Swedish music and tech company MAIA Universe recently closed a EUR €1 million (USD $1.3m) investment round and welcomed new investors – including superstar Swedish writer-producer Max Martin.
The company said that it also signed licensing agreements with major rightsholders including Sony Music Publishing UK, Sony Music UK, and Warner Chappell Music Publishing.
MAIA Universe claims to be “addressing an industry challenge in the synchronisation space by streamlining the licensing process to capture significant revenue and value for songwriters, artists, publishers, and record labels”.
The startup has been backed by VC firm Zenith Ventures. Members of the Jochnick family have also invested alongside Aligned, Wildfire, FWB, HDR Partners, and the founders of SeenThis AB.
Max Martin joined MAIA Universe as an investor through his company MxM.
“MxM fully supports MAIA in their mission to democratise sync and deliver opportunities and value to songwriters and artists of all genres and sizes,” said MxM in a statement.
In parallel to welcoming these investors on board, the company said that it has now licensed catalog sync rights from Sony Music Publishing UK, Sony Music UK, and Warner Chappell Music Publishing.
MAIA Universe said in its official announcement that the deals will help it to “rapidly and significantly increase the number of licensable songs on the platform and continue to grow its licensed music catalog on an ongoing basis”.
“MAIA Universe is transforming the sync industry by addressing the exponential growth in demand for sync licences.”
David Wille, MAIA Universe
Chris Jones, VP Licensing Sony Music Publishing UK, said: “Sony Music Publishing is supporting MAIA Universe by sharing and making available a selection of fantastic songs from our extensive catalogue.
“We are excited by the potential to capture increased sync opportunities in the UK for all of our songwriters.”
“MAIA is a well-designed and thought-through tech solution for the sync community’s pain point”.
Andrew Howell, Warner Chappell
Andrew Howell VP of Sync Warner Chappell said: “Warner Chappell Publishing see the potential for MAIA Universe to deliver additional sync revenue and exposure for our songwriters.
“MAIA is a well-designed and thought-through tech solution for the sync community’s pain point”.
“Playground Music supports MAIA Universe in its efforts to simplify the licensing process in our industry.”
Melinda Baikoglu, Playground Music Scandinavia
Melinda Baikoglu, Head of Music Publishing, Playground Music Scandinavia said: “Playground Music supports MAIA Universe in its efforts to simplify the licensing process in our industry.
“This will be a great complement to our own process and also strengthen our ability to offer the best possible service to our brand partners worldwide”.
“We are excited by the potential to capture increased sync opportunities in the UK for all of our songwriters.”
Chris Jones, Sony Music Publishing UK
David Wille, CEO and Co-Founder MAIA Universe, added: MAIA Universe is transforming the sync industry by addressing the exponential growth in demand for sync licences.
“This increase has been driven by a surge in content creation across new and emerging media channels.
“Directors, film makers, advertisers, branded content creators, games studios and TV producers all aspire to find and licence commercially released music quickly and efficiently.Music Business Worldwide
