Spotify’s Acquisition Of SoundBetter: Details About The Deal

By Annie Baker ● Sep 13, 2019
  • Spotify recently announced that it is acquiring SoundBetter. These are the details about the deal.

Spotify recently announced that it is buying SoundBetter — which is a music production marketplace for artists and musicians to connect on projects — according to Techcrunch. SoundBetter also enables users to distribute music tracks that are available for licensing. The terms of this deal were undisclosed.

Spotify currently has 232 million registered users, of which 108 million are Premium. And currently, SoundBetter has around 180,0000 registered users. SoundBetter has paid out $19 million to musicians and producers so far.  SoundBetter generates revenue by taking a commission on each deal through the platform.

Founded in 2012 by CEO Shachar Gilad and CTO Itamar Yunger, SoundBetter raised an undisclosed amount of funding from 500 Startups, Foundry Group, Eric Ries, and Verizon Ventures prior to the acquisition.

“SoundBetter offers the most comprehensive global marketplace for music and audio production professionals for hire in the world along with a member community spanning 176 countries and 14,000 cities worldwide,” said SoundBetter co-founder and CEO Shachar Gilad. “We are excited to benefit from Spotify’s global scale, resources, and vision to expand our network and drive more economic opportunities for artists of all levels.”

Going forward, SoundBetter will remain operational independently. And Spotify is going to integrate SoundBetter’s services into the Spotify For Artists program. The Spotify For Artists program provides musicians with marketing tools and analytics on Spotify tracks.

“As we build out our tools for creators, we want to give them the resources they need to thrive. SoundBetter has the same vision,” added Spotify Creator VP of Product Beck Kloss. “We’re excited that creators can generate income through SoundBetter, as well as benefit from its network of top professionals – from instrumentalists to songwriters to producers – as they perfect their tracks.”

Earlier this year, Spotify revealed that it paid out more than €13 billion since the music platform launched. By integrating with SoundBetter, it would provide musicians with another way to monetize their content rather than the money paid out per stream.