Tonos inks tunesmiths, adds sites

Group acquires $7 million in financing

By DON WALLER

Songwriters/producers Rodney Jerkins, Max Martin, Diane Warren, Matt Serletic and Byron Gallimore have inked exclusive agreements with Tonos --the Internet music company co-founded by songwriter Carole Bayer Sager and songwriters-producers David Foster and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds -- to create what Tonos CEO Matt Farber calls "the industry's first music insiders' network."

Set to launch in April, the Tonos site will provide fans, aspiring musicians and industry pros access to contacts, tools and info that will enable fresh collaborations.

"Our intention," Bayer Sager told Daily Variety, "is to demystify the music business in much the same way that the Motley Fool demystified the world of finance."

Along with inking the aforementioned songwriters-producers, Tonos has acquired industry gossip site the Velvet Rope and the guitar and piano instruction site Net Music School. These will be folded into the Tonos Insider and Tonos Mentor areas, respectively. The latter provides creative and biz guidance.

The Tonos Challenges area offers singers, songwriters and other industry aspirants opportunities to showcase their crafts and collaborate with Tonos' stable of stars as well as each other.

"We're not a media space and we're not distributing recordings," Farber told Daily Variety. "The Internet is a do-ers' medium. We're offering people the ability to further their passion for and their career in music, by actively participating in the creative process."

Separately, Tonos announced that it has acquired $7 million in financing from Internet investment firm Sequoia Capital and Internet software giant shockwave.com.