jazz, a live music venue in Santa Cruz. She wondered how this Grammy-winning jazz fusion band had stayed together on the road for nearly 30 years playing small clubs while maintaining a solid connection with their fan base. At the time, Hava was working on building her own music career and realized her efforts were causing her to spend more time in front of her computer than playing music. Her musings that night inspired her idea to build a  platform that helps artists manage all the moving parts of their career from one integrated dashboard. The platform would empower artists to become the Business Manager/CEO of their own music enterprise, while helping them manage, market, and monetize their careers. Think small-business management software for musicians.

The following summer, Musician’s BASS was founded by Hava, an award-winning singer/songwriter and artist coach, inspired by her own experiences as an independent artist learning how to market her talents and manage her own career. She wanted to share that hard-won knowledge with other independent artists since many struggle with the same challenges. There are many tasks musicians have to learn to be successful in their industry besides playing music. In addition to the creative process, independent artists often have to be their own manager and producer and communicate with their fan base effectively if they ever want to build a lasting career.

At the time she first had the idea for Musician’s BASS, Hava was working on building her fan base online using various social media platforms, while making a full-length album with three Grammy-award-winning producers, then scrambling to do the research to tackle the business side. At the same time, she was booking shows, coordinating schedules with band members, and working on different revenue streams as an artist. Needless to say, it was overwhelming.

After sharing her idea with fellow musicians and getting extremely positive feedback, Hava decided to go for it. She was not a software developer, but her experience designing websites for musicians gave her the advantage of knowing which digital tools were most important. 

In 2017, Hava first entered the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development’s (iiED) Startup Challenge. The Startup Challenge is a regional new venture competition that includes coaching, mentoring, and pitch practice sessions to help entrepreneurs develop their business ideas into launchable businesses. “I had this idea that I thought would make a difference,” she said, “and I wanted to learn how to share or pitch it to the world.” Although she did not make it past the Qualifying Round that year, she spent the next two years gathering more experience and information for her business, entered the 2019 Startup Challenge Monterey Bay, and won.

“Winning the Startup Challenge was a huge deal. It helped validate the concept, got the minimum viable product developed, and opened doors.” she said, “I secured an angel investor through my presentation at the Santa Cruz Tech Meetup, began a relationship with Santa Cruz Works, and had more traction presenting at industry conferences.” 

Musician’s BASS launched its first feature in early 2020, only weeks before the pandemic hit. The company name, Musician’s BASS (Business Administration Software for Success), was inspired by the role of the bassist as the heart of the band, or “the glue holding the band together” for many bands. In addition to an Artist Resources Blog, which features posts about how to do many of the tasks needed to develop an artist’s career, the Musician’s BASS website helps DIY musicians manage their businesses by hosting their Electronic Press Kit (EPK). Hava described the Musician’s BASS EPK as “an essential tool that presents vital info to industry insiders. In one easy link, it works as a centralized hub for all backstage communications with booking agents, venue managers, press personnel, bloggers & podcasters, as well as other bands and musicians.” The EPK also hosts links to the musician’s website, social media, and more. The current version of the EPK is free, and Musician’s BASS plans to provide a premium membership with additional features at a later date.

Launching Musician’s BASS in early 2020 presented unique challenges. She had contracted an intern to write content and help the company develop a social media presence, lined up a project manager to hire, and planned to hire more employees after that. She was about to put the three (including herself) employees on payroll about the time the COVID-19 shutdown occurred. Many businesses were hard-hit by the pandemic, and Musician’s BASS was no exception. The live, in-person musical performance industry – her target market – was one of the hardest hit. As a result, four investors who were interested in participating in her first investment round pulled out, and since she didn’t have anyone officially on the payroll yet, she was unable to apply for the COVID-19 Payroll Protection Plan.

But, Aliza has persevered and continues to run the business. She applied to the CSUMB Computer Science major capstone students summer program for a new team to build her premium product, and for the new iiED Startup Launchpad program to help her continue developing her company. The Startup Launchpad, free to participants and supported through grant funding, supports the founding and growth of small businesses and startups. She is looking for a technical co-founder and new investors and hopes to hire a team while continuing her career as an independent artist, songwriter, and coach. 

For more information, visit www.musiciansbass.com.