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SoundCloud snaps up music AI tech firm to bolster music discovery

SoundCloud believes that the next big thing on its platform relies on AI and machine learning, as the company announced it has acquired Musiio, which will help SoundCloud’s existing music intelligence capabilities and help the company identify what’s next in music trends and talent.

Musiio’s technology focuses on B2B audio reference search, which means AI that can “listen” to music, automated tagging, and playlisting tools for the music industry. SoundCloud explains the impact of this acquisition:

By “listening” to more tracks than a human could ever comprehend and identifying characteristics and patterns, its AI allows users to better predict success, which in turn, can increase their ‘hit-rate’ and ultimately their revenue. With its leading product suite and by deeper integration with SoundCloud, Musiio will become core to SoundCloud’s discovery experience and help to identify talent and trends ahead of anybody else. 

The interesting part is that Apple’s Shazam takes a different approach. By the beginning of 2022, the audio tool announced its breakthrough artist predictions for the current year and said it relies on “the curiosity of everyday fans to tell a story of what’s next:”

Shazam uncovers artists from every corner of the world, using the curiosity of everyday fans to tell a story of what’s next. Each year brings a new group of artists who seem to rule their particular corners of the music ecosystem, compelling listeners to seek out the songs they can’t get enough of.

Eliah Seton, SoundCloud’s president, says “Musiio accelerates our strategy to better understand how that music is moving in a proprietary way, which is critical to our success.”

The company announced it will integrate Musiio’s employees as well as its CEO and CTO as VPs.

9to5Mac will make sure to report back once Musiio’s capabilities are tied with the SoundCloud ecosystem.

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