Earlier this week, we told you that music creation platform BandLab has reached the milestone of 60 million registered creators on its service, up from the 50 million milestone that it surpassed in June last year.
Today (February 1) brings more news about the Singapore-headquartered firm’s ambitions in the music-making technology space, as its parent company BandLab Technologies announces the acquisition of beat marketplace Airbit.
Airbit offers a catalog of over a million beats from producers and beatmakers across the world. The platform, which reports to have over 800,000 users, has so far sold over 2 million beats, according to a press release on Wednesday (February 1).
Producers have earned more than $50 million on Airbit to date, the company says.
BandLab will keep all of Airbit’s staff as part of the acquisition, while Airbit CEO Wasim Khamlichi will step down after a transition period.
“We are thrilled to bring Airbit’s community to BandLab. We are continually looking for opportunities to support BandLab artists in their creative process, and this has been one of our communities’ most requested features,” says Meng Ru Kuok, CEO & Founder of BandLab Technologies.
“We are thrilled to bring Airbit’s community to BandLab. We are continually looking for opportunities to support BandLab artists in their creative process, and this has been one of our communities’ most requested features.”
Meng Ru Kuok, BandLab Technologies
The acquisition will expand BandLab’s offerings for creators.
Backed by Prosus Ventures — the venture-investing arm of Netherlands-listed Prosus, which is majority-owned by Tencent’s largest shareholder, Naspers — BandLab is a cloud platform that offers a range of music creation tools for musicians and fans globally.
The company’s brands include its namesake brand BandLab, a social music creation platform; Cakewalk, a digital audio workstation; and ReverbNation, an artist services platform.
Singapore-based BandLab did not disclose the size of its investment in Airbit. The company raised $65 million in its series B funding round in April 2022, hitting a post-money valuation of $315 million.
The acquisition of Airbit will see BandLab providing artists with “access to all major elements of music creation, promotion, and distribution,” in addition to its free DAW and AI musical idea generator SongStarter. In turn, Airbit users will be able to integrate Airbit’s features into BandLab’s creator platform.
Speaking about the acquisition, Khamlichi says: “Airbit shares BandLab’s ethos of allowing music makers every opportunity to find success. Airbit was started with the intent to empower creators as artists and entrepreneurs through new technologies and forward-thinking music monetization tools.”
“Since Airbit was founded in 2009, it has grown to become a powerful platform for hundreds and thousands of creators. BandLab is best positioned to take it to the next level,” the executive added.
“Since Airbit was founded in 2009, it has grown to become a powerful platform for hundreds and thousands of creators. BandLab is best positioned to take it to the next level.”
Wasim Khamlichi, Airbit
Meanwhile, BandLab’s Meng Ru Kuok added: “Thanks to companies like Airbit, self-serve beat marketplaces have become an exciting route for creators to find and purchase high-quality beats to kickstart their creative process. We’re excited to improve the user experience for our creators and introduce new ways for them to earn a living.”
The acquisition follows the launch of BandLab’s premium profile-boosting tool called ‘Boost,’ in September 2022. The feature, which costs $14.99 a month, gives creators access to BandLab Opportunities via ReverbNation, which will allow them to send their music directly to key industry heavyweights, including editorial coverage opportunities with various music publications, live music events such as SummerFest, and more.
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