Spotify has sold music creation app Soundtrap back to its founders

UPDATED: Spotify has sold the music creation app Soundtrap back to its founders Per Emanuelsson and Bjorn Melinder a little more than five years after the streamer bought it for what at the time was estimated to be at least $30 million.

Spotify’s decision to move away from music creation comes at a time when major labels are calling on the streamer to deal with what they see as the glut of music caused by the 120,000 tracks uploaded daily, mostly by d.i.y. artists that use apps like Soundtrap.

The music creation space is also getting more crowded with the launch of dozens of AI-powered tools and competitor BandLab announcing that it has more than 60 million users.

Details of this week’s deal were not disclosed.

“Soundtrap was built to provide the best collaboration platform for making music online,” said Per Emanuelsson, CEO and Co-Founder, of Soundtrap in a statement. “Together with Soundtrap’s co-founder, Björn Melinder, we’ve made the decision to acquire the company from Spotify, returning to an independent operation. Over the last five years, we’ve greatly benefitted from Spotify’s expertise and global reach, enabling us to rapidly scale our service and launch new products. We thank Spotify for helping to set us on the trajectory we’re on today and are very excited for the future.” 

“Soundtrap continues to make great strides in enabling more people to make music collaboratively online.” Charlie Hellman, VP, Global Head of Music Product, Spotify. “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved together and are excited to see Soundtrap’s next phase of growth over the coming years.”

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.