StarMaker Interactive
 | |
| Type |
mobile app Multi-channel network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Founded |
2010 by Jeff Daniel and Nathan Sedlander |
| Slogan | Your turn to shine! |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
Official website |
starmakerstudios |
StarMaker Interactive is the first integrated video network for music, fostering video creation, curation and consumption plus talent discovery and promotion across multiple platforms.[1]
StarMaker was founded in 2010 by Jeff Daniel and Nathan Sedlander, and is the developer of the StarMaker and The Voice: On Stage mobile apps. StarMaker holds licensing deals with all major music publishers, allowing users to monetize cover song videos. The company also has a branded hardware partnership with Philips Electronics and has developed and released the official mobile game apps for American Idol as well as The Voice program broadcast in the US by NBC. In October 2014, StarMaker launched the StarMaker Network, a multi-channel, multi-platform online video network that gives talent rights-cleared access to millions of songs, including current top 10 hits.[2]
History
In March 2010, music branding agency Rock River Communications launched the first version of the StarMaker app. Initially available as a proprietary iPhone app, StarMaker allowed users to select from a large library of hit songs, record their own performance and create e-cards and Facebook posts of their recordings.[3]
In October 2010, Jeff Daniel and Nathan Sedlander, formerly executives at Rock River Communications, founded StarMaker Interactive with the stated objective of leveraging technology to enable everyone to create quality music content and to surface the next generation of talent. The flagship app was updated with Auto-Tune and scoring technology that gave singers real-time objective feedback on their personalized performances of top hits. By November 2011, the StarMaker app had over 1 million users. In its first incarnation, the app resembled console-based music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero with the added recording capability.[4]
StarMaker partnered first with American Idol in September 2012 to launch the American Idol LIVE! Tour app. The app allowed users to record their own versions of the songs sung by American Idol alums like Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, Joshua Ledet, Carrie Underwood, and Kelly Clarkson.[5]
StarMaker then partnered with the creators of The Voice to launch The Voice: On Stage mobile app in October 2012. The app integrated the format of the TV show, allowing users to record their own versions of songs featured on The Voice, perform in front of (virtual) judges and compete against fellow users in Voice “Battles.” The Voice: On Stage app is distributed on the iOS and Android mobile app platforms in all 55 countries where The Voice has local-language television programs and in all 170 countries where the programs are televised.[6]
In June 2014, StarMaker added to its apps the ability to produce and share music videos, with the launch of StarMaker 3.0. This technology allows users to create a “music video selfie” and to publish the video directly to YouTube.[7]
In June and July 2014, StarMaker partnered with NBC and The Voice on open casting auditions via the StarMaker and The Voice: On Stage mobiles apps. The Auditions allowed users to submit their personalized music videos for consideration in the casting of The Voice. Users of the StarMaker platform then voted for their favorite videos, which were displayed on leaderboards in the mobile apps and websites. After the entry period had ended, the top videos were then presented to NBC and The Voice’s casting agents. Two winners were selected for call-back auditions with The Voice and one winner was invited to perform on stage with the past and recent winners of The Voice at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on July 29, 2014. Other performers who performed that evening included Tessa Chin, Josh Kaufman and Christina Grimmie.[8]
In October 2014, StarMaker launched its multi-channel network, the StarMaker Network, opening to emerging artists the world’s largest music catalog of 3 million songs including hit songs from artists, such as Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Sam Smith, John Legend and Maroon 5. Members of the StarMaker Network can publish videos to their own YouTube channels and to earn revenue from advertisements displayed on those videos.[9]
As of December 2014, StarMaker apps have been downloaded more than 22 million times, and StarMaker users have created more than 350 million recordings.[10]
As of August 10, 2016, Starmaker was acquired by Starfruit / Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., Ltd. for an undisclosed amount per Crunchbase.
Contests
In addition to the contest held for The Voice auditions, StarMaker has partnered with major music labels including Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Hollywood Records and RCA Records to create contest campaigns with those labels’ artists including Becky G, Cash Cash, New Politics, Gavin DeGraw, Ingrid Michaelson, Hot Chelle Rae, Clean Bandit and The Vamps. The winners of these StarMaker contests have recorded and performed with the major artists and have appeared with the major artists in official music videos for the songs.[11]
Financial Backers
StarMaker’s investors include Raine Ventures, Crosscut Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, iGlobe Ventures and GREE and angel investors include Allen Debevoise, Joe Lonsdale, Audrey MacLean and Maurice Werdegar.[12]
See also
References
- ↑ . Yahoo Finance, October 14, 2014.
- ↑ Longwell, Todd. . Stream Daily. October 15, 2014.
- ↑ . PR Web. March 5, 2010.
- ↑ Gannes, Liz. . All Things Digital. September 2, 2011
- ↑ . September 5, 2012
- ↑ Ha, Anthony. . Tech Crunch. October 15, 2012.
- ↑ Bell,Karisa. . Mashable. June 24, 2014.
- ↑ Bell,Karisa. . Mashable. June 24, 2014.
- ↑ Brouwer, Bree. . Tubefilter. October 14, 2014.
- ↑ . Hypebot. October 15, 2014.
- ↑ Wicker, Jewel. . Penn Live. December 20, 2014.
- ↑ . Crunch Base.