Photo Credit: Markus Winkler
Back in June of 2020, Tracklib raised $4.5 million from investors including Sony (via its Innovation Fund) and Spinnin’ Records co-founder Eelko van Kooten. Now, the Swedish music-sampling startup has scored another $12.2 million in funding.
Seven-year-old Tracklib just recently announced its latest multimillion-dollar raise, which was led once again by the Sony Innovation Fund. Other existing investors also contributed to the $12.2 million tranche, as did new supporters like retired NBA player (and current NBA on TNT analyst) Baron Davis and multiple Europe-based family offices.
Worth noting is that the Sony Innovation Fund also has interests in “intelligent media delivery platform” MainStreaming and music-creation service LANDR, among all manner of companies outside the music space.
Addressing the funding round’s completion in a statement, Tracklib co-founder and CEO Pär Almqvist said: “We are thrilled to see the interest of investors, existing and new, in supporting Tracklib’s vision to liberate creativity by creating a better way to sample for millions of music creators.
“Samples from original music are integral to how artists and producers make music, no matter the genre, and we’ve been pioneers in connecting these creators with important music catalogs in an easy, legal, and affordable way,” finished the Cultivat3 owner and creative director.
Baron Davis, who backed Bitcoin-rewards company Lolli earlier this year and has expressed interest in establishing a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, added: “An amazing tool for creators. It is dope for me as a creator and a DJ. It gave me the confidence to work on my own projects and release some of my music. I can listen to samples, see what other people have put out there and vibe out on Tracklib.”
Allegedly unauthorized samples have fueled a number of music-industry lawsuits in recent years, including legal showdowns involving Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Tracy Chapman, Jay-Z and Beyonce, and Drake. Interestingly, an appellate court in the latter ruling found that Drake’s utilization of “Jimmy Smith Rap” in “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2” (without prior consent) constituted fair use.
In other funding news, Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers, and Nas are among the artists who recently joined a $5 million round for blockchain-based music streaming platform Audius, while The Weeknd in July participated in a $2 million seed funding round for personalized-music service Songfinch.
Hong Kong-based digital-music company Allsaints Music Group reportedly raised $60 million about one month ago, following a $50 million Series D from music licensing and distribution platform Songtradr and a $63 million raise from music-NFT startup OneOf.