SoundBetter

Shahar Gilad brought 15 years of professional music, audio, and marketing experience to SoundBetter, including roles as director of product marketing at Grammy-winning Waves Audio and as a product manager at Apple. His background as a musician gave him insider understanding of a growing problem: millions of people now had access to affordable recording equipment and could produce their own music, but turning a raw recording into a finished, professional-sounding song remained difficult. This insight—combined with his marketing expertise—became the foundation for SoundBetter.

Shahar built SoundBetter as a two-sided marketplace connecting self-producing musicians with freelance production professionals. The platform allows musicians to post jobs (mixing, mastering, vocal recording, etc.) and receive proposals from vetted professionals. The revenue model reflects marketplace dynamics: musicians use the platform for free to post jobs and receive proposals, while freelancers pay to submit proposals ($4 per proposal) and the platform takes a 5% commission on completed work. This approach aligns incentives—both sides benefit from value creation—and removes friction for musicians trying the service.

From day one, Shahar's strategy was organic search. Rather than chase broad keywords like "music production" or "audio engineering," he focused on specific, intent-driven search terms that musicians actually use when looking for these services. By June 2015, this approach was delivering approximately 30,000 unique monthly website visitors. These visitors discover SoundBetter as a resource, often before they have an active project. Shahar recognized the long-tail nature of the marketplace—musicians might discover the platform, understand it's trustworthy and offers top-tier professionals, and return when ready to commission work.

The SEO-first strategy proved highly effective. Organic search delivers qualified, intent-driven traffic at no cost, and musicians searching for specific services like "vocal mixing" or "track production" are already in a problem-solving mindset. The two-sided commission model removed barriers to trial—musicians post for free, and freelancers only pay when actively pitching. This created a virtuous cycle: more freelancers meant better proposals for musicians, which meant more completed projects and platform revenue. By focusing on niche, specific keywords tailored to what actual customers search for, rather than competing for generic terms, SoundBetter achieved strong rankings and qualified traffic.

With a two-person team, SoundBetter reached an $800,000 annual run rate as of June 2015. The platform hosts Grammy award-winning audio professionals, creating strong trust signals for musicians. The marketplace had achieved product-market fit through deep understanding of musician needs, a lean two-sided commission model, and sustained organic search dominance in the audio production niche.