SoundCloud has acquired Musiio, a Singapore-based Artificial Intelligence music curation company founded in 2018.
The news was first reported by TechCrunch, which reports that SoundCloud plans to use Musiio’s technology to boost its own music discovery capabilities.
The terms of the acquisition deal have not been disclosed.
Co-founded by Hazel Savage, who has previously worked at the likes of Shazam, Pandora and Universal Music, the company claims to have built AI that can “listen” to music at scale.
Speaking to MBW in December 2020, Savage explained that Musiio’s technology “processes whole audio files” in order to “train the AI to look for patterns”.
Added Savage: “You can use this process to replicate anything the human ear might be able to recognize, such as the BPM and genre, right down to how much of a hit something might be.
“Our new technology is looking for hits, virality, talent and melodic familiarity as well as a bunch of other factors that make up great music.”
Musiio secured an undisclosed round of funding in July 2021, which gave the company a $10 million valuation. That was up from $3.5 million in 2019.
That funding round included investments from Premiumbeat founder Francois Arbour, as well as the owner of Tileyard Group, Paul Kempe.
According to TechCrunch, Eliah Seton, SoundCloud’s President, ‘thinks that the capability of Musiio’s AI will yield especially interesting results’ on the music streaming platform.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Seton said: “SoundCloud is a unique business. Its singular market position as both a music-streaming service for fans and an artists services business is unlike any other streamer.
“Meaning, it is the only platform that truly holds a direct relationship with artists and listeners.”
“We are honored to partner with Hazel and Aron and welcome the absolutely brilliant team of innovators at Musiio to the SoundCloud family.”
Eliah Seton, SoundCloud
In a press statement, Seton said: “SoundCloud hosts more music from more creators than any platform on the planet.
“Acquiring Musiio accelerates our strategy to better understand how that music is moving in a proprietary way, which is critical to our success.
“We are honored to partner with Hazel and Aron [ Pettersson] and welcome the absolutely brilliant team of innovators at Musiio to the SoundCloud family.”
“I am incredibly proud that after 4 years of building Musiio we are now part of SoundCloud.”
Hazel Savage, Musiio
Hazel Savage, CEO of Musiio, added: “SoundCloud is not only a legendary household name but also an artist forward business that I believe is the future of the new, holistic music industry.
“I am incredibly proud that after 4 years of building Musiio we are now part of SoundCloud.”
SoundCloud secured $75 million investment from SiriusXM in February 2020.
In February, the music streaming platform entered into a JV with Solid Foundation, the management and creative services arm of QC Media Holdings, which it said in a press release will create “custom A&R programs for selected artists inclusive of development, distribution and marketing and artist services”.Music Business Worldwide
