Collabhouse

Overview

In April 2023, I joined Collabhouse, a music technology company driven by the mission to help artists, labels, and creators "Make More of Music". The platform offered an integrated suite of tools designed to empower creators, including global music distribution to streaming services, direct sync licensing opportunities through its Music Library, facilitated artist-influencer collaborations via the Collab Market, and forward-thinking monetization avenues such as tokenized royalty-split NFTs.

My engagement began concurrently with a crucial strategic pivot for the company: the decision to transition its core platform development capabilities from reliance on an external agency to fostering a dedicated, internal engineering team. Understanding that the inherent complexities and the need for rapid innovation demanded by Collabhouse's multifaceted platform and ambitious mission were likely constrained by an external development model, I led the transition to build a sustainable, integrated team.

Moving in-house

Building an internal team meant orchestrating a transfer of domain-specific knowledge, establishing new internal development methodologies, and ultimately assuming full technical stewardship of the existing codebase and infrastructure. This infrastructure supported the entirety of Collabhouse's service offerings – from Music Distribution and the Music Library to the Collab Market and NFT Market. The overarching objective was to cultivate a self-reliant, agile, and knowledgeable engineering unit. It had to be equipped to maintain, enhance, and rapidly iterate on the platform, enabling Collabhouse to better address the evolving needs of its diverse user base and capitalize on emerging market opportunities.

The challenge

This initiative presented a formidable set of interconnected challenges, spanning both internal organizational dynamics and external market realities. Collabhouse operates within the demanding music industry ecosystem, where independent artists constantly battle for exposure and equitable earnings ; consequently, any lapse in platform stability or delay in feature enhancement could directly impact users' careers and trust. Internally, the primary hurdle was navigating the transition itself – a delicate process fraught with potential risks. These included the possibility of critical knowledge being lost during the handover from the agency, the imperative to maintain uninterrupted service continuity for thousands of artists and creators utilizing the platform's diverse features , and the need to avoid disrupting essential business operations. Compounding this complexity was the parallel task of building a skilled, cohesive engineering team from scratch, integrating new hires into a complex, mature system, and establishing an effective development culture – all while ensuring the continued delivery of vital platform improvements and maintaining operational stability. It was akin to rebuilding the aircraft's engines mid-flight, where any misstep could compromise the journey for everyone onboard.

Key Achievements

Acknowledging the significant risks involved in such a fundamental shift, I championed and executed a phased, gradual transition strategy, deliberately avoiding an abrupt cutover to allow for methodical knowledge transfer and minimize operational disruption. In the initial phase, I acted as the central technical point, serving as the communication bridge between internal Collabhouse stakeholders and the external development agency. This period also involved my own deep immersion into the platform's existing architecture and, critically, into the nuances of the music industry domain – understanding the intricacies of royalty calculations, rights management workflows, and the technical pipelines for digital distribution.

As the internal team grew in capability, I transitioned to overseeing the successful implementation and integration of several key technical projects that directly enhanced platform value:

• We integrated Cyanite, an AI tool for tagging music by mood and genre, enhancing our search functionality for song similarity.

• We stabilized our integration with a major digital distribution aggregator, ensuring smoother operations.

• We launched in-app messaging using Bird to facilitate communication between artists and creators within the platform.

• We implemented PayPal Payouts to efficiently transfer collected royalties to rights holders.

• We streamlined user registrations and simplified account permissions, enhancing overall user experience.

These efforts have not only improved our platform's functionality but have also set a solid foundation for future growth and development at Collabhouse.