15 European startups changing the music industry
The number of music startups is increasing, so we decided it was time [original article published in September 2014 - approx. transl.] talk about 15 European companies that change the music industry.
Given that the streaming service Spotify now has the opportunity to broadcast video ads, and SoundCloud recently launched advertising within its platform, European music startups need to work harder to monetize their services.
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And this is in conditions when the British music streaming startup Bloom.fm and the Israeli social music service Serendip were forced to leave the scene.
But this does not stop European entrepreneurs from trying to create a profitable product in the music field. Every year at conferences like Midem and Berlin Music Week, enthusiastic newcomers from the world of music take to the stage with the intention of radically changing the music world.
And since the number of technological music startups continues to grow, it's time to talk about 15 European companies that have really changed some aspects of the music industry, especially those related to social services, streaming music, its creation and music marketing.
1. Spotify
Head office: Stockholm, SwedenAbout Startup: Founded in 2006, this popular music streaming service is now available in 57 countries around the world. The company, whose active users according to various estimates are more than 40 million people, and paid subscribers - more than 10 million, received about $ 537 million of funding. They also have a great office in Stockholm.
2. Deezer
Head office: Paris, FranceAbout startup: This music streaming service was founded in 2006 and is now distributed in 180 countries of the world. The company was financed by approximately $ 150 million. Deezer claims that the number of active users of the service is 16 million, and the number of their paid subscribers has increased to 5 million.
3. Zvooq
Head office: Moscow, RussiaAbout the startup: Zvooq (simply, “Sound”) is a music streaming service available in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Recently, its creators announced that a startup had reached the first round of financing with an investment of $ 20 million.
4. SoundCloud
Head office: Berlin, GermanyAbout the startup: the service was founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Valforss. This is a social platform that allows users to download music, share it and stream all types of audio files. The company, whose website is visited by 175 million users each month, raised more than $ 100 million in venture capital.
5. Mixcloud
Head office: London, UKAbout startup: this project positions itself as a “shelter for podcasts, radio shows“ on demand ”and DJ mixes. The service, which has about 10 million users per month, recently introduced plans to organize a paid subscription in an attempt to monetize its services. These guys do not attract external funding, which is quite unusual for the music industry.
6. Stereomood
Head Office: Rome, ItalyAbout startup: founded in 2008 by Giovanni Ferron, Daniel Novaga, Maurizio Pratici and Eleonora Viviani, Stereomood is not just a free streaming service for music, but also a tool for creating playlists “on the occasion” or “in mood”. In 2012, the project announced participation in a seed investment round, the details of which were not disclosed.
7. Playlists.net
Head Office: Tyne and Wear, UKAbout startup: Playlists.net used to be called ShareMyPlaylists.com. This is the Spotify community, which offers its users the possibility of "musical curation." Launched in 2009, the project attracted 1 million users and ÂŁ 600,000 of funding. A couple of months ago, it was rumored that Playlists.net is in the process of absorption, but this information has not yet been confirmed.
8. Songkick
Head office: London, UKAbout Startup: Founded in 2007 by Ian Hogarth, Pete Smith and Michelle Y. This is a service that helps users find and track information about concerts. According to the press, the service is visited by 10 million “unique fans” every month, and the amount of its funding is approximately $ 16.6 million.
9. Soundrop
Head office: Oslo, NorwayAbout startup: founded in 2011 and offers users an application for "social" music search, as well as marketing tools to promote music for artists and labels. To date, the startup has received approximately $ 6.4 million in investment and is proud of its offices in Oslo, New York, Los Angeles and London.
10. Hello Stage
Head office: Vienna, AustriaAbout startup: founded by Bernard Kerres (former artistic and executive director of one of Vienna’s largest concert halls, Wiener Konzerthaus) and launched in 2013. This is an online community whose goal is to bring together classical music performers on the one hand and managers and promoters on the other.
11. This Is My Jam
Head office: London, UKAbout startup: founded by Hannah Donovan and Matthew Ouglom, launched in 2012. This service allows users to share their favorite songs and, thus, learn about new tracks and artists. Recently, a startup has redesigned and announced the appearance on the site of 500,000 pages of songs.
12. Sofar Sounds
Head office: London, UKAbout startup: founded in 2011 in a tiny London apartment. Sofar Sounds is a music search community that hosts its own small live concerts at unique venues around the world. This project was supported by well-known investors, among them Peter Reed, Max Niederhofer and Stefan Glantzer.
13. Sidestage
Head office: Berlin, GermanyAbout startup: launched in July 2014. Sidestage is a musicians booking service platform, similar to the American startup Gigit , now it is available in Berlin and London. The startup was founded by Schuyler Deermann, who had previously created another project - the Moped messaging application - which was later acquired by a friendly Berlin startup 6Wunderkinder.
14. Soundwave
Head office: Dublin, IrelandAbout Startup: Founded by Brendan O'Driskoll, Aidan Sline and Craig Watson in 2012. Soundwave is a mobile application that allows you to instantly share the tracks you listen to with friends and works on various platforms. One of the first to rate the app was rumored to be Steve Wozniak.
15. 3plet
Head Office: Tallinn, EstoniaAbout startups: although now many people choose streaming music services, rather than buying albums, at 3plet they still believe that music lovers will continue to buy tracks from their favorite artists. The startup, founded by Vlad Davydov and Valery Mifodovsky in 2012, offers a platform that allows artists to release albums in the form of interactive mobile applications.
Here are some more music startups that have been added to our list at the suggestion of Tech.eu readers:
- Epidemic Sound (Stockholm, Sweden) - founded in 2009. This startup owns a music library and offers to use it as a subscription to production companies, podcasters, professional music editors and composers.
- Baboom (Porto, Portugal) - a mini-release of this service in January 2014 was carried out by Kim Dotcom. The service itself is a hybrid of iTunes and Spotify, which allows artists to sell music directly to their listeners.
- Shuffler.fm (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - service founded in 2010. This is an Internet radio project based on information from popular music blogs.
- BeatSwitch (Antwerp, Belgium) is a cloud platform aimed at helping musicians, booking agencies for performers and festival organizers to work together more effectively.
- 22tracks (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - founded in 2009. This service is a platform for finding new tracks, which offers users playlists created with the participation of "top DJs" from various European capitals.
- Music Gateway (London, UK) - this project is a platform and tools aimed at connecting music industry professionals with each other to create new projects.
- Red Karaoke (Madrid, Spain) is an online community for singers and a digital karaoke service that provides streaming music in nine languages.
- Aurovine (United Kingdom) - a site that allows artists to sell music directly to their fans and set their own prices for their works.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/376047/
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