QUICK TAKES

Protecting the authenticity of music

Despite what’s happening with TikTok (and music), here’s how one company is planning to protect artists and their music rights.

What is the news?

Vancouver based Beadapp announced it raised $17m USD from Saltagen Ventures

What does Beatdapp do?

Beatdapp enables DSPs (digital service providers), music labels, collection societies, creator tool services, and music distributors to find fraudulent streams.

Why do they want to identify fraudulent streams?

The music industry wants to ensure that the proper rights holders get paid for their work.

A fraudulent stream’s goal is to get listening and earn a royalty on work they do not create, robbing the rights holders of their earnings and hurting the entire music industry.

Why was Beatdapp able to raise funds?

As the music industry is predominately digital first and growing, fraud has become an increasingly large problem. Beatdapp has established itself as a trusted neutral party that will not favor one party over another.

Final Takeaways?

While technology solves problems it also creates new problems. The idea of fraudulent streams did not exist before streaming services and their business model. Prior to this fraudulent streams would be bootlegged copies or illegal downloads. As streaming has gone mainstream and relies on UGC / self publishing it opened the opportunity for people to make money by using derivatives of other peoples work. A new solution was needed and the industry wanted an unbiased solution.

We are already seeing the needs for new solutions emerging in the world of LLMs. How do you forget data that a model was trained on?

Catch the full episode of Quick Takes that just dropped

NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR

Nominate the top Canadian Tech Leaders who made headlines over the past year

Who made major waves in Canadian tech in 2023? Who inspired you on your journey?

We are asking you to nominate your top newsmakers of the past year, as we plan a special activation to celebrate those paving the way for all of us.

PROFILE

Today, we meet Johnny Warström, co-founder and CEO of Mentimeter

What is Mentimeter?

We provide a SaaS product that is an interactive presentation tool that turns passive audiences into active contributors in business and higher education settings.

What was the insight and inspiration to create Mentimeter?

Sitting through too many boring/unproductive meetings where many of the meeting attendees didn't even contribute.

How has it been received by the market?

We have grown exponentially in the 10 years since we launched, with millions of users in every country and territory in the world and enterprise deals with some of the largest companies in the world.

How did you know you were ready to found a company?

To be honest, I don't think I did found Mentimeter because I felt I was ready to be the CEO of a company.

Myself and my three other co-founders made a product as a weekend hack to solve a personal problem, shortly one of our employers wanted to use it throughout the organization, and the project quickly snowballed. 10 years later I am the head of a more than 400-person company, and the journey to get here is really the best training I could have asked for.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?

To grow even more. To develop the product to deliver even more value to our customers.

To reach more people in Higher Education with whom we have a great product but among whom we haven't reached anywhere near our full potential yet!

What is a piece of advice you wish you had been given when you were first starting out?

Something that it didn't really take me long to learn, but something extremely valuable all the same: Make a product that users love. There really isn't much else to it.

Are you hiring and how can people find your open roles?

You can find all our current roles here: www.mentimeter.com/jobs

PARTNER CONTENT

Free lunch and learn hosted by Humi

Scaling your startup: growing your team from 2 to 150

Humi invites you to an exclusive in-person lunch and learn focused on scaling your startup from a team of 2 to 150. Whether you’re just starting out or managing a growing team, understanding the dynamics of workforce growth is crucial. This panel is your opportunity to gain insights from two industry leaders, Jason Goldlist (CEO of Venue.live) and Kevin Kliman (CEO, and co-founder of Humi) who have navigated these waters successfully and are eager to share their experience of scaling their ventures from 2 to 150.

Plus, stick around after the panel to work from the Humi office and connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs. Lunch and light refreshments will be provided.

Join us on February 8 at noon, at the Humi office in downtown Toronto for this insightful afternoon of learning and networking.

Please RSVP by February 6 to secure your spot.

PARTNER CONTENT

Technology Summer Courses for Teens from UofT School of Continuing Studies 

UofT School of Continuing Studies has collaborated with Circuit Stream to offer cutting-edge technology courses for teens. Summer technology-focused teen summer courses are a great way to discover industry trends, get in-demand tech skills and hands-on experience.

Check out our last summer teens' projects here.

UofT School of Continuing Studies in collaboration with Circuit Stream offer six online courses for teens:

• Game Design with Unreal 

• Video Game Coding

• AI and Machine Learning with Python

• Mobile App Development

• Creating AR Experiences and Filters

• Digital Innovators: Product Design and UX Lab.

Circuit Stream and UofT School of Continuing Studies welcome students from ages 13 to 18. All courses can be taken online. 

Have Questions?

Feel free to contact Circuit Stream by email or schedule a meeting and a member of the team will be happy to help you.

*this is sponsored content

READS & OPPORTUNITIES

Canada’s best startup employers in 2024

Check out who is investing in better health technology for women and children

In case you didn’t read the full profile (we’re not judging…but maybe we are) - our profile company is hiring - apply here

An interesting read on the warning signs of tech layoffs

Want to showcase your company, events, and opportunities to 65,000+ subscribers across the Canadian Tech Eco-system? Reach out to [email protected] to learn more