INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

New opportunities open up when we shake up the existing order

When Danmark's Radio cancelled Le Gammeltoft’s radio program, it sparked an entrepreneurial journey that led her to become the founder of a innovative podcast company.

Text by David Pepe Birch / Photographer: Jason Idris

A karate club and a windswept roundabout are the closest neighbours here in Sundby on Amager in Copenhagen. As you move through the battered surroundings, you can sense the creative potential in the air. The future is blooming in the abandoned industrial oasis, and in one of the buildings you will find Heartbeats, a cultural site that Le Gammeltoft founded in 2014.

Le Gammeltoft offers coffee in the corner of the editorial office, where the desks are scattered between columns in the old industrial premises. It is similar to many other media workplaces. Heartbeats is also in many ways a traditional media house, providing sound, images and text about, among other things, music, fashion, entrepreneurs, management and literature. But still, there is something completely different. Indeed, the content and business model are very unconventional.

At Heartbeats, customers such as Mercedes, Coop, Dansk Arkitektur Center, Dansk Erhverv, Tommy Hilfiger, Änglamark, Blox, Adidas and many, many others pay for editorial coverage. There is no hidden agenda - at Heartbeats it is always made very clear that this kind of collaboration is required.

New possibilities

From being run by Le Gammeltoft herself, Heartbeats has become an online cultural universe with an editorial staff and a large group of influencers in the form of radio hosts, writers, TV and podcast personalities such as radio host and DJ Mads Axelsen, journalist Ditte Giese and cyclist Brian Holm. But there has been no easy road to creating what Heartbeats is today. After a career in DR and as a DJ, Le Gammeltoft put extra pressure on herself by entering an industry that was already uncertain. She came from a radio industry that was bleeding listeners, and continued in the same vein in a world where streaming had shaken the economy of radio stations and music companies.

“I came from an industry that was going down. And then I found another one too coming down. I guess that’s my thing. But then there was still something that could make a difference.”

Because as often happens when you shake up the existing order, new possibilities open up. And in the middle of the crisis, Le Gammeltoft found a door to a new world.

"At that time in 2014, not many people used branded content, which is content sponsored by a brand. So a new form of sponsorship. I started using that.”

The idea

In 2013, Le Gammeltoft hosted the program Unga Bunga on P3. But in 2014, DR closed the program on the grounds that there had to be room for developing new programs on the broadcast schedule. She had just opened a bar in the inner city and still owned the remains of a record company. And now she was suddenly without a job.

In the middle of that, she got the idea for Heartbeats. That is, she got the idea for a music app. By detour, she found a programmer who was sitting in Gaza and coding apps. The app, in all its simplicity, could play music, and in that way she was able to expand her DJ business to all the smartphones that in those years were a Klondike for eager entrepreneurs and other adventurers. Since then, the idea has sprouted and developed quite vigorously.

For Le Gammeltoft, it was natural to develop the burgeoning business idea she had created, instead of waiting for a new paid position. But she acknowledges that it is not for everyone to be throwing themselves into such a process.

"You have to find it in yourself. And ask yourself if you have the right personality. What is it that you want? What makes you unhappy about your current situation? You must be able to find security in uncertainty. Today, I’m never afraid that it won’t work - because if it doesn’t, I’ll come up with something else. You have to be prepared for that life.”

First on the ball

Heartbeats is free for users, who on the platform are presented with sponsored content that is a mix of advertising and journalism. Something you see increasingly in the traditional media today. Paid advertising that resembles the media in which it appears is one of the fastest growing forms of advertising this year.

According to media expert and former head of analysis at Politiken, Poul Melby, we as media consumers are ready to receive new forms of media, which Heartbeats was one of the first to present:

“Modern media users can easily navigate which content is paid for and which is editorial. As consumers, we have become less critical of who is funding the content – if only that content is of high enough quality. And in the high quality is also an expectation of high journalistic quality. So it doesn’t work if it’s clearly uncritical advertising. Then we just choose something else,” says Poul Melbye.

The question is how good a business idea it is. Can you even make enough money from sponsored content to run a business? According to Poul Melbye, the short answer is no.

Not for now.

"Heartbeats does not make any money. You can also see this when you look at their publicly available accounts. But they can get there very easily in the long run. Like many other startups, they need to create a user base before they can capitalize on it. The problem with growth potential is that the expenses tend to be there regardless of the potential. You cannot pay a salary with the expectation of earnings later. But there is money in the company anyway. Heartbeats and Le Gammeltoft have been really good at bringing in good investors.” In a market that develops as fast as the media industry, according to Poul Melbye, it also means a lot to be first movers.

“Heartbeats was the first in Denmark to take sound seriously in the digital age and treat it like all other media types on one platform. This gives them a significant advantage,” he believes.

The future

Poul Melbye predicts a good future for Heartbeats. If they manage to do the right thing.

"It has become much easier to distribute content yourself. Therefore, there are many large companies that want to invest in it. And here Heartbeats is a good choice for a solid supplier. The winners in that market will be those who manage to combine an understanding of those who invest in the content mixed and an understanding of what users want in terms of quality. It could very well be Heartbeats.”

Le Gammeltoft herself is happy and proud of the Heartbeats she has created in just a few years. That she has created a medium that differs and is still developing.

Now it applied to new premises. Because Heartbeats has already become too big for the office. The potential is growing.

Collage of a woman. On the left she is far from the camera. On the right she has her hand in front of the camera lens

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New opportunities open up when we shake up the existing order

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