Musicians' services startup Topspin Media Inc. has closed a Series B round featuring first-time investor Foundry Group, according to three blog posts that appeared this afternoon. The amount of the funding hasn't been revealed, but Redpoint Ventures was also revealed to have participated in Topspin's Series A round. Both investors are represented on Topspin's board of directors.
Topspin, a sort of "CRM-for-bands" that provides communication and commerce tools for artists to reach out to fans, attracted attention in April when it named former Yahoo! Music [YHOO] leader Ian Rogers as its CEO. It revealed some details regarding its service offerings last month, and appeared on the cover of Billboard's June 28 issue, with a story inside.
Topspin co-founder Peter Gotcher was formerly a venture capitalist with Redpoint, as well as CEO of audio software maker DigiDesign Inc., the creator of the industry-standard ProTools digital recording software. Gotcher launched the company along with Shamal Ranasinghe, a former product designer with RealNetworks Inc. [RNWK].
Tim Haley, who also worked alongside Gotcher at Institutional Venture Partners, led Redpoint's first-round investment in Topspin, while Ryan McIntyre and Jason Mendelson led Foundry's investment. McIntyre and Mendelson are also music enthusiasts who have spent time playing in bands, according to their official bios.
UPDATE: A Topspin spokesman confirms that Redpoint was involved in both rounds, although the company still isn't divulging the dollar amount of either. He adds that although it has already revealed some information about its Topspin Manager tool, the company is also exploring other areas such as demand generation and performance analytics, and hopes to introduce more products catering to those needs. A self-serve version of Topspin Manager is due in late 2008 or early 2009. -- Paul Bonanos
See posts from April 2 and June 24 on Topspin from Tech Confidential
See posts on Topspin from Ryan McIntyre, Foundry Group, and Topspin's Ian Rogers
Continue reading below
