If Switzerland-headquartered tech company Utopia Music wasn’t previously on your radar, it definitely will be after this month.
At the start of September, the firm made the high-profile appointment of Downtown‘s former EVP of Business Development, Roberto Neri, as Chief Operating Officer, followed by other big hires including Paul Gathercole as Chief Data Officer, Åsa Carild as Head of Platform, and Paul Stuart as Chief Legal Officer.
Now, the firm, which music industry sources tell us has raised tens of millions in investor capital to date, has acquired Quincy Jones-backed emotional data enrichment company, Musimap.
Musimap’s automated engines that power music discovery, emotional profiling and metadata enrichment.
The firm’s APIs use proprietary AI to generate emotional metadata for clients. This can be used to search for similar songs, automatically create playlists based on certain genres, moods, etc., 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 many more high-profile stakeholders in the global music space.
Utopia says it’s on a mission to revolutionize the monitoring of music consumption – and consequent royalty payments to rights-holders – worldwide.
It also claims that its technology offers “never-before-seen access and reporting depth”. Utopia says that the acquisition of Musimap will strengthen its infrastructure, which it says “will advance creator rights and enable new opportunities for the recordings business”.
Utopia already employed over 100 people worldwide across offices in Zug, Helsinki, Stockholm, London and New York prior to the Musimap buyout. With Musimap onboard, Utopia’s workforce has now risen to nearly 150 employees, and its geographic footprint has expanded to include Belgium, central Europe and Canada.
Musimap says that it will continue to service its existing customers as a part of the Utopia group of businesses, as it moves towards its goal of tagging 80% of the global music catalog with emotionally enriched metadata over the next few years.
“The acquisition of Musimap represents yet another milestone on our journey.”
Mattias Hjelmstedt, Utopia
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.”
“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.”
Andreas Spechtler, Musimap
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.”
“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.”
Quincy Jones
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.”
