Music Tech News: AmplifyWorld, Duetti add funding • UnitedMasters • AMPOLLO • CD Baby • BeatStars + Voloco

In recent music tech news, AmplifyWorld, a decentralized engagement platform that empowers musicians and fans by leveraging blockchain and Web3 tech, has announced a $1.2M investment from Chapel Ventures.

This funding comes as AmplifyWorld gears up to launch $AMPS tokens designed to change how artists connect with audiences and monetize content in the Web3 ecosystem.

More Music Tech News

• Duetti, a music platform dedicated to democratizing catalog monetization for independent artists has raised $114 million in new funding. Additionally, Duetti completed its inaugural $80 million privately rated asset-backed securitization (ABS) transaction, backed by a highly diversified music rights catalog which they say is an industry first.

$235 million has been raised since the company’s launch in May 2023, which it says is more than any other music startup in the past three years. 

Duetti is pioneering the securitization of music assets exclusively for independent artists outside the major label ecosystem partnering with over 500 independent artists, such as Navos, Paccu, and Eleni Baker, offering deals ranging from $10,000 to $3 million.

• Digital music distributor UnitedMasters has announced the extension of its existing agreement with the NFL through the end of the 2027 season.

The new agreement, which follows an original three-year deal that began in 2023, will expand UnitedMasters’ existing track delivery – allowing the NFL to continue providing music to its fans via UnitedMasters’ fully cleared sync library.

•  AMPOLLO, the recently launched  platform that allows artists, songwriters and producers at all levels to practice, record, collaborate, network and drive revenue, has announced three senior hires across key management roles.

• Jolyon Mason joins the company at Chief Technical Officer and will oversee all technical operations.
• Anthony Walters will assume the role of Commercial Director, with a remit to implement licence agreements and build partnerships with publishers, labels, artists and producers. Anthony has extensive experience in music and entertainment rights having founded Cinephonix and Tunebud.
• Tong Li has been appointed Trend and Data Analyst for AMPOLLO and will play a pivotal role in shaping the company’s product development and business direction.

All three will be based in London and will report directly to the company’s Co-Founders, CEO Yoram Ben-Israel and CMO Mark Alexiou.

• Downtown Music’s, CD Baby, has promoted Nicholas Salomone to SVP, Business Development and Revenue, where he will oversee strategic partnerships and revenue growth across CD Baby and its suite of services, including Soundrop, CD Baby Stages, and more. 

As part of his new role, Salomone’s responsibilities have expanded to include the Creator Services team, including Sync at CD Baby. The change is part of the company’s broader strategy to expand cross-company initiatives across all of Downtown’s divisions led by CD Baby President, Molly Neuman. 

• BeatStars, the marketplace for music producers, is integrating BeatStars producers’ catalogs directly into Voloco, one of the largest mobile studio recording apps.

This integration represents the next evolution in the partnership between two platforms. Now, the BeatStars catalog will be fully available inside of the Voloco platform, which will also give producers real-time insights into the users recording over their beats.

Bruce Houghton