Stationhead and Mellomanic Announce Merger to Create an Unparalleled Music Community and “First Listen” Platform for Artists and Fans

New company receives investments from Sterling Partners and Universal Music Group

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stationhead, the leading fan engagement platform connecting artists with their most dedicated audiences through live, interactive listening experiences, and Mellomanic, the innovative online music event platform powering scalable, real-time listening parties, video streaming events, and data-driven fan engagement for artists and labels, today announced that, effective immediately, the companies are merging under the Stationhead name.

The merger creates a single, category-defining service designed to connect artists and fans more deeply and authentically while unlocking meaningful new revenue opportunities for all stakeholders across the global music ecosystem.

Backed with new investment from Sterling Partners and Universal Music Group, among others, the new Stationhead creates a powerful, integrated fan engagement platform for the music industry that brings together both platforms’ complimentary commerce, fan intelligence, and monetization infrastructures along with their live, interactive listening and community platforms. Together, the new company delivers a powerful, integrated solution that drives incremental value across the music ecosystem.

With the merger, David Rappaport, head of Mellomanic and the former Chief Operating Officer of Global Touring at AEG Presents, will become Chief Executive Officer of Stationhead. Ryan Star, Stationhead’s co-founder and an accomplished recording artist, will serve as Chief Creative Officer. Steven Taslitz, Chairman and Co-Founder of Sterling Partners, will serve as Stationhead’s Chairman. Rappaport and Star will additionally serve as board members.

In making the announcement, Rappaport said, “This merger creates the ultimate direct-to-fan platform the industry needs. Even as far back as when I was an artist attorney, I felt that copyrights and artist businesses were substantially under-monetized and that an all-encompassing solution could be created for the industry that allowed all industry stakeholders to win. By bringing Stationhead and Mellomanic together, we’re building an additive, ecosystem-wide solution that drives real business and data for artists, record labels, music publishers, and streaming services. As pre-release engagement and fan participation become increasingly central to the fan experience and the music economy, we’re creating destinations where creativity and commerce work in tandem—and where our unique position allows us not just to capture value, but to expand the overall opportunity for everyone.”

“Stationhead was built from the ground up to bring artists and fans together in real time, around the music itself,” Star said. “By merging with Mellomanic, we’re scaling that vision into the definitive home for fan communities, where listening becomes participation, fans organize with purpose, and artists know exactly where to reach their most engaged audiences. Through live listening parties that have already driven billions of streams on premium streaming services, we’ve demonstrated the commercial power of fandom at scale. This is the next evolution of music fandom, and it’s the future we’ve been building toward from the very beginning.”

As fan engagement increasingly shifts upstream toward pre-release discovery, real-time participation, and direct artist interaction, the music industry is entering a new phase of opportunity for community-driven engagement and monetization. The combination of Stationhead and Mellomanic capitalizes on this moment, creating a unified engagement layer that connects all music industry stakeholders and fans at scale.

From live listening parties and “first listen” pre-release events to community-driven commerce and data-informed fan experiences, Stationhead is designed to drive engagement and new revenue streams across the music ecosystem. The newly combined platform already integrates with both Spotify and Apple Music, and plans to add additional major streaming services, enabling artists to engage fans, activate releases, and generate incremental revenue regardless of where their fans access their music.

“We’re excited to take the lead in building what we believe is a truly transformational company,” said Taslitz, Chairman of Stationhead and Co-Founder and Chairman of Sterling Partners. “Sterling has a four-decade track record of scaling community-driven businesses across technology and music, including software platforms designed to foster engagement and participation at scale. Stationhead represents one of the most compelling opportunities of my career, an independent, industry-wide platform with the potential to drive meaningful incremental value for record labels, music publishers, artists, and fans by bringing artists and their communities closer together in powerful, new ways.”

In addition to its minority investment, Universal Music Group entered into a commercial agreement to use Stationhead’s technology, joining Sterling Partners in supporting an independent, industry-wide platform designed to benefit artists, fans, and the broader music ecosystem.

“At Universal Music Group, we see tremendous potential in technology innovation that brings artists and their biggest fans more closely together, and Stationhead’s independent platform exemplifies that opportunity,” said Michael Nash, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital officer at Universal Music Group. “We’re pleased to enter into a commercial agreement and make a strategic investment alongside Sterling Partners as these talented entrepreneurs build a platform that fosters creative new ways for artists to connect with audiences and activate social engagement. Collaborative, artist-centric, super fan-focused innovation like this is essential to the future of our industry.”

Goldman, Sachs & Co. advised Stationhead on the merger.

About Stationhead

Stationhead is the premier live music engagement platform connecting artists and fans through real-time listening experiences, community interaction, and integrated commerce. Formed through the merger of Stationhead and Mellomanic, the platform combines live, interactive fan engagement with data-driven monetization and commerce tools designed to generate sustainable revenue for artists. Stationhead works seamlessly with Spotify and Apple Music major streaming services and is label- and publisher-agnostic, enabling deeper fan relationships while delivering measurable business outcomes across the global music ecosystem.

About Sterling Partners

Sterling Partners is a Chicago-based investment firm with a more than four-decade track record of building and scaling purpose-driven, community-centric businesses across technology, media, music, and education. Founded by entrepreneurs, Sterling focuses on partnering with management teams to transform small and emerging companies into market-leading platforms through long-term capital, operational expertise, and a deep understanding of how technology can foster engagement and community at scale.

Sterling has been an early mover in multiple transformational technology and software businesses, including platforms centered on community participation, behavioral engagement, and data-driven innovation. The firm has also made significant investments across the music ecosystem, combining a passion for the industry with a disciplined approach to growth and value creation.

Among Sterling’s most notable successes is School of Rock, the global music education platform. When Sterling invested, School of Rock was a small, emerging business; under Sterling’s ownership, it was scaled into the world’s leading community-based music education company, serving more than 150,000 students worldwide and providing young musicians with opportunities to perform, collaborate, and build confidence both on and off stage. Sterling successfully exited School of Rock in 2024.

Sterling Partners invests with a long-term perspective, backing independent platforms that expand access, strengthen communities, and create sustainable growth for all stakeholders.