Sony Music backs AI rights startup Vermillio in $16M funding round
Sony Music backs AI rights startup Vermillio leading an $16 million funding round along with DNS Capital.
Sony Music backs AI rights startup Vermillio in $16M funding round
Sony Music has backed AI music rights and licensing platform Vermillio.
The startup will use the $16 million Series A funding round led to scale operations and continue building out solutions that use generative AI to enable artists, labels, and rightsholders to protect and monetize content.
Generative AI is projected by both Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs to deliver over $1 trillion in revenue by 2026.
Vermillio‘s TraceID can securely license IP and allow IP holders and artists to safely engage with generative AI technologies. TraceID also provides the ability to manage terms, conditions, and usage rights while capitalizing on new revenue streams made possible with Generative AI.
“Sony Music is focused on developing responsible generative AI use cases that enhance the creativity and goals of our talent, protect their work, excite fans, and create new commercial possibilities,” said Dennis Kooker, President, Global Digital Business, Sony Music Entertainment. “Dan Neely and the team at Vermillio share our vision that prioritizing proper consent, clear attribution and appropriate compensation for professional creators is foundational to unlocking monetization opportunities in this space.
“We are setting a new standard for AI licensing—one that proactively enables consent, credit, and compensation for innovative opportunities,” said Dan Neely, Co-Founder & CEO of Vermillio. “With the support of an innovation leader like Sony Music, Vermillio will continue building our products that ensure generative AI is utilized ethically and securely. At this critical moment in determining the future of AI and how to hold platforms accountable, we are proud to protect the world’s most beloved content and talent.”
Vermillio Success Stories: WME, Spiderman and David Gilmour
Last year, Vermillio partnered with talent agency WME to shield their clients from IP theft and deliver opportunities to monetize their name, image and likeness (NIL) by securely licensing their data.
Vermillio also launched a Spider-Verse AI engine with Sony Pictures where fans created their own unique digital version of themselves in the animation style of the Spider-Verse artists. Each of the 1.5 million unique fan creations was tracked using TraceID and with the ability to trace back to the filmmakers’ source IP.
Alongside Sony Music and Legacy Recordings, Vermillio then collaborated with The Orb and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd to develop a project where fans “remixed” their album and created original artwork. Each of these partnerships are rooted in the seamless and secure control of TraceID.
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of the Skyline Artists Agency
