BandLab Technologies acquire Beat marketplace Airbit
BandLab Technologies have announced the acquisition of beat marketplace Airbit today (Wednesday February 1) – offering users more “high-quality beats to kickstart their creative process”.
The parent company of social music creation platform BandLab, digital audio workstation Cakewalk, and artist services platform ReverbNation will expand upon their full-service creator toolset – including the free, mobile-first cross-platform DAW and the AI musical idea generator SongStarter – providing artists with seamless access to all major elements of music creation, promotion, and distribution.
BandLab report that to day, artists have earned over $50million on Airbit, with over 2million beats sold. The platform offers more than a million beats from notable producers, as well as emerging beatmakers and “providing services for musicians to build sustainable communities and careers”.
Existing Airbit users will experience uninterrupted services and have been told to “expect a seamless integration of their features into BandLab’s creator platform in the near future”.
As part of the deal, all current Airbit employees will be retained, and the CEO of Airbit, Wasim Khamlichi, will step down after a transition period.
“We are thrilled to bring Airbit’s community to BandLab,” said Meng Ru Kuok, CEO and Founder of BandLab Technologies. “We are continually looking for opportunities to support BandLab artists in their creative process, and this has been one of our communities’ most requested features.”
He continued: “Thanks to companies like Airbit, self-serve beat marketplaces have become an exciting route for creators to find and purchase high-quality beats to kickstart their creative process. We’re excited to improve the user experience for our creators and introduce new ways for them to earn a living.”
Airbit CEO Wasim Khamlichi added: “Airbit shares BandLab’s ethos of allowing music makers every opportunity to find success. Airbit was started with the intent to empower creators as artists and entrepreneurs through new technologies and forward-thinking music monetisation tools.
“Since Airbit was founded in 2009, it has grown to become a powerful platform for hundreds and thousands of creators. BandLab is best positioned to take it to the next level.”
More information will be shared about the product roadmap and future features in due course.
One of many recent BandLab success stories is D4vd. Starting out as a gamer whose videos of himself playing Fortnight amassed over 15 million before he starting releasing his own music and making it with the app. Recent breakthrough single ‘Romantic Homicide’ debuted within the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, landed over 75 million streams, and became a trending hit on TikTok.
“My relationship with BandLab has been amazing in that I can make music literally from my closet,” the artist recently told NME. “The CEO reached out a couple of weeks ago and said he was amazed that somebody who has used the platform he made has managed to get on the Billboard [200 singles] chart.”
He added: “[BandLab] has literally changed my life. I couldn’t ask for more – it’s allowed me to make music from my house without any professional mic, as I literally just use Apple earbuds and the app on my phone. I’m able to make the music that I like without compromise.”
As MusicBusinessWorldwide reports, BandLab has over 60million registered creators on its service, having added around 10million creators to its platform in little over six months. Users are now responsible for creating approximately 16-17million songs on the platform each month.
This is already outperforming Spotify’s ambition for 50million users to use its new creator services by the end of the decade.
Editor’s note: BandLab and NME are both a part of Caldecott Music Group.
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