“I was told that high-tech and music are the most separate worlds there are, and I found out that business-wise this is absolutely not true,” says high-tech entrepreneur Udi Entavi. “Shir is like a start-up: low chances of success, one to… succeeds and you can own a percentage in it. It’s like a venture capital fund, only it happens quickly and in different amounts, and you can model it in Excel. It’s great business.”
Anatavi brought these insights to the music company Session 42, which he founded about a year ago with the successful music producers Tal Forer, Stav Begar Vinon Yahal (the recent winner of the “Producer of the Year” award of AKUM), and with the music director Amit Shein. “We are a production house that produces content In the Swedish way,” explains Antavi. “In Israel it is customary to have one producer for a song, but here there is a team of several, each of whom brings his own input: Tal is a gifted musician, Yanon is the number one beat maker, Stav is responsible for super hits like ‘Toy’, And we have young people with us who bring the most innovative sound. All Israeli pop goes through here, except for Kirel, through Bohbot Lake and to Stefan. But not only pop – Ivri Lider and Amir Dadon were also here, and it was my dream that Fortis would come.”
The first song the company produced was Narkis’ “Going with you”, which won Akum’s “Song of the Year” last week. Since then they have produced a number of hits, including Noa Kirel’s “Three Girls” and Thoth (Gitt Fisher) for Pride Day, “Siri” by Eden Ben Zaken and “Spot on me” by Iggy Waxman. These days they are working on a song by Ran Denker.
What is your business model?
“Collaborations on the songs. We are co-creators and receive a portion of the royalties. The story of the royalties has undergone a revolution in the streaming world. As more goes to streaming, the master royalties (recording rights) become more significant, and that’s where we want to go. If a super producer used to earn 20 thousand Shekel for work, today I want a partnership in credits and give added value.
“I explain to the artists that when I collaborate on a song, I bring a whole array of employees to make it successful, for example social media people who know how to accompany artists in the process and promote them on the networks, because not every artist knows how to be a TikToker. In every creation in which I participate, I have an interest in it being more successful. I am investing great resources so that this thing will succeed.”
How much money did you invest?
“We raised about 4 million dollars for the company. This is venture capital, they tell you ‘burn the money, that’s its purpose, take big bets, make changes, dare,’ and that’s exactly what we’re doing here. This is the difference between a high-tech approach and an investment approach that is like A loan from the bank. This is a different concept, also in Exit.”
Can you already imagine the exit?
“Only after I recruited and founded the company, I started watching documentaries about music companies that made huge exits in this world. But I want to do something that remains and does justice to the Israeli music industry, which is very old-fashioned. Music companies were founded in a time when records were being printed. We are the first company in Israel to be founded to the Tiktok era and that her thinking from the first moment is of a modern era. And I want to do it in the world as well, and we are already in contact with Universal and other companies.”
His entry into the world of music is not accidental – he is an ardent fan of Metallica who has watched 47 concerts to date and for more than 20 years has been wearing only the band’s shirts, including under his wedding suit and in business meetings. And this passion also turned into a business collaboration. It happened when Entabi raised money for Redkicks from Salesforce, and met CEO Marc Benioff. For the meeting he wore a Metallica shirt as always, which led to a conversation in which Benioff said he was connected to the band. Benioff initiated a video call to Lars Ulrich, Metallica’s legendary drummer, and offered him to meet with the Israeli entrepreneur. “We sat for three hours, I flew over him and he over me. This was the beginning of a wonderful friendship, he and the band invested 3.5 million dollars in Redkicks, and since then I’ve already toured with them and we’re in touch.”
What made you now devote yourself completely to the world of music?
“The morning after the Redkicks sale I woke up and for the first time in my life I felt hollow, that I was down. I tried to think of what to do and decided to learn to play the guitar – and it was a strategic decision in my life. I bought an electric guitar and got into it with a vengeance, I studied on my own with YouTube from morning until evening, I connected the guitar to an iPad and recorded , I took voice development classes. At one point I bought equipment as if I was going to produce Beyoncé. Then the corona came.”
