The Echo Nest Music intelligence platform The Echo Nest, a music intelligence platform in Massachusetts, closed a big financing round on July 2012. Please

The Echo Nest Music intelligence platform The Echo Nest, a music intelligence platform in Massachusetts, closed a big financing round on July 2012. Please read the article below and answer the questions that follow.

The Echo Nest raises $17 million

By D.C. Denison

The Boston Globe

July 12, 2012.

“The Echo Nest, a music intelligence platform, has closed a $17.3 million financing round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Prior investors Matrix Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Fringe Partners, Jim Pallotta and board member Michael Brown also participated in this round.

The Echo Nest, based in Somerville, plans to use the funds to support continued sales growth, international expansion, and new product development. The company also announced major additions to its Fanalytics listener data platform.

The Echo Nest’s tools enable media companies and independent developers to build intelligence about music content and music fans into applications to make them more engaging. In addition to a growing community of more than 15,000 application developers, The Echo Nest has established a customer list that includes Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio, eMusic, MOG, Spotify, Nokia, the BBC, and VEVO.

This latest round of funding will help The Echo Nest focus on international sales and marketing, the company said. The financing will also support continued development of Fanalytics, which the company describes as “data-driven solutions to help leading media companies better understand music fans.”

Discuss:
What does The Echo Nest do exactly?
What round of financing is the Globe reporting on?Go to CrunchBase to find the answer.
How does The Echo Nest intend to use the funds?
Devise a four- or five-stage financing plan for the company. Consider its list of clients and its outreach to application developers.