BandLab, the social music creation platform owned by Singapore-based BandLab Technologies, just reached a significant milestone.
The app has surpassed 100 million registered users, which means that it has added 40 million users since January 2023, when, as MBW reported at the time, the app confirmed that it had 60 million registered users.
News of BandLab’s 100 million user milestone was first reported by Bloomberg this afternoon (March 21).
Speaking with Bloomberg, BandLab Technologies CEO Meng Ru Kuok, said: “It’s funny when you get to these large milestones, especially something like 100 million, which is slightly hard to fathom in terms of the scale of the number”.
In December, Meng Ru Kuok was named MBW’s Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner for 2023/2024. He told us at the time that he predicts there will be 1 billion music creators “by 2030, potentially even sooner”.
Bloombergreported on Thursday that BandLab’s users in the United States, its largest market, account for around 30% of the app’s user base.
As reported earlier this month, one of those users, d4vd, recently reached a significant milestone of his own, after racking up over 1 billion streams on Spotify with his lo-fi indie track Romantic Homicide – produced using BandLab’s free iOS app.
“BandLab is not just a tool, but an ecosystem nurturing the next generation of artists.”
Meng Ru Kuok, speaking with MBW earlier this month
He released Romantic Homicide via DistroKid in July 2022 and the track went viral on TikTok by September that year. The track’s success led to d4vd signing to major label powerhouse Interscope/Darkroom, home of Billie Eilish. He also signed a publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing.
Meng Ru Kuok told MBW earlier this month that BandLab is “proud that an artist’s journey can begin with us and lead to global success”.
He added: “BandLab is not just a tool, but an ecosystem nurturing the next generation of artists.”
BandLab, partly built on AI-driven tech, claims to be “the world’s largest social music creation platform”.
In May 2023, BandLab’s parent company, BandLab Technologies secured $25 million in a Series B1 funding round that raised the company’s valuation to $425 million post-money.
BandLab also runs an AI-powered tool called SongStarter that allows users to generate musical “ideas”, including beats, melodies, and chord progressions, that can then be built upon via the main BandLab platform.
In August, BandLab became the first music creation platform to support the Human Artistry Campaign, which aims to defend the ‘irreplaceable role of human artistry’ and promote the use of ‘ethical’ AI.
At the time, BandLab said that it had seen 15X growth in the amount of music being created using its AI tools.
In October, BandLab partnered with the world’s largest music rightsholder, Universal Music Group (UMG), on what they called “an expansive, industry-first strategic relationship concentrated on artificial intelligence”.
According to UMG, the partnership will be “centered on empowering the next generation of artists, including within BandLab’s global community”.
BandLab has also been expanding its suite of creator tools in recent months. In November, for example, BandLab launched a distribution service in partnership with FUGA for its users to upload their music straight to streaming services.
In January, BandLab launched a licensing service for its users to make their songs eligible to be used in TV, films, games and advertising.
At the beginning of March, BandLab launched ‘Backstage Pass’, described as “an early-access, experimental program” for new creator tools and social features.
BandLab Technologies is owned by parent company Caldecott Music Group, which was formed in 2021 to house three divisions including BandLab Technologies, plus Vista Musical Instruments, and NME Networks.Music Business Worldwide