In Corona, his daughter decided that she wanted to return to Israel to enlist. So Antavi packed up the family, and started studying music production in Ramon. In his living room he advised startups and in the basement he played in the studio. Until he decided he had to leave the house. So the actor Tzachi Halevi, a childhood friend of his, connected him with the producer and arranger Tal Forer (Eurovision, the Festival, “X Factor”, “The Weiss”), who worked with the top of Israeli music. “I had no idea who it was. We sat for four hours and I asked him to tell me where the business is. It doesn’t make sense to me that a music producer in Israel receives a check for the work regardless of the success of the song. I suggested we do something together. And we went to sleep on it.”
For five months, Anatavi studied the music market in depth. He asked questions, received half answers and came to the conclusion that each craftsman knows only his niche. “I started to come up with an idea and I told myself that I have several ways to start owning percentages in a song – I can pay money, I can produce free of charge and I can give added value. The company was built around this concept.
“I told Tal that I wanted to establish a start-up, only that instead of developers there would be producers and instead of software they would make music. But the worldview is high-tech – in conduct and thought. Therefore, the work is paid and there are options and employee retention.” Antavi and Forer were joined by Yahel and Begar as well as Amit Shein, who is known as the manager of the “Giraffe” band, and comes from the business side of music. Thanks to Shane, it was decided to add an artist management department to the company. “There is a potential here to later identify creative talents who also write. We will select them with tweezers and cultivate them from scratch,” says Entavi.
Were you not afraid of too much ego and friction in the partnership?
“Two weeks ago, a producer came here, who explained to me that you can’t put three super producers together. It’s like taking Eyal Shani, Haim Cohen, and Israel Aharoni and telling them to make a dish together. They tried to tell me that at the beginning too, and how lucky that I didn’t listen and didn’t know the It’s because now they fly and realize that it’s also more fun, they also make better music and the vibe here is such that they don’t want to go home.”
Session 42’s offices and studios are located in south Tel Aviv. All the rooms in it are “floating” so that there is insulation and no sound leaks. In the big studio they are working on the festival, in another studio on a new hit in the making, and the shared space radiates a musical atmosphere with little hi-tech treats.
But the high-tech is not embodied only in the atmosphere. Antavi clarifies that technology and innovation will occupy a central place in the company. “We have a system for distributing music to digital platforms that is suitable for the new world. I took exclusive rights to Revalator in Israel, a completely transparent system where every artist can see in real time where his music is being played, how much money he receives and if there is an upward trend in a certain place. There are also smart contracts and transfers funds directly into a bank account. We take half, if not a quarter of the commissions that are taken in the industry. 30% of the commissions belong to the old CD world. We take 5%-10%.”
As part of thinking outside the box, the people of Session 42 thought about what could be a substitute for gifts in an age where there are almost no records anymore. “Soon we will have an exchange for issuing songs, and the idea behind it is to allow the audience to be a partner in the songs they like. The technological infrastructure is NFT: 100 copies are issued, which represent 100% of the rights in the song, and 20 copies are put up for sale. When you buy the song, you have the creation in your wallet and from it Wait, you share in the royalties in your relative share of the creation.”
And what is the artist’s interest?
“First of all, there is an emotional element here – the artist connects his fans to him and allows them to be partners in the creation. 20 people is very exclusive. Besides, there is an economic interest here, we are opening a new revenue stream for artists because with the purchase of NFT, most of the money goes to the artists. For 20 copies It is several thousand shekels and it is also marketable. The first song to be issued is ‘I have a hole in my heart in your form’ by Giraffes. Anyone can buy it for their girlfriend and it will truly be hers.”
For the artist, the creation is the baby. Why would he want to share it?
“It is not suitable for everyone. But it is important to say that we do not issue the work but the recording, so psychologically the creator does not share the work with anyone.”
Doesn’t it cheapen art a bit, when everything becomes business?
“Everything starts here with the creation. Make good music – the business will come. The creation is the DNA of the place, which is led by musicians. I’m just letting the wind at the back think big.”