Built by musicians, for musicians
We're on a mission to democratize music marketing by building transparent, integrated tools that help artists understand and grow their careers without the black boxes or vendor lock-in.
The Story
From PhD to music tech
Our founder spent years optimizing materials at the molecular level in research labs, then realized indie musicians faced the same problem - incredible potential buried under inefficient systems.
After releasing music to "tens of listeners" and experiencing firsthand how fragmented and opaque music marketing tools were, they decided to apply the same rigorous, transparent approach from materials science to music technology.
That's how barely.ai was born - as an open-source alternative to expensive, disconnected tools that keep artists in the dark about their own data.
Why we built this
- •Existing tools were built for general marketing, not music careers
- •Tool stacks cost more than most indie artists' monthly income
- •No platform showed the real ROI of marketing campaigns
- •Musicians spent more time managing tools than making music
Our Values
What drives us every day
Open Source
No black boxes. See exactly how everything works, contribute features, or self-host if you prefer.
Artist First
Every decision starts with 'how does this help musicians?' Not investors, not us - artists.
Integration
Your tools should work together. See which campaigns drive real results across all channels.
Community
Built with feedback from real musicians. Your needs drive our roadmap, not venture capital.
The Barely Connection
Battle-tested in the real world
barely.ai powers all marketing campaigns at Barely NYC, our music marketing agency. We've used these exact tools to help indie artists grow from 0 to 30K+ monthly listeners.
Every feature was built to solve real problems we encountered working with artists. No theoretical features - just practical tools that get results.
Learn about BarelyBy the Numbers
Growing with our community
Artists using barely.ai
Saved in tool costs
Open source
Community support
Open Source Commitment
Transparency is not just a feature
Unlike other platforms, barely.ai is fully open source. You can see exactly how everything works, contribute features, or even self-host if you prefer. No black boxes, no vendor lock-in, no surprises.
Ready to take control of your music marketing?
Join thousands of artists who've ditched expensive, fragmented tools for an integrated platform that actually makes sense.
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