Music creation marketplace Splice, which claims to be used by over 4 million people, has closed a $55 million round of Series D funding, led by Goldman Sachs’ GS Growth.
Splice has also added Adobe’s Kakul Srivastava to its board, according to a blog post published today (February 22).
The company’s total raised now stands at over $155m, including a $57.5m Series C funding round in March 2019.
Bloomberg reports that Splice is now valued at nearly $500m.
The Series D round saw additional investment come from MUSIC, a joint venture between SONGS Music Publishing founder Matt Pincus and Liontree, an investment & merchant bank.
Pincus founded SONGS in 2004 and went on to sign the likes of Lorde, Diplo / Major Lazer and many others, before selling the independent company to Kobalt Capital Ltd (KCL) for circa $160m in December 2017.
In June 2018, MBW reported that Pincus was taking up roles as a Special Advisor at Snapchat and as an Executive in Residence at Liontree.
Goldman Sachs GS Growth and Pincus-led MUSIC join USV, True Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Flybridge as investors in Splice.
Established in 2013 and led by co-founder and CEO Steve Martocci, Splice’s royalty free Splice Sounds loops and sample packs are popular with bedroom producers and producers for superstar artists alike.
Splice Sounds are available for a $7.99-a-month subscription.
In October, MBW reported that the company paid out $11 million in royalties to musicians in the first nine months of 2020.
The company announced today that its user activity surged by 50% last year, with its royalty payouts to creators hitting a record $15 million in 2020 alone.
Examples of global hits featuring Splice samples include Bad Bunny’s Dakiti” (via producer Tainy’s “Sound Supply Vol. 1” pack) and Shane Codd’s UK dance hit Get Out My Head (via Splice’s 91Vocals label).
Elsewhere, Splice hired widely-respected music executive Maria Egan as its first Chief Music Officer last year, from her previous role as President and Head of Creative at Los Angeles-based pop publisher PULSE Music Group.
In May last year the company acquired tech firm Superpowered, which powers the audio for thousands of apps that, it claims, have been installed billions of times.
“With 4 million users, Splice is at the forefront of this transformation and is beloved by the creator community. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Steve Martocci and his team at Splice.”
Stephen Kerns, Goldman Sachs’ GS Growth
Stephen Kerns, a VP with Goldman Sachs’ GS Growth, said: “The music creation process is going through a digital transformation. Artists are flocking to solutions that offer a user-friendly, collaborative, and affordable platform for music creation.
“With 4 million users, Splice is at the forefront of this transformation and is beloved by the creator community. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Steve Martocci and his team at Splice.”
“We’ve got a big year ahead of us and this investment will propel Splice’s vision.”
Steve Martocci, Splice
Splice CEO, Steve Martocci added: “We’ve got a big year ahead of us and this investment will propel Splice’s vision to provide the essential content, tools, and inspiration that audio creatives are looking for; we look forward to working closely with our new partners.”
“There’s lots of talk these days about the explosion of developing artists coming out of nowhere in the 2.0 streaming area. The thing is, they are coming out of Splice.”
Matt Pincus
Matt Pincus added: “Splice is where tomorrow’s artist finds what they need to make their next track. It’s A&R at scale for creators – where artists, songwriters, producers, and film and TV composers reviewed 400 million samples and sounds just last month.
“From the kid in his bedroom to breaking artists like Fousheé and Shane Codd to superstars like Justin Bieber, Splice is where musicians get the sounds, tools, and network that allow them to make their best music.
“There’s lots of talk these days about the explosion of developing artists coming out of nowhere in the 2.0 streaming area. The thing is, they are coming out of Splice.”
“Access to tools, content, and community, all of which Splice provides, are the building blocks for creativity and driving the next generation of creators.”
Kakul Srivastava
Srivastava added: “I see a lot of similarities between Github and what’s happening at Splice. Splice is fast becoming the largest collaboration platform for people who make music, whether they are a Grammy award-winning musician or my daughter who wants to make a great Twitch stream for her followers.
“Access to tools, content, and community, all of which Splice provides, are the building blocks for creativity and driving the next generation of creators.”
Music Business Worldwide
