Published: February 24, 2026 at 2:26 pm
Leaf, a Newcastle-based technology and data science company delivering performance intelligence for eCommerce brands, started life far from a UK-headquartered eCommerce specialist.
The business was originally founded on the other side of the world as Leaf Music, a platform designed to help musicians engage audiences and monetise their work at a time when streaming was rapidly reshaping the industry.
“We started the business in Costa Rica,” said CEO and co-founder Gilbert Corrales. “Our original mission with Leaf Music was to empower musicians to engage, grow and monetise audiences.”
At the time, Corrales and his co-founders Helga Alvarez and Wesley Hartley believed artists had been pushed out of the value chain by streaming platforms.
Revenue had shifted away from albums and towards live gigs, while playlists – not musicians – increasingly dictated discovery.
“Artists went from making money through CD sales and albums to not making money from their music, and instead making money through gigs.
“Music became playlist-centric rather than artist-centric.”
While the mission resonated, the business struggled to scale in the way the founders had hoped. Corrales described the period as when a romantic idea met commercial reality.
What did work, however, was the underlying capability the team had built – marketing execution, data analysis and performance optimisation.
Gilbert explains the pivot and journey so far in our interview.