Mobile music app Voisey has been bought by Snapchat parent company Snap Inc.
Business Insiderwas first to report on the acquisition, with the terms of the deal not disclosed.
Currently available on iOS only, Voisey allows users to record short videos using professional vocal effects and backing tracks provided by producers.
Videos are a maximum of 1 minute in length and centred around hooks rather than full songs.
Every recording is open to collaboration, with users having the option to split their videos into four different tracks, either of themselves, or other Voisey users contributing harmonies.
Voiseys can be shared to social media platforms, into messaging apps or downloaded as video files.
Voisey is a collaboration between Norwegian and English music industry entrepreneurs Olly Barnes (Universal Music, Rdio, Space Ape Games), Erlend Hausken (Soundio, Vibble, Opera), Pål Wagtskjold-Myran (Soundio, Vibble) and Dag Langfoss-Håland (Sony Music, Soundio, Vibble).
A number of high-profile investors backed the platform prior to its acquisition, including Tim Clark (Co-founder, IE music, whose clients include Robbie Williams), Denzyl Feigelson (Founder of Platoon), Rak Sanghvi (Global President, Spirit Music Group) and Andy Saunders (Founder, Velocity Communications).
Other investors included Erling Maartmann-Moe (Alliance Venture Capital), Simon Hade (Space Ape Games) and various other entrepreneurs and angels, including original seed investors Jason Brook and Terry Fisher.
In December 2019, Hit production and songwriting duo Stargate – Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen – also partnered with and invested in Voisey, and suggested that it’s ‘the future of songwriting’.
As of September, over 11 million songs had been recorded on Voisey, with plays within the app exceeding 200 million.
“We are on the cusp of a revolution in music making, with a host of new tools and services set to create the fastest growth in music creativity ever seen. Snap wants to be a part of that.”
Mark Mulligan, Midia Research
Commenting on the acquisition today, Midia Research’s Mark Mulligan wrote: “Snap has acquired Voisey not for what it has achieved, but for what it can be”.
He added: “We are on the cusp of a revolution in music making, with a host of new tools and services set to create the fastest growth in music creativity ever seen. Snap wants to be a part of that.”
