Exclusive: Music Licensing Startup Songtradr Raises $30M Series C

Music licensing platform Songtradr has landed $30 million for its Series C round, bringing its valuation up to $165 million.

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The Santa Monica-based company is building a global music rights system and licensing marketplace. It offers distribution, rights management and licensing across verticals spanning from advertisers, brands and gaming platforms, according to CEO Paul Wiltshire. 

The company aims to make music discovery, licensing and the collection of royalties more efficient through its technology.

Now with the new money, it’s looking to invest in product development as well as acquiring complementary companies, Wiltshire told Crunchbase News. Songtradr acquired music agency Big Sync Music last year.

“We’re very interested in data and AI around music analytics, not music creation to be clear … AI around descriptive, describing music in order to really improve discovery of music,” Wiltshire said. “We’re also really interested in rights management and disruptive technologies that are solving aspects of rights management.”

The other area the company, which was founded in 2014, is interested in is boutique music licensing companies that could be complementary to Songtradr once acquired, Wiltshire said. 

While many other companies have seen their revenue take a hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Songtradr has remained “reasonably COVID-proof.” The company, which has worked with businesses including Disney, Netflix and Apple, saw its revenue increase 160 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year. 

“Part of our growth has resulted from the acceleration of digital adoption, and that includes artists looking to release more music at this time, given that many of them have been unable to do many of their usual activities such as performing live,” Wiltshire said.

The company last raised money with a $12 million Series B led by WiseTech Global CEO Richard White in March 2019, according to Crunchbase. The Series C round, which brings Songtradr’s total funding to around $53 million, was led by the St. Baker Australian family office, and included participation from other Australian family offices and previous investors.