It can be hard for both companies and content creators to find copyright-safe music. It’s even harder to find copyright-safe music by top-notch composers. Evan Buist, founder of Australia-based startup Melodie, joins Startup Savants to discuss his music licensing platform and publisher startup that aims to fix this problem.
- Startup Savants is a business podcast that tells the stories behind up-and-coming startups.
- Evan Buist joins Startup Savants to talk about launching his music licensing startup.
- Melodie is a music licensing platform and publisher that helps content creators find copyright-safe music.
The Pivot: From NeedAJingle to Melodie
Melodie isn’t Buist’s first startup. He cut his teeth on NeedAJingle, a platform he created in 2014 that connected emerging composers with creative agencies via active advertising briefs. The NeedAJingle community grew to around 700 composer users. But because of various challenges, including submissions of inconsistent quality and a lack of time to curate music, Buist decided to fold the company into a new venture: Melodie.
Among other things, this required narrowing down NeedAJingle’s 700 composers to just 15 at the beginning. Buist also had to purchase and customize a code base from a small company in Germany, with the goal of streamlining audio production for TV, film, and other media while providing widespread access to copyright-safe music – a well-known need in the industry.
“There are licensing structures that can be very complex and difficult to even understand if you don’t have a Ph.D. in music licensing, things like term and territory and all of the clauses that you’ll look at in agreements,” he said in his interview with Startup Savants. “So, we wanted to create something that was intuitive and easy to find really high-quality music, and then simple to license.”
What’s Next for Melodie?
Right now, Melodie has two core products: a platform where people can search for music by more than 100 composers and an API that connects to other creative platforms. While the company has focused on the music sector in Australia, Buist wants to expand to the US.
“Australia we have done really well, and now we’re just looking to replicate that in a bigger market” like the US, he said during his interview. “So, we’re trying to just do what we’ve done in Australia and replicate that over there, where there are a lot more libraries.” Big American companies like National Geographic, A&E, and Nickelodeon have already signed on, which bodes well for Melodie’s chances in the US market.
Melodie has another goal as well: to pursue diversity. “We’re striving for all kinds of diversity from gender to ethnicities to LGBTQI, because we believe through diversity in our composer base comes authenticity across all styles of music,” Buist said. The company is especially trying to find more female composers, and racial diversity is becoming more of a priority as the company begins to offer services in the US.
Startup Savants Podcast
The Startup Savants podcast is a business podcast created by The Really Useful Information Company (TRUiC). It brings listeners the stories behind startups and their founders who are building and scaling their companies.
The Startup Savants podcast is hosted by Ethan, an entrepreneur, and Annaka, a branding expert. These disparate viewpoints provide listeners with key business insights and a well-rounded perspective on the startup ecosystem.
Hear from a variety of real startup founders from around the globe and with varying backgrounds, making their startup idea a reality. Learn from experts sharing their industry knowledge on venture capital, securing funding, and more on the Startup Savants podcast.
Final Thoughts
Evan Buist’s interview on Startup Savants takes listeners through his journey in founding Melodie. He walks us through the process of pivoting business strategies, fundraising, establishing business models, and the importance of establishing relationships.
You can find the Startup Savants podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
