Serial entrepreneur and recording artist Victor Lombard, also known as DIVINE, announced this week the launch of a new company, in partnership with Rakim, one of hip-hop’s most influential emcees.
The company is called Notes, a fintech specifically for independent urban musicians and creators. It provides the knowledge and tools to help artists manage their careers — such as providing resources to help them apply for loans or access credit scores. It provides financial literacy and music business education by offering multimedia courses, step-by-step guides on financial management and how to monetize music. It also has a feature that lets artists write lyrics and connect with their peers on the app.
Notes has a “digital passport” feature that lets users track credit score, access loans, and budget tools. The company partners with lenders and creditors and earns a commission on referral fees when users apply for loans through the platform.
The app, currently in beta, has AI tools, including an AI voice assistant in Rakim’s voice. It is hoping to launch fully at the end of February.
Chatting with TechCrunch, DIVINE said he was inspired to launch this company alongside Rakim because of his first-hand experience dealing with the indie urban music scene and the hardship that comes when trying to fund a career. It’s well documented, through movies, profiles, and music itself, that breaking into the music industry is hard and expensive. For every big-named artist that hits the charts, there are thousands simply struggling to get by.
“The music industry, as it stands, is structured to take advantage of artists through exploitative contracts and limited financial resources, forcing them into predatory deals just to survive,” he said. Having spent the past ten years building fintech companies, he also said he’s come to view technology as a great equalizer, a way to redistribute control back to artists and creators. DIVINE previously founded fintech BLAK, which focused on serving underbanked communities, and built Solvent, a neobank also for underserved communities.
So he thought of Notes, to musicians educate themselves, fund their own projects and build careers on their own terms. He said now is a good time for this product because indie artists and creators are becoming more powerful and influential, yet still lack a lot of financial support.
DIVINE then pitched the company to Rakim’s team as a way to partner, and “it became an even more powerful force for change,” DIVINE said.
Rakim is part of the hip-hop group Eric B. & Rakim, which made waves during the golden age of hip-hop during the 80s. Their album “Paid in Full” was listed as one of the Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone in 2020 as it was one of the first albums to use funk samples and influenced the flow and lyricism of rappers to come.
DIVINE says he’s known Rakim for 20 years and always admired him for “staying true to his artists and principles.”
“When I started ideating Notes, I knew it had to be more than just a fintech platform, it had to be a movement rooted in the values of empowerment and cultural authenticity,” DIVINE continued. “That’s why it made perfect sense to bring Rakim on board.”
The partnership sees Rakim come on as a co-founder and as an advisory board member. Rakim’s son, Tahmell Griffin, also holds an executive position at the company.
Right now, the company is self-funded but DIVINE said the company is seeking a pre-seed round. Notes offers freemium and premium subscription memberships. It seeks to make money from its subscription models, referral fees. He says this company is the culmination of his music and technological journey.
“I want Notes to shift the narrative from artists being exploited by record labels to artists owning their financial future and career success,” DIVINE said. “If an artist can use Notes to get funding for their next album, learn how to run their music career as a business, and leverage community collaboration for growth, then we’ve succeeded.”
