Amuse Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020

Amuse, the reimagined record label giving free music distribution and empowering tools to artists across the globe, has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020. The list honors the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. This year’s MIC list features 434 businesses from 39 countries.

“The whole Amuse team is thrilled to have been recognized for our work in transforming the music industry,” said Diego Farias, co-founder and CEO of Amuse. “We’re building innovative technology to solve the biggest problems that artists face today. This award is a testament to our achievements in helping independent artists accelerate their careers, rather than maintain the status quo.”

For Amuse, only a three year old company, this year is off to a very strong start. The company has tripled their amount of monthly releases in the last 12 months, and estimates now list Amuse as the fifth biggest digital music distributor in terms of release share, globally.

This week Amuse is launching a new tier of their digital music distribution service called Amuse Pro. The service builds upon the company’s mission to offer artist friendly tools with users keeping 100% of their royalties and music rights. Amuse Pro is an open subscription service offering more functionality to help artists and their teams grow their careers independently. Amuse Pro complements Amuse’s free distribution service by providing technology-driven solutions to a growing set of needs among independent artists and their teams. The upgraded service includes features like royalty splits, team accounts, multiple artist profiles, quicker releases and support.

Last year Amuse launched a first-of-its-kind data-driven royalty advance service called Fast Forward. Utilizing machine learning, Fast Forward enables emerging and independent artists to collect up to six months of their future royalties when they need them while still retaining the rights to their music. Hundreds of artists has since used Fast Forward, taking royalty advances ranging from $100 to $300,000. Almost half of the users have used the service more than once, demonstrating that it’s solving a big problem for artists today and they are also recouping their advances quickly.

In late 2019, the share of independent music distribution on Sweden’s Spotify Top 50 list rose as high as 38%. This growth was driven by self-releasing hip hop artists, the majority of them Amuse users such as Dree Low, demonstrating that independent music is starting to crossover to have a significant share on the charts as well.

Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses on the planet and across myriad industries. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

“At a time of increasing global volatility, this year’s list showcases the resilience and optimism of businesses across the world. These companies are applying creativity to solve challenges within their industries and far beyond,” said Fast Company senior editor Amy Farley, who oversaw the issue with deputy editor David Lidsky.

Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2020) is now available online, as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning March 17, 2020. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.