Music Hotspot meets UIIN

On March 25^th, 2021, the University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) had the opportunity and honour to interview Raymond Chan, founder of Music Hotspot. Raymond is a fully-fledged entrepreneur from Hong Kong. He studied management and engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and prior to Music Hotspot, he kicked off two companies: one in the US, and one China. Additionally, he is an advisor for the Watami Japan and China Resources Bank.

During the interview, Ryamond took UIIN through Music Hotspot entrepreneurial journey and how this started from the desire of guaranteeing fair retribution to indie artists working in the music industry. After some failed attempts of selling his idea to link IP of music products to blockchain, Music Hotspot changed trajectory, by exporting the business model of Bandcamp, an SME based in the US and operating in the country and in the European Union.

To secure a fairer wealth redistribution, Music Hotspot created a cloud infrastructure on blockchain and a c2c (creator-to-consumer) music marketplace, allowing the money to go directly to the artists, taking only a small processing fee to cover the company expenses and a sharing of profit. Hence, the technology allows more transparency and traceability of the music products and of the money that is injected into the platform.

On the one hand, when UIIN asked Music Hotspot to point out some of the greatest challenges encountered in its entrepreneurial journey, Raymond told us that there is general misunderstanding of what blockchain is, which is often mistakenly associated to bitcoins, and the lack of resources, especially at the very early stage. Further, he points out that COVID-19 represents a major challenge for the music industry, which is heavily reliant on human interaction, as well as Music Hotspot choice to stick to his mission.

On the other hand, Raymond took us through some key factors for Music Hotspot success. These include support and funding that the company received from the Hong Kong government, which has been the most crucial factor. Furthermore, Raymond highlighted the ability of his team to work cohesively and constructively, having a wide network, and the increased visibility deriving from the support of large corporations.

Finally, Raymond concluded the interview with advice for entrepreneurs that want to be successful in their business and to include the technology in their business model. The interviewee pointed out the necessity of being a good communicator/storyteller, as a fundamental key skill, given that the public is unaware of what blockchain is and what it does; the necessity for entrepreneurs to develop a holistic understanding of blockchain and their awareness that it will not solve global issues, but it will only increase transparency; and the necessity to be consistent in your message.

Authored by Mario Ceccarelli