2 Minutes With … Peter Harvey, Co-Founder and CEO of RoyFi

Peter is a co-founder and CEO of RoyFi, which works to democratize access to capital for the creative class. The company advances funds to artists based on future royalty earnings. It does so at below-market rates, with clients maintaining full ownership of their music catalogs.

We spent two minutes with Peter to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he’s admired.

Peter, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up just outside of Princeton, N.J. I just moved from Nashville to Orlando.

Your earliest musical memory.

Without a doubt, it was music class in kindergarten, where I was incapable of playing any song properly, unless the teacher was literally holding my hand and doing it for me. I never got any better and that is why I am on the business side of the industry.

Your favorite bands/musicians today.

Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Kenny Chesney, Neon Union, Old Dominion, 50 Cent, Eminem, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

One of your favorite projects you’ve ever worked on. 

Working with Christian rapper and entrepreneur J. Monty and getting to see his career take off. In a year’s time, he more than doubled his Spotify year-in-review stats with the help of an advance from RoyFi, as he was able to focus on his art and merch to reach more fans.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

Co-founding RoyFi alongside Dawn Griffith and Corey Whiting. It’s a great feeling to be able to utilize my background in finance to provide artists with the funds essential to grow and develop their careers.

One thing about how the music world is evolving that you’re excited about.

The development of music as an asset class. I think that risk-based pricing will become increasingly common and there will be a renaissance for the entrepreneurial class of artists and writers. I see this resulting in less concentration of wealth in the industry. Individual artists will be able to make autonomous decisions, greatly benefiting creatives.

Someone else’s work, in music or beyond, that you admired lately.

I was recently turned on to Lenny Rachitsky’s podcast by my girlfriend. He is doing a great job of making insights from top achievers available to non-experts.

An artist you admire outside the world of music.

Sacha Baron Cohen. His unwavering dedication to make light of everything is refreshing in a world that takes itself too seriously.

Your favorite fictional character.

Shrek.

Someone worth following on social media.

Visual Capitalist on Instagram. They do a great job of distilling complexity into consumable graphics.

Your main strength as a marketer/creative.

Identifying and solving pain points. My attitude to every situation is always one of optimism. Wrongs can be righted and weaknesses can become strengths.

Your biggest weakness.

My first language is business. The first language of the music industry is creativity. I am working on it and hopefully making some progress.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in the music business.

If I wasn’t in music, I would be finding a different way to leverage my skill set to help others achieve their goals.