when Amanda Rovitz met Megan Bonney on a college study abroad program in Sydney, Australia in 2018, says she “always had this feeling” that Boni had star power.
“He's always been the funniest person I know,” Rovitz says. “I thought she would definitely appear in entertainment in some way, not as a musician or a singer, but as someone in comedy.”
Fast forward five years, and Boni, who is admittedly not a musician, has a deal with Capitol/Polydor/Virgin Germany, and Rovitz, who became music director at 1916 Enterprises after grad, is the one who helped her out. put it all together.
It's all thanks to Boni's video, which pokes fun at TikToks cliche 'song of the summer', making her the most unexpected viral signing of 2024. While Boni admits she was 'just having fun' making the video, known as 'Man In Finance', her signing is also indicative of how major companies are evolving to meet the current demands – and breakneck pace – of user-generated music. .
“Did I just write the song of the summer?” she says to the camera inside her viral videowhich has been viewed 28.6 million times since it was posted on April 30. “Looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6'5”, blue eyes,' she says in a rhythmic voice.
@girl_on_couch Can someone make this a real song, just for jokes please
Boni, who posts under the handle @Girl_On_Couch, says she made the clip in just minutes. “Since COVID, TikTok has been a hobby for me,” says Boni. “I just thought it would be funny to make a video that pokes fun at those single girls who always complain about being single but still want an impossible list of things in a boyfriend, and by the way, that includes me.”
It's the sound that launched a thousand remixes. Producers such as David Guetta, Alesso, Loud Luxury and Billen Ted immediately began to be heard, making him the top line on many different TikTok tracks. Now, with the help of Capitol/Polydor/Virgin Germany, Boni is licensing her TikTok vocals to producers for official releases, the first of which was released on May 17 as 'Man In Finance (G6 Trust Fund)' featuring Billen Ted . On it, the production duo combine Boni's vocals, original drums and a sample of Far East Movement's “Like a G6”.
Rovitz says that even before the producers started mixing Boni's audio, she texted her friend saying that the video could really turn into something. Soon, she was proven right: The remixes became inescapable on TikTok, boosting Boni's initial virality to even greater heights. Almost immediately, several major companies came calling, and Boni asked Rovitz to help her navigate the talks. “I didn't really know where to start,” says Boni.
“Within four days, Amanda and Todd [Rubeinstein, music attorney] he had me on tag calls,” says Boni. “Two days later we were talking to UTA,” which now acts as her agent as a creator/comedian. Boni says she went from a completely DIY creator on TikTok to a full team in about a week.
Zach Elgort, head of marketing at Capitol, says it was a “perfect storm” to sign Boni. “It's a marketing dream,” he says. Unlike most songs, which start out as finished masters and then posted online in hopes of gaining organic interest from listeners, this was the other way around. “It was an organic trend [already], which you always hope for. Now, it's about promoting the actual song we released on DSPs and promoting it to our partners.”
This success is more like a TikTok “teaser” strategy, where an artist releases an unreleased song to gauge fan interest first before committing to a release. But the difference with the 'Man In Finance' phenomenon is that Boni made the video without the intention of making it an actual song worth releasing. Still, Elgort says Billen Ted's official version has already received “exciting playlist support” from streamers — it's been added to Spotify's New Music Friday and Teen Beats, among others — since they could already gauge listener appetite. from the original social media video.
“Man In Finance” may have been made as a joke, but it serves as a clear indication of how people create and consume music today, where some of the most important cultural songs are first (or only) available on socials. “This project shows an evolution of how social media meets music,” says Elgort.
The Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake feud, which took place at the same time as the “Man In Finance” trend, serves as another example of how much the creation and consumption of music has changed on social media. All songs were released on social media first, with only a few reaching Spotify and Apple Music.
Like MIDIA Research's Tatiana Chirisano argues in a recent analysis, it is a sign of the “continuing shift in cultural value from streaming to social, which is splitting the music industry into two parallel consumer words: LISTEN, where streaming plays the role [of passive consumption]… and PLAY, where social media platforms are in control of culture.”
Moving forward, Elgort and the team at Capitol, along with Polydor and Virgin, plan to license Boni's vocals to more remix producers, anointing some as official, DSP-friendly versions of “Man In Finance”. The plan fits perfectly with the label's current strategy of releasing multiple versions of the same song on DSP. It also shows how quickly and flexibly major labels are now working to sign viral songs and artists.
“Now, it's about finding a way to get SEO and search to tie in with the official release of the song… and as more official releases eventually come out to streaming partners, they'll all be packaged together and help get better exposure,” he says. Elgort.
Boni, whose record deal is just a licensing deal for that vocal, says she has no intention of writing more songs, but will have fun with it while she can. “I won't make any more music unless it's a parody… but I'm definitely behind this song,” he says. She adds that she's interested in appearing at producer shows, brand collaborations and more — anything that pushes the song, she says, changed her life “overnight” by allowing her to launch her career as a creator and comedian, build her team and to provide enough stability to abandon it 9-5.
“I put in my two weeks last Thursday,” she says. “I'm really excited about what's next.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/record-labels/man-in-finance-tiktok-sound-creator-label-deal-1235692123/
