2024 marked the five-year anniversary of Too Lost.

I filed the formation paperwork for Too Lost in June 2019 at the age of 21. With a few thousand dollars I had saved from various music industry jobs, I began building the platform. Somehow, I convinced my two co-founders, Alex Silverstein and Bjarki Larusson, to join me in creating the first iterations of Too Lost. In 2020, we officially launched the service to the world. The first two years were slow but incredibly formative. The COVID-19 global pandemic forced us into isolation but provided the three of us with an unparalleled opportunity to focus entirely on developing the best product possible.

We never sought external investment and instead operated under the radar to build Too Lost from the ground up. From securing contracts with stores and services to designing delivery functions, we tackled every challenge head-on. We engineered audio encoding processes, sales scripts to ingest royalty data, built metadata dashboards, integrated with third-party FTPs and APIs to ensure seamless information transfers, optimized analytics pipelines for extensive data management, and refined UI/UX for tools like our uploader and royalty split technology. The music industry often overlooks the complexity of true music distribution, with many players relying on third-party technology to power their products. Meanwhile, clients are often enchanted by the simplicity of "pushing a button" to deliver content, unaware of the intricate triggers, scripts, formulas, and technical operations that occur behind the scenes. Good products make complex operations feel simple. It was an immense amount of work and, at times, incredibly thankless. Yet, I am deeply appreciative of those early years. The problem-solving we undertook during those foundational days, though extremely stressful, remains some of my fondest memories. 

To every artist and record label who trusted us in those early days, thank you. It’s humbling to reflect on how many individuals placed their digital music careers in the hands of three unproven young professionals. Your trust means everything, and I’m profoundly grateful that Too Lost can play a small but meaningful role in hundreds of thousands of musical journeys.

Fast forward five-years later to 2024, Too Lost is now one of the fastest-growing music companies in the world.

2024 Highlights:

• Too Lost achieved over 130% revenue growth in 2024 and is on track to surpass $100 million in annual revenue in 2025. We remain a fully profitable company with no external shareholders.
• We paid out over $50 million in royalties to artists and labels.
• Too Lost now serves over 300,000 artists and record labels, with thousands more joining every month.
• Over 2 million new songs were distributed in 2024, delivering more than 2,000 new releases daily—equating to approximately 7,000 songs per day. This represents over 5% of all new music released worldwide. Too Lost now manages one of the largest music catalogs by volume in the world.
• Our catalog now generates over 60 billion monetized streams per year.
• In 2024, some of the world’s biggest artists partnered with Too Lost, including Teddy Swims, Tory Lanez, Mark Ambor, Lil Tjay, Artemas, Surf Curse, Aaron May, Current Joys, KA$HDAMI, Pink Sweat$, AYYBO, Chezile, Josiah and the Bonnevilles, Ali Gatie, Luke Chiang, Ayesha Erotica, potsu, UnoTheActivist, Zeph, anees, Chief Keef, Royel Otis, Lola Young, Laufey, KAYTRANADA, Fog Lake, Eric Reprid, Ruby Waters, Alex Warren, New West, yung kai and more.
• In 2024, we invested $10 million in new royalty advances and content for our label services deals.
• We now employ over 80 full-time staff members globally. Our team is composed of dedicated professionals with past work experiences at Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Spotify, Downtown Music, Beatstars, Ultra Music, Apple Music, and more. They are true champions of the independent music industry, and it’s an honor to build alongside them.

We introduced more new features than any other music distributor this year, including:

• Trends & Analytics Portal: Connecting you with data from sources such as Spotify, Apple, Deezer, TikTok, Meta, Amazon, SoundCloud, Peloton, YouTube Shorts, YouTube Content ID, Anghami, Boomplay, AWA, FLO, iHeart, and NetEase.
• Team Management Tools
• YouTube Channel Monetization
• Exportable Reports: Exchange Rate, Delivery Log, and Spotify Placement History
• Catalog Transfer Tool
• Audience Management
• Fan Blast + Fan Blast Analytics
• Login History and Active Session Monitoring
• Social Login Options
• Automatic Advances in Wallet
• Enhanced Engagement Metrics: Weekly and hourly insights 
• Instant Access to Spotify for Artists and Spotify Preferred Provider status
• Audio Recognition Features
• Spotify Discovery Mode Analytics
• Industry-Best KYC Validation Process
• Uploader Enhancements: Dolby Atmos compatibility, Apple Motion Artwork support, and over 1,000 additional credit roles
• Store Integration: Added 30+ new stores and services, bringing the total to over 430 delivery targets
• Automation Tools: Automatic Support Ticket System, DDEX Catalog Ingestion for Enterprise Clients, Publishing Administration Reporting, and Cover Song Licensing PDF Generation
• Shareable Track Preview Links

We’re kicking off the new year with exciting updates in the coming weeks, including:

• Snapchat and Canva Analytics in the Trends & Analytics Portal
• Apple Digital Masters compatibility in the Uploader
• A mobile application for iOS and Android devices
• Enterprise White Label Dashboard Plans
• Advanced Royalty Split Features
• Enhanced automatic financing tools
• Publishing Administration Analytics
• Faster payout settlement times
• AI-driven tools: a revamped AI Cover Art Generator and AI Mastering Feature
• Instant account connection to Audiomack

To our artists, labels, and partners: Thank you all for an incredible 2024. Your support, trust, and collaboration make everything we do possible. Here’s to an even bigger and brighter 2025. The independent music industry is thriving.

To our critics and skeptics: have you used Too Lost? Try it before judging it, on me. Use promo code "NEWYEAR" when signing up for your first 3 months free. Don't get left behind.

Happy New Year everyone!

Sincerely,

Gregory Hirschhorn

CEO and Co-Founder of Too Lost