Florida State is a school that allows its students to prosper in whatever they are passionate about whether it be music, fashion, medicine, etc. Samuel Bradshaw is a prime example of how if you are passionate about something and you put in the effort, you can achieve anything.
Bradshaw is a senior at Florida State who has been playing music with his brother for the past eight years. The two have created two albums that are featured on iTunes and have their own YouTube channel that has $1 million+ views. His love for music, along with being surrounded by exceptional friends and mentors, is what inspired Bradshaw’s startup business, TempoTrader.
Bradshaw and his two co-founders, Max Riahi and Sage Delsser, noticed that there was something missing in the music industry. While listening to rapper Earl Sweatshirt, the three had the idea to buy stock in a musician. Thus, TempoTrader was born.
The essential piece of the company is called a Tempo, which is similar to subscribing to a musician on YouTube. After doing so, the subscriber is rewarded with benefits such as “free songs, discounts on merchandise, and behind-the-scenes sneak-peeks to fans.” The Tempos are traded like stocks in a stock market, using similar strategies such as IPO like releases. Buying a Tempo in an artist that does well increases the value of a Tempo.
Bradshaw is collaborating with Dr. Staley of the Devoe L. Moore Center at Florida State to do “an economic study on the value of creating potential of tradable subscriptions, which is the vehicle that allows people to get access to content while speculating and ‘investing’ in musicians.” He is also working with FSU’s Business Law Clinic and the Jim Moran Institute, which has allowed him to“grow greatly as an entrepreneur,” Bradshaw says.
This system is beneficial for artists (especially new ones) because it allows them to interact with their fans. It’s also a convenient way for people to support the musicians they love and discover new ones. The mission of TempoTrader is “to create a platform that subsidizes the careers of independent musicians and get people interested in consuming for/paying for musician content whether that is tickets, merchandise, songs, etc.”
Bradshaw is currently a triple major studying Entrepreneurship, Applied Economics and Philosophy. He will be graduating from Florida State this spring and hopes to move to Nashville to pursue the success of TempoTrader. He will also reunite with his brother to continue making/recording music. Samuel Bradshaw will very likely be a Florida State alumni to look out for in the years to come!