Fast Company chooses 10 companies that are changing the face of the music industry. They are: Neon16 - a talent incubator and music label for Latin music, BeatStars - an online marketplace for producers to sell their beats to artists, Royalty Exchange - a marketplace allowing artists who are earning royalties to sell them to investors during online auctions, Audiomack - a music streaming and discovering platform aiming at Africa, Stem - a music distribution platform making it easier to artists, as well as Verzuz, Parkwood Entertainment, Harmonix, Bandcamp, and Dolby.

Los Angeles-based startup Stem Disintermedia Inc., launched last week, is offering musicians money they can use to go on tour, record new songs or market their work - without demanding ownership. According to Bloomberg, Stem has created a flat-fee service called Scale that offers financing in the form of a revolving credit line and plans to lend more than $100 million in advances to artists and independent labels. Fees range from 5% to 25%, and Stem also collects a cut when artists use its platform to distribute their music. Stem is backed by the likes of Mark Cuban and Scooter Braun, with clients Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Usher, Forbes reports.