INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Splice is blowing up like a hit song
The audio sample marketplace has doubled revenue and user count in a year, and now reaches 3 million musicians
Many pay $7.99 for unlimited access, and 70% of subscribers visit weekly to hunt down the freshest and trendiest sounds to give their tracks
So Splice has taught a machine learning algorithm to draw connections between samples
That allows it for the first time to recommend Similar Sounds to one a musician is currently listening to, based on their pitch, melody,
rhythm, and harmonic profile
Splice is seeing a double-digit increase in artists successfully finding and downloading a sample after a search
That means more subscribers, and more creators relying on Splice to power their artistic process
The startup launched in 2013 as sort of a Github for music production that saved between every change so artists could revert to old
versions and easily coordinate with collaborators
More recently it fought rampant digital instrument piracy by letting users pay a fee per month for access to popular but pricey synthesizers
and plug-ins with a rent-to-own model.Its breakout product has been the Splice Sounds marketplace where musicians preview 60 million audio
samples per week from keyboard flourishes to snare drum hits
The platform charges $7.99 for unlimited access and splits the revenue with artists who create the sounds, to which Splice has paid out $20
browse Sounds beyond search so you can just follow your ears
It could also offer more ways for sound creators to stay in touch with their fans, as DJs are discovering some concert attendees love their
TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon chat app Group.Me to Skype for $85 million just a year after launching
Others want in to the sample business too, though
momentum for artists is making sure they get paid
Stem, Kobalt, Dubset, and more startups have emerged to clean up the messy royalties distribution process
stock market have reinvigorated the industry
Streaming grew to $4.3 billion in the first half of the year to make up 80% of US recorded music business
Payouts from streaming are convincing artists the age of the CD is gone and they need to embrace technology and new revenue streams.That
certainly seems to have emboldened Martocci
