Behind The Scenes - Plus Eight Equity
The last time I spoke with John Acquaviva, we were in Ibiza and he was accepting an award for being a dance music pioneer. I remember him being visibly taken aback by it all saying, in typically humble tones, it felt more like a survivor award and how it immediately made him feel a bit older! Later than night, at the awards show after party, he tore the roof off spinning the kind of techno that’s won him more than awards: the adoration, respect and support of the industry elite. John is an avid tech fan and insatiable entrepreneur; you may not realise his pivotal role (with Richie Hawtin) in starting ‘the iTunes of Dance Music’, Beatport, as well as being on the boards at SubPac, LANDR and more, and it’s these behind-the-scenes roles that VOCALIZR wanted me to focus on.
Along with Rishi Patel and an all-star advisory board of Richie Hawtin, Pete Tong and Ben Turner, John manages an early stage venture capital firm - Plus Eight Equity. Responsible for cash injections in the aforementioned companies among others, John is a passionate advocate of technology within the dance music sphere. As always, he is engaging, enlightened and great fun. I greet John with a smile and ask how he is, “Still surviving,” he quips, sharp as a whip. “Actually, I’m still busy in a very good way. All of the various projects feed off and push the others, so lots of great gigs lined up this year as well as really interesting new people and ideas in addition to the current batch of wonderful ventures and teams we work with regularly.”
We fall into a natural rhythm quickly and I start out asking about how Plus Eight Equity works: “Using a record label analogy, it’s like being an A&R but instead of songs, it’s businesses.” John says, “We love to keep up with what people are thinking and more importantly have created, so people contact us via our network or directly to share their new ideas and businesses and we see if we get it. If it makes sense to us and our industry, then we get behind it.” Interestingly, although that sounds incredibly easy, there’s a strict vetting policy that Plus Eight employ, John explains, such that of the 400 companies who’ve contacted him and his team, only 9 have been successful. Speaking of the unique challenges he faces, John is very clear:
“With any new project or business, there is always the admin. Making sure you have the foundation and structure so people can work together, make decisions and move things forward [is essential].”
Plus Eight Equity hasn’t been without its critics. Indeed, when they unveiled plans to work with online mastering service, LANDR, the dance music community was split. On the one hand, fellow technologists applauded their decision to explore the possibilities of algorithm based computer models to complete a job normally achieved with human ears and a lifetime of experience, whereas mastering engineers and producers were up in arms with ‘taking the food from our babies mouths’ style laments across social media. I approach this subject with John with caution and I’m relieved to find out it’s not the first time he’s been asked about it.
“Perhaps we can use something from the past, such as Final Scratch or Traktor Scratch.” He begins, “Some people are hardcore vinyl supporters. I respect people’s passions but for all of them that criticise this digital solution, I would counter that with things like FS and Beatport. We connected more underground people and lovers of music than every other platform before. When it comes to the bigger picture, I believe we have always done more good than harm and try to keep this perspective.”
We move on to talk about his partners at Plus Eight Equity: “Rishi Patel is the most recent addition to our core team and my admin partner in the fund and we are now into our 4th year. Meeting him had many elements of meeting Richie Hawtin and starting the Plus 8 label. When I met Rich, we felt there was a big opportunity. [We] had no idea how big or how much work, but just immediately said, “let’s be partners and figure it out.”. There was a lot of this similar ethos and scenario upon meeting Mr Patel. We did realise how much work and were not as in the dark as the label, but I can tell you that running an investment fund is not for everyone.”
As a dance music pioneer, John Acquaviva has many years of experience in the scene. But as a open-minded world traveller, he freely admits every day is a learning experience: “Travelling the world and meeting new generations as well as cultures often provide new perspectives. And for me, for us overall, that is stimulating and inspiring. I very much agree with the concept of always learning and always moving forward.” Maybe that’s a reason why he continues to lead from the front. Of the 9 companies currently on the Plus Eight portfolio, none appear to be floundering. In fact, Augmented Reality company Vntana rolled out their personalised hologram software; HOLLAgram as part of a Microsoft R&D initiative about a year ago, which to date, has been used for the Super Bowl, U.S. Open, Pro Football Hall of Fame and several NBA facilities. With new clients, Lexus, they are now advertising across several US Baseball venues with more coming online in the next few months.
Tactile Bass System, SubPac has also seen huge brand growth with gamers, music producers or those who wish to feel audio as a visceral experience whereas Splice has reinvigorated digital music making by acting as a creative hub with online resources, a plug-in repository and online syncing of studios for more in-depth collaboration work and 1:1 learning support. With all these successes, I ask the obvious question: Have there been any failures: “Only a few,” John assures me, “One example was a company that I invested in the same time as Beatport called DMD (Digital Music Distribution). It was based around selling music and ringtones in Japan. Japan, as a whole, pretty much stopped leading the way in technology and cellphones around that time.”
As I wind down the interview, the subject matter turns more whimsical. I ask about his plans to grow the business and mention the recent news of driverless car technology. “I don’t know if we would ever get that deep into business of a driverless car.” He thinks aloud, “EDM has delivered us some DJs that don’t mix, so we do have some ‘Mixless DJ’s!” What about a return to music retail I offer next, “I never say never. A few dear friends have invested in records shops, but I personally don’t see that in my immediate horizon.”
In the UK, we have a TV programme for budding entrepreneurs to ask seasoned business minds for investment, it’s called Dragon’s Den. Speaking with John about Plus Eight Equity kind of felt very similar. One thing is for sure, if you do approach him with a concept, you can expect a considered response. And if he takes your business on, the possibility of it succeeding is greatly increased.
