(Hypebot) Spotify-backed music streaming service Soundtrack Your Brand today announced direct deals with hundreds of music labels, publishers, and collection societies including Sony/ATV, Kobalt, WarnerChappel, ICE (PRS/GEMA/STIM), BMG, ASCAP, SOCAN, SABAM, and APRA.
The new deals use a per-stream compensation model that pays creators more accurately for background music used by retailers, restaurants and hotels. Retailers pay about $35 per month for licensed streaming based on the Spotify platform. Soundtrack Your Brand now has a catalog of 26 million tracks.
Co-founded by former Spotify head of biz dev Andreas Liffgarden and Beats co-founder Ola Sars, Soundtrack Your Brand has raised $33 million to date. Companies using the service include McDonald’s, Tag Heuer, Uniqlo, Joe & The Juice, Aesop, W Hotels and Moschino and thousands of smaller retailers.
Competitors in the sector include Muzak owner Mood Media (who is also a partner in Pandora’s business service) and Play Network .
Highlights of today’s announcement:
- For the first time, a background music service will license most of its music usage directly from labels and publishers, and the new deals include a per-stream-based compensation model that will make sure that all artists and composers get paid accurately.
- “Until now, outdated technology has hampered the background music market for decades, making it impossible for providers to pay music-makers fairly.”
- To further help business owners play licensed music, Soundtrack Your Brand plans to offer the service on a tiered basis and introduces a range of new features, including the ability to drag-and-drop Spotify playlists straight into the music mix, unlocking them for legal use in a commercial setting.
“In the early days at Spotify, we worked around the mantra of “better than piracy”. At Soundtrack we are facing a similar challenge, educating and inspiring business users to do the right thing, and to start using Soundtrack instead of B2C services or rogue B2Bservices,” says Andreas Liffgarden, Chairman & Co-Founder, Soundtrack Your Brand.
