Splice Raises $57.5M, Artist Payments Pass $15M

Splice has raised $57.5 million in a Series C round to expand its music sample subscription service and other artist services. The startup also announced that it has paid $15 million in royalties since launching in 2013 to creators who offer samples through the company's artist-to-artist service, Splice Sounds.

Leading the round are existing investors Union Square Ventures and True Ventures, joined by DFJ Growth, Flybridge, and Lerer Hippeau. Liontree, Founders Circle Capital, & Matt Pincus, founder of Songz Publishing. The startup will use the new investment to improve its existing marketplaces and workflow tools, as well as to explore products.

Splice offers a library of over 3 million sounds. Splice Studio, a free back-up and collaboration product allows musicians to store, save, and share music project files in the cloud.

"Splice is truly becoming a platform for the millions of musicians we dreamed of when we first started building it," said Splice co-founder and CEO Steve Martocci. "We know and trust these investors — they share both our commitment to building a product and company that is good for musicians and share our big vision in continuing to transform the way musicians create, connect, collaborate, and make money. This funding will help bring that vision into reality."

Last year, Splice launched  professional Digital Audio Workstation on Rent-to-Own, making the recording software available for $16.99/month. They also recently announced a strategic partnership with industry heavyweight Akai Professional.