Switzerland-headquartered fintech company Utopia Music has launched a new Creator Services Business Unit, by acquiring two companies that it says “will provide creators with a comprehensive analytics platform, an industry directory, and other marketing tools”.
Those two companies are US-based music industry directory ROSTR and Austria-based music data analytics platform, ForTunes.
Utopia’s Creator Services unit will officially launch in 2022.
This news marks Utopia’s third and fourth company acquisitions in the past three months, after buying Quincy Jones-backed emotional data enrichment company, Musimap in September.
In October, the company, which sources tell MBW has tens of millions of dollars at its disposal, acquired Nashville-based financial services company, Lyric Financial, which has advanced over $100 million worth of royalties to artists.
Utopia says that its new Creator Services unit “will provide a single common interface for songwriters, composers, artists, performers, and professionals to understand their audience and find monetization opportunities for their creative rights and other endeavours.”
Mark Williamson, CEO and co-founder of ROSTR, will head the newly founded business unit at Utopia as Vice President of Creator Services.
Prior to ROSTR, Williamson spent almost a decade at Spotify including as Global Head of Artist and Industry Partnerships.
ROSTR and ForTunes will continue to service their existing customer base under the Utopia umbrella.
ROSTR claims to map “the largest database of artist teams” including relationships between Artists, Managers, Agents, and Labels.
The database offers information on roughly 10,000 rosters including Artists, Agencies, Labels, and Management Companies in more than 70 countries.
Its existing clients include UTA, Wasserman, AWAL, Triller, Mandolin, Dice, and Moment House, among others.
ForTunes provides insights on how songs, social posts, and profiles perform across a broad range of platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as well as Hype Machine & SubmitHub blogs.
“These acquisitions open a whole new chapter for Utopia, and we could not be more excited about the future.”
Roberto Neri, Utopia Music
“We are thrilled to launch an entirely new business unit focused on helping creators grow into their full potential,” said Roberto Neri, Chief Operations Officer at Utopia Music.
“By providing creators with the right tools, data, and eliminating roadblocks we can help them elevate their revenues and find new ways to strengthen their careers.
“ROSTR and ForTunes are two key players in the industry that, just like Utopia, believe in transparency and fairness, and have the technology, vision, and drive to lead the way with us.
“These acquisitions open a whole new chapter for Utopia, and we could not be more excited about the future.”
“We started ROSTR because we believed that technology and data could help create a more efficient and fairer music industry.”
Mark Williamson
Williamson added: “We started ROSTR because we believed that technology and data could help create a more efficient and fairer music industry.
“With Utopia and the Creator Services unit, we get to supercharge these efforts on a joint mission that will positively impact creators and the industry as a whole”
Music Business Worldwide