Hi folks, As the title says, how do these companies who need to build their music repository do so when they start out? I originally thought that you can get the songs from copyright licensing firms such as ASCAP but they only sell the permission not the songs directly. So I’m wondering what the process is to build the music repository? #media #startup #tiktok #spotify #youtube #bytedance
Licensing agreements with the labels that own the masters. About 3 companies own just about everything so it’s not that difficult.
So one can sign licensing agreements with the labels directly? Do you have a ballpark on the initial investment an startup needs to make to build out the repository? A quick search gives a 6-figures estimate, so wondering if that is the only way to do it. Anecdotally, I had heard Musical.ly hadn’t licensed the songs and then TikTok had to pay some fines when it got bigger. Not sure how accurate that is.
Musical.ly did license the songs. But the license was for a short snippet and not to play the entire song itself. That is why the licensing costs were less than a music streaming service
You always have the choice to start without any agreement and face the consequences in the future. Most of the time, if you get sued, you are already relevant enough to raise the money to pay for debts.
That makes lots of sense and I think TikTok(originally musical.ly) started out this way. But do you know how to get the songs this way? Like is there a website that let you download all these songs, all clean and HQ without the copyright licensing?
I think you could use some tools to extract songs from music apps such as Spotify. Search for NoteCable Spotie Music Converter, TunePat Spotify Downloader or TunesKit Music Converter. I hope you can find an inspiration with that sources.
Hire a licensing specialist contractor and they will sort out for your startup.
It’s pretty easy for tiktok to get licenses, every big song these days comes from the app so the labels are more than happy to license songs
That’s the case now. I don’t think that was so in the beginning
you start by acquiring a company that has already acquired music licenses on favourable terms (musically)
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