Utopia Music has acquired AI and metadata firm Musimap.
The acquisition, which brings Utopia’s workforce to nearly 150 employees, will “strengthen Utopia in building the next-generation infrastructure that will advance creator rights and enable new opportunities for the recordings business”, according to the announcement.
Adding Musimap’s artificial intelligence technology and metadata expertise will help enhance Utopia’s offering for independent and major labels and creators.
Musimap, backed by legendary producer Quincy Jones, is known for its automated engines that power music discovery, emotional profiling and metadata enrichment.
The firm’s APIs utilise proprietary intelligence to generate unique emotional metadata for clients. This can be used to search for similar songs, automatically create playlists based on certain genres and moods, and match playlists with personality profiles.
Musimap currently offers three core products — MusiMatch, MusiMotion and MusiMe — with clients including Universal Music Group, Vevo, Warner Music Group, BMG and more in the global music space.
The acquisition will enable Musimap products to be offered in new territories within Utopia’s portfolio. Musimap, in turn, expands Utopia’s family to now include Belgium, central Europe and Canada.
Utopia chairman of the board, Mattias Hjelmstedt, said: “The acquisition of Musimap represents yet another milestone on our journey of becoming the world’s preferred technology supporting the entire music industry by creating new revenue streams, consolidating data and reducing administration while offering a broad spectrum of diverse, yet deeply innovative services across the globe. This is a key enabler in making the world a better place for creators through Fair Pay For Every Play.”
Musimap’s technology is the future
Quincy Jones
Andreas Spechtler, executive chairman of the board of Musimap, added: “Musimap’s AI technology and the team’s experience in music and emotional data is truly unique and recognised by customers like Warner Music and supported by music icons like Quincy Jones. The uniqueness of Musimap is reflected not only in this acquisition, but also in existing collaborations with DSPs, artists, labels, advertising agencies and voice-controlled speaker manufacturers.
“With the acquisition by Utopia Music, Musimap’s technology will become a global standard for emotional AI in music that will supercharge the global music industry. The Musimap team is proud to become a key component of the growth and success story of the Utopia Music family.”
Quincy Jones said: “Musimap’s technology is the future and it makes my soul smile to see it become the AI backbone of another tech giant. Teaming up with Utopia will undoubtedly unlock new doors for Musimap, and allow it to continue changing the way we consume music, and empower creators, through enhanced discoverability. From the looks of my personality profile, as provided by MusiMe, I can tell this machine has sharpened its left brain! Big-time props to the team and I look forward to continuing in the exploration of music through emotions together.”
Musimap will continue to service its existing customers as a part of the Utopia family of businesses. Its goal is to tag 80% of the global music catalogue with emotionally enriched metadata over the next few years.
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