With her app Smash, Kesha can be whoever she wants — even a tech CEO
In an unexpected yet powerfully resonant move, global pop sensation Kesha, renowned for her chart-topping hits and genre-defying artistry, has officially transitioned into the role of a tech CEO. Her latest venture, the app Smash, is poised to disrupt the music industry by empowering artists and addressing the very issues she faced throughout her storied career.
Kesha has always embodied contradiction. From her explosive debut in 2010 with tracks like “TiK ToK” and “Blah Blah Blah,” her public persona often belied a deeper intellect, famously demonstrated by her near-perfect SAT score and decision to forgo Barnard College for music. Yet, beneath the glitter and pop anthems, her years in the spotlight were marred by a “nightmarish” reality of exploitative record contracts.
It is this deeply personal experience that forms the bedrock of Smash. The app is designed to be a sanctuary for musicians, a platform where they can connect, collaborate, and crucially, establish clear, artist-friendly contracts. Unlike traditional industry models that often ensnare creators, Smash integrates a built-in system to generate transparent agreements. These terms are flexible, allowing artists to decide on licensing fees, royalty percentages, or other compensation models, with Smash funding itself through a minimal cut of in-app payments.
“One of the pieces of leverage, especially over younger music creators, is you need a way into the club,” explained Kesha’s brother and Smash co-founder, Lagan Sebert, in an interview. “With Smash, we want to give music creators the keys to get into this club of professionals and other creators without them feeling like they have to sign anything away, or make any large decisions about the rest of their lives.”
Kesha’s decade-long battle to regain control over her artistic output, stemming from a 2014 lawsuit against her producer Dr. Luke for alleged abuse, underscored the urgent need for a platform like Smash. Despite the court ruling against her initial attempt to exit her contract, forcing her to release three more albums under the contentious agreement, she finally regained full artistic agency earlier this month. This hard-won independence fueled her determination to prevent other artists from enduring similar struggles.
Building a robust tech platform required significant expertise. Years prior, Kesha met Lars Rasmussen, co-founder of Google Maps and an early investor in Canva, at an ACTAI Ventures event. Rasmussen later introduced her to Alan Cannistraro, who joined Smash as CTO. Cannistraro’s extensive background at Apple, where he worked on products like Final Cut and managed the development of initial iOS apps such as iBooks and iTunes, coupled with his long-standing commitment to artist support, made him an ideal fit. “In the late ’90s, when my friends were all using Napster, I was saying to them, ‘What the hell, you like this music. Why are you screwing the artist?’” Cannistraro recounted. “It’s always just been in my value system that artists need to be supported.”
With Rasmussen as one of their first investors, Kesha officially unveiled Smash at his Panathēnea festival in Greece. During her announcement, she articulated the app’s core mission: “Smash is a community platform for music creators. It’s a place where you can go to connect, to create, and to hire, all while retaining the rights to what you create. The goal is to shift the power back to the hands of the creators.” She further emphasized the importance of its secure, transparent contracting, ensuring artists “get consent over where your art and where your voice goes, and how it goes into the world.”
While the Smash app is still in development, with an anticipated launch for select artists later this year, the team has already conducted trials. A recent contest invited artists to submit remixes of Kesha’s song “Boy Crazy,” with the five winners slated to have their remixes released on Kesha’s record label, receiving an “industry standard remix fee.”
This initiative represents more than just a new app; it’s a testament to Kesha’s enduring spirit and her commitment to fostering a more equitable and transparent future for musicians worldwide. As she stated at Panathēnea, reflecting on her own hard-won freedom, “Predatory deals like that are normal.” Smash aims to make them a relic of the past.
