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§ Private Profile · 2 Haven Ave Ste 205, Port Washington, New York, 11050, United States
Songclip is a company.
Songclip has raised $28.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Songclip.
Songclip has raised $28.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Songclip operates a patented messaging API platform designed to seamlessly integrate licensed music clips into various applications. The company leverages artificial intelligence to meticulously tag, clip, and curate millions of audio segments, offering partners a robust library of meta-tagged soundbites. This white-label SaaS solution enables businesses to embed popular music as a dynamic feature, enhancing user engagement and overall experience within their platforms.
The concept for Songclip emerged to address the growing creator-generated content market, with development commencing around 2016. The core insight centered on establishing a new media format: the short audio clip, akin to the visual GIF. This approach sought to provide fully compliant music content, and early partnerships with major music groups like Universal, Warner, and Sony were instrumental in building its extensive catalog.
Songclip's product targets developers and companies seeking to enrich their offerings, including dating, video, and gaming applications. The company's vision is to make music clips a ubiquitous feature across digital communication and creative platforms, empowering users with diverse self-expression tools. It aims to drive unique end-user experiences by making popular music readily accessible and integratable.
Songclip has raised $28.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Songclip's investors include Gregg Smith, Jason Flom, Michael G. Rubin, Steve Greenberg, Forefront Venture Partners, Gaingels, Zach Katz, The Kraft Group, Bold Capital Partners, Crosslink Capital, Evolution VC Partners, Leadout Capital.
Songclip has raised $28.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $11.0M Songclip (Audiobyte) - Other Equity in March 2021.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 9, 2021 | $11M Venture Round | Gregg Smith | Jason Flom, Michael G. Rubin, Steve Greenberg, Forefront Venture Partners, Gaingels, Zach Katz, The Kraft Group | Announced |
| Mar 1, 2021 | $11M Series U | — | Bold Capital Partners, Crosslink Capital, Evolution VC Partners, Leadout Capital, Poseidon Asset Management, Toyota Ventures | Announced |
| Dec 10, 2018 | $6M Series A | Gregg Smith | Andrew Mckee, Brett Berish, Michael Shalett, DG Incubation, Joichi ITO, Northwood Ventures | Announced |
Key people at Songclip.
Songclip is a music technology company that provides a patented API enabling apps to integrate licensed, short-form music clips (5-30 seconds) compliantly, handling licensing, search, royalties, reporting, and analytics.[1][4][5] It serves social media, dating, gaming, messaging, and other consumer apps by solving the problem of unauthorized music use, protecting IP for rights holders like labels and publishers while unlocking revenue—estimated at $5B annually—from music as a social feature.[1][4] Key partnerships with Universal Music Group (UMG), Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), and Warner Music Group (WMG) power its catalog, with the company raising $22M total, including an $11M round in 2021 led by Evolution VC Partners.[1][2][4]
Songclip's growth stems from its mission to empower accountable music innovation in apps, driving user engagement (e.g., higher ARPU) and new revenue streams for artists through meta-tagged clips curated via AI and human expertise, forming the world's largest searchable library of over 3 million clips.[4][7]
Songclip was founded by co-CEOs Andy Blacker and John van Suchtelen, both with prior experience at Bandsintown and Zynga, bringing expertise in music tech and gaming.[1][4] The idea emerged to address the explosion of music in social apps, creating a compliant pathway for integration amid rising demand in dating, photo, fitness, and communication platforms.[1][4] Early traction included $11M in seed funding in March 2021 (part of $22M total), backed by Evolution VC Partners, The Kraft Group, Michael Rubin, Raised in Space, Gaingels, Forefront Venture Partners, iHeartMedia Ventures, and others like Jason Flom and AJR.[1][6] Pivotal moments followed with multi-year deals: UMG/UMPG in 2022 for global social integrations, and WMG for expanding its API across video, dating, and gaming apps.[2][4][5]
Songclip rides the trend of music as an essential social and expressive feature in apps, fueled by short-form content explosion (e.g., TikTok-era clips) and digital identity via personalized soundtracks in dating, gaming, and messaging.[1][4][5] Timing aligns with post-2020 social media growth and creator economy, where platforms seek compliant music to enhance engagement amid IP enforcement pressures.[1][2] Market forces like rising ARPU from music features and $5B untapped revenue favor it, as labels partner to capture value from non-traditional uses.[1][4] It influences the ecosystem by bridging apps and music industry, standardizing compliant integrations and providing analytics that reveal new consumer cohorts, potentially reshaping how music drives app economies.[4][7]
Songclip is positioned to dominate music clip licensing as social apps proliferate and AI curation scales its library further. Next steps likely include deeper integrations with emerging platforms (e.g., metaverse, AI-driven content tools) and expanded label deals, capitalizing on short-form video persistence and Web3 collectibles.[4][5][7] Trends like personalized AI music discovery and global social expansion will shape its path, evolving its influence from enabler to ecosystem standard-setter—unlocking sustained revenue for artists while making music ubiquitous in apps, true to its founding mission of protected innovation.[1][4]
