Groove Monkey
Groove Monkey is a music streaming platform that lets fans directly support artists based on the time they spend listening, rather than through pooled royalty pools. It also enables artists to earn from creative-process content like demos and voice memos, not just finished releases. The platform is launching in October 2026 with Founding Artist and Supporter programs, and uses a transparent, time-based allocation model for earnings.
- Artificial Intelligence
- Content & Publishing
- Creator / Creative Economy
- Media & Entertainment
- Music Technology
- Software Only
Funding
Founders
Product
Problem
Traditional streaming platforms distribute subscription revenue through opaque, pro-rata pools that dilute individual artist earnings, making it difficult for artists to receive meaningful financial support from their most dedicated fans. Additionally, the creative work that happens between releases—demos, voice memos, and rehearsal recordings—has no monetization avenue on existing streaming services, leaving it unpaid on social media.
Solution
Groove Monkey provides an artist-first streaming platform where supporter subscription fees are divided proportionally to the time each fan actually spends listening to an artist, rather than pooled across the entire catalog. This ensures that a supporter's payment directly benefits the artists they engage with most. The platform also gives a home to creative-process content—unfinished works like demos and alternate mixes—so artists can earn from their entire creative output, not just final releases. Artists retain full ownership of their work, with no upfront fees or exclusive licensing requirements, and can control which content is supporters-only. A transparent dashboard lets artists and fans see exactly where subscription money goes, and the platform is designed to be a calmer, algorithm-free listening environment with no ads or engagement-based mechanics.
Target Audience
Primary users are independent artists, labels, and managers who want fair compensation from their dedicated fans, as well as music fans who want their listening to directly support the artists they care about and prefer a focused, ad-free listening experience.
Features
- Time-based earnings allocation: subscription revenue is distributed based on each supporter's listening time, with no pro-rata pools or algorithmic weighting
- Creative-process content support: artists can upload and monetize voice memos, demos, alternate mixes, and other unfinished work alongside finished releases
- Non-exclusive platform: artists retain all rights to their music, and the platform takes no rights or fees for uploads
- Distributor integration: finished releases can be delivered automatically through integrated distributors like DistroKid, TuneCore, and CD Baby
- Founding Artist and Supporter programs: first 100 artists and first 1,000 supporters receive special badges, locked-in pricing, and direct input into platform development
- Transparent reporting: monthly statements and a real-time dashboard show exactly where earnings come from, with publishing royalties handled via the MLC and PROs