# Stem Disintermedia

Stem Disintermedia is an Asset Manager based in Los Angeles, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** Los Angeles, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Los Angeles, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 2015
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** stem.is
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/stem-disintermedia

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Stem Disintermedia is a US-based company founded in 2015 in West Hollywood. It provides payment distribution services for online music creators. The company has secured $42,499,999 in total funding.

## Sectors

- Media & Entertainment

## People

- Milana Rabkin Lewis — Chief Executive Officer
- Jovin Cronin-Wilesmith — President

## Questions

### What does Stem Disintermedia actually do?

Stem operates a two-sided platform for the music business. The first side is a software layer that tracks royalty earnings across streaming services, publishers, and master recordings, automating split payments between artists, producers, and collaborators. The second side is a capital arm that advances cash to artists and independent labels against those future royalty streams. The firm recoups its advances through the same automated royalty-splitting infrastructure rather than through traditional debt servicing. The business is structured as a financial services company for the music industry, not a record label or distribution platform.

### How is Stem funded, and who are its capital partners?

Stem deploys capital from its own balance sheet and through a forward-flow credit facility with Victory Park Capital, a Chicago-based asset manager known for specialty-finance and marketplace-lending partnerships. The firm has also raised venture equity — its 2021 Series D round was led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Founders Circle, Quality Control, and others. Stem does not operate a traditional fund structure with third-party limited partners in the institutional sense, instead blending venture equity with credit-facility leverage.

### What type of artists or labels qualify for a Stem advance?

Stem targets independent artists and independent labels who are already generating predictable streaming revenue and who use its royalty-accounting platform. The firm underwrites advances based on historical earnings data visible through its own software, which gives it direct visibility into daily streaming payouts. Stem does not take ownership of masters or intellectual property — the advance is structured as a revenue-share that recoups from the artist's future royalties until the advance plus a multiple is repaid. This structure appeals to artists who want liquidity without surrendering equity in their catalog.

### What happened to the Scale distribution service, and how did that shift Stem's model?

Stem had offered music distribution under the 'Scale' brand, which competed directly with platforms like TuneCore and DistroKid. In September 2023, the firm laid off staff and pulled back from distribution to refocus on its core, higher-margin businesses: royalty accounting and capital advances (per Music Business Worldwide, September 2023). This restructuring signaled that Stem sees its competitive advantage in the credit-and-infrastructure layer rather than in distribution.

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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