B2B music streaming service Soundtrack Your Brand has raised $15 million in a pre-growth round.
The investment round was led by MUSIC, a holding company spearheaded by Matt Pincus in collaboration with Liontree, JS Capital Management, and Schusterman Family Investments.
Dundee Partners, a prominent music investor, also participated in the round, along with existing Soundtrack investors, including Balderton Capital, Fuel Venture Capital, Industrifonden, Telia, and DIG.
Founded in 2013 by Ola Sars as a joint venture with Spotify, Soundtrack Your Brand — formerly Spotify For Business — is a global music streaming service that caters specifically to businesses.
It provides a solution for streaming music in commercial settings such as stores, hotels, restaurants, and other establishments. It serves clients including global brands like McDonald’s, Lululemon, Uniqlo, Joe & The Juice, Aesop, and Tag Heuer.
In 2020, it renewed its global licensing agreement with Warner Music Group and signed a global licensing deal with Universal Music Group, excluding China.
Currently, Soundtrack Your Brand boasts an average revenue per user of $33, significantly higher than the B2C average of approximately $5. By tapping into the B2B market, Soundtrack Your Brand said it presents a tangible solution to boost ARPU in the streaming industry worldwide.
Soundtrack Your Brand says that the fresh funding will allow it to “double down on its successful go-to-market strategy”, which it adds resulted in a 60% year-on-year revenue growth in 2022.
The company aims to achieve EBITDA profitability in Q1 2023 and reach $25 million in annual recurring revenue by April 2023, it said.
Following the latest investment round, Pincus will join Soundtrack Your Brand’s board and support the company’s mission, the latter company said.
Looking ahead to 2024, the company plans to raise additional funds in a growth round to further consolidate its position in the global background music market.
“it took a mountain of technological and business innovation to bring on demand music to enterprise and Soundtrack nailed it.”
Matt Pincus, MUSIC
“It’s hard to believe but, before Soundtrack Your Brand, business owners had no legitimate option to play music on demand for their customers,” said Pincus.
“Almost every business has some need for music – and most business owners believe that music creators should be paid for their work.
“It sounds obvious, but it took a mountain of technological and business innovation to bring on demand music to enterprise and Soundtrack nailed it.”
“Our financial performance and operational efficiency are both already very strong, but with this investment Soundtrack Your Brand can expand our growth model into M&A.”
Ola Sars, Soundtrack Your Brand
Soundtrack Your Brand CEO Ola Sars, added: “Our mission to bring transparency and accountability to the dysfunctional background music market is gaining momentum.
“Our financial performance and operational efficiency are both already very strong, but with this investment Soundtrack Your Brand can expand our growth model into M&A, consolidating the fragmented background music market and ensuring continued premium ARPU and fair compensation to music creators.”
In January Matt Pincus-led MUSIC made what it said was a “significant minority investment” in Atlanta-based music company LVRN (Love Renaissance). Bloomberg reported that LVRN has raised ”more than $25 million” from Pincus.
New York-based Matt Pincus founded SONGS Music Publishing, which ended up selling to Kobalt Capital for around $160 million in 2017.
After exiting SONGS, Pincus quietly launched an investment house focused on the music business, in partnership with Liontree.
Since 2019, that venture – MUSIC – has made investments in firms such as music-making platform Splice, music financial services company HIFI, the ticketing platform DICE, and others. (Pincus is currently a member of the board of directors of Splice and HIFI.)
In May last year, MUSIC raised $200 million in “initial” capital, officially re-launching as a partnership between Pincus and Liontree, plus two new investors – JS Capital Management and Schusterman Family InvestmentsMusic Business Worldwide
