Anghami and NetEase Cloud Music aren’t the only music streaming services with IPO plans this year.
TREBEL, a free music streaming app that allows users to legally download from a catalog of over 15 million licensed songs at no cost has filed for an IPO in the US.
According to the company’s recent SEC filing, the app, which is available on both Android and iOS, is supported by premium advertisers and has “strong relationships with the largest record labels in the world”, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.
Other partners listed on the company’s website include EMPIRE, DashGo, The Orchard, and Cinq Music Group.
As first reported by Axios, TREBEL explains in its SEC filing that its target market is the “3+ billion music listeners worldwide who will not – or cannot – pay for music subscriptions”.
This audience, claims TREBEL, “primarily uses music piracy sites and apps” and video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, both of which, the company says “deliver sub-optimal experiences for users and inequitable monetization for content owners”.
As TREBEL explains in its filing, the app features a music store where users can search, browse, preview, and download music.
TREBEL, which is led by CEO and co-founder of Gary Mekikian, describes its app as “an ad machine”, which “serves ads that balance revenue generation with user experience”.
TREBEL’s filing also reveals that the app’s monthly active users grew 59% year-over-year as of December 31, 2020 to 3.2 million.
For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, the company generated $1.88 million and $2.33 million in revenue, respectively, representing a growth rate of 23%.
The company explains that it generates revenue by using a business model that combines traditional advertising and “multi-modal monetization”.
Explaining what this means in the filing, TREBEL states that “Like mobile games, our business model and technology is designed to maximize revenue by offering users the opportunity to watch ads, purchase virtual goods, and engage with branded experiences in exchange for consuming premium content such as songs and albums by their favorite artists”.
“Our mission is to enable billions of people worldwide to access on-demand music and other digital media in a safe and legal environment while capturing billions of dollars lost each year to piracy and music video apps that would otherwise be due to artists and rights holders.”
TREbEl
States TREBLE: “Our core value to music listeners is our ability to combine on-demand and offline song play, making available at no cost the features that are most essential to billions of music listeners who are unable or unwilling to subscribe to premium services available at no cost.
“Our mission is to enable billions of people worldwide to access on-demand music and other digital media in a safe and legal environment while capturing billions of dollars lost each year to piracy and music video apps that would otherwise be due to artists and rights holders.”Music Business Worldwide