Interview with Marcus Adetola: Potentiam

This entrepreneur is capitalizing on one of the biggest technology breakthroughs in recent years to revolutionize the music industry. Learn about the vision he has for his startup and his forward-thinking ideas for utilizing what was once only known as an alternative to traditional currency.

Marcus Adetola, CEO and co-founder of Potentiam, spent six years in the music industry managing emerging artists and writing content on current events. But he noticed a serious problem: “The current structure of the music industry concentrates power in the hands of relatively few middlemen. Labels invest around $4.5 billion annually into marketing, and in turn are still gateways between creatives and potential commercial success. Not only do they determine which creatives are promoted to a wider audience, those fortunate enough to achieve commercial success will be lucky to see 10% of the revenue generated from the proceeds of their creations.”

In 2016, Adetola launched the U.K.-based music discovery and talent showcase platform Britznbeatz, now known as Neon Music. But giving up-and-coming artists a place to show off wasn’t enough. He wanted to do everything possible to make sure talented artists had the creative control and financial incentive to keep making amazing music. And blockchain technology provided the solution. This technology, which allows information to be shared yet never copied, is completely decentralized. The result is a system with unprecedented security that also gives artists the ability to distribute their work while maintaining complete control over the product.

Adetola explains, “Potentiam is an incentivised music social network which will reward both music creatives and music fans for their contributions to the music industry. As a blockchain and crypto enthusiast, I wanted to incorporate that into the business. No one else is doing what we are doing!”

Unlike other uses of blockchain technology, like trading card games and the (of course) well-known cryptocurrencies, Potentiam utilizes the same technology to allow artists to collaborate, promote their music, license their creations and, ultimately, receive payment for their work. The platform also invests in artists, providing them with funding for recording tools, connecting them with promoters and allowing them to sell their art directly to consumers. Essentially, it acts as a social network for advertising, a catalog management suite that ensures work is copyrighted and affords artists multiple distribution modules.

The result is an alternative to the industry standard management and recording label structure that, instead of artists only receiving 10% of the revenue generated, nets them 85%.

Because Adetola’s company is so revolutionary, and relies so heavily on a constantly evolving and expanding technology, the path to launching has taken well over a year. Adetola describes his biggest challenge as “getting people to see past the bitcoin phenomenon and understand the value of blockchain.”

But he’s managed to do just that. The company, founded in 2017, spent all of 2018 running an alpha testing phase with over 5,000 artists. And it plans to launch its full beta stage, allowing even more emerging artists to participate, in the first quarter of 2019.

While launching a technology-driven company in a creative field isn’t a walk in the park, neither is entrepreneurship. Like most forward-thinkers, Adetola struggles with remembering to take breaks, eat a full meal at a normal time and manage his never-ending to-do list. But he’s had plenty of inspiration to keep pushing him forward, and possess the attitude required of every successful entrepreneur. “My parents were both entrepreneurs and owned their own businesses. Every day is going to be different and it is most certainly not a 9 to 5 job! However, it is incredibly rewarding working for yourself and seeing how one small idea can develop into a fully functional and successful business,” he says.

Interested in following the growth of Potentiam or learning more about this revolutionary, industry-changing platform? Check out their website at www.potentiam.io or follow them on Twitter and Instagram. Curious to learn more about the lesser-known music scene or want to find new artists? Head on over to Neon Music.

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