Music creation marketplace Splice – whose music production platform is used by more than 3 million people – has acquired tech firm Superpowered, which powers the audio for thousands of apps that, it claims, have been installed billions of times.
Founded by Patrick Vlaskovits and Gabor Szanto, Superpowered has previously raised financing from investors like TechStars Music and counts key clients such as Tencent, Beatport and others.
As part of the acquisition, Superpowered Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Gabor Szanto has joined Splice as its first Head of Audio Engineering.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The news comes just three months after Splice announced that it has paid out $25 million to musicians, and marks the first major investment in audio technology for the platform, which has raised $105 million in funding to date, including a $57.5m Series C funding round last March.
Among the platform’s backers are Union Square Ventures and True Ventures, DFJ Growth, Flybridge, Lerer Hippeau, LionTree, Founders Circle Capital – and Matt Pincus, founder of SONGS Music Publishing.
“We created Splice with the mission of empowering musicians to realize their creative potential.”
Steve Martocci, Splice
Splice Sounds are available for a $7.99-a-month subscription and are hugely popular not only with bedroom producers, but producers for mega star artists, too.
The company’s samples have recently been used by the likes of Zedd & Grey feat. Maren Morris (produced by Grey), on The Middle and Lil Nas X on Panini (produced by Take A Daytrip), in addition to Dua Lipa’s New Rules (Krane sound); Ariana Grande’s Break Up With Your Girlfriend I’m Bored (loop from Lab Cook) and Justin Bieber’s Running Over (sample from UK producer Laxcity).
Meanwhile, since the COVID-19 lockdown started across the US on March 23, Splice reports to have seen record activity of over 1.1 million sound downloads per day – a 50% increase from pre-quarantine activity.
Additionally, Splice reports to have seen two sample packs break the record for fastest to reach 1m downloads during the quarantine.
The first was from Drake and Migos producer Murda Beatz, whose Quarantine Pack Vol. 1 reached 1m downloads in a record 15 days following its release on March 25.
The second was dance producer/DJ Oliver, whose Power Tools II sample pack reached 1m downloads within 12 days of its release on April 26.
“Creating new, interactive audio experiences can be unnecessarily arduous and time-consuming, because most of the audio development world is still stuck in decades-old paradigms. Superpowered is changing this status quo, and we’re thrilled that Splice shares our vision.”
Gabor Szanto
“We created Splice with the mission of empowering musicians to realize their creative potential,” said Splice Co-Founder and CEO Steve Martocci.
“Content — samples — have been a huge part of achieving that mission to date.
“But technology is also key to the creative process, and we’re excited to be investing in technology that will usher in a new era of creation and collaboration tools that empower musicians to realize their creative potential.”
Gabor Szanto added: “Creating new, interactive audio experiences can be unnecessarily arduous and time-consuming, because most of the audio development world is still stuck in decades-old paradigms.
“Superpowered is changing this status quo, and we’re thrilled that Splice shares our vision. We look forward to joining forces and extending our reach to unlock even more juice in Superpowered’s technology.”
Picture credit: Buck Ennis/Crain’s New York Business.Music Business Worldwide
