SoundCloud has purchased Musiio, an audio AI business that claims to be able to “hear” new music and identify the hits. The purchase, which was announced on Tuesday, will aid SoundCloud in sorting through its massive archive of amateur music and will be “a vital aspect of SoundCloud’s discovery experience,” according to the firm.
What’s New?
It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to recognize and promote the good stuff as DIY music distribution platforms like SoundCloud decrease the barrier to entry for amateur artists and flood platforms with new music. Musiio, according to SoundCloud.
Tools can sift through endless hours of (mainly awful) music in seconds and identify tracks that share patterns and traits with chart-topping musicians.
What’s More?
In a statement, SoundCloud President Eliah Seton said, “The acquisition of Musiio accelerates our strategy to better understand how this music moves in proprietary ways, which is crucial to our success.”
AI is becoming a more crucial component in finding emerging artists, despite its distance from smokey clubs and veteran A&R superstars. Tunecore, a music distribution platform, said in February that it would collaborate with Fwaygo, a LA-based music startup that employs artificial intelligence to connect listeners with producers.
Digging In More Details
Meanwhile, DistroKid, a rival do-it-yourself music distributor, has an AI bot named Dave that assesses tracks and assigns ratings such as “danceability” and “talkability.”
Cullen Heaney, a spokesman for SoundCloud, would to say how much the business paid for Musiio, which was allegedly valued at $10 million last year. Hazel Savage, the CEO of Musiio, and Aron Pettersson, the CTO of Musiio, have joined SoundCloud as vice presidents of music intelligence and AI and machine learning, respectively.