Melodie raises $600k to help it launch film & TV licensing department in the US

Music licensing platform Melodie has raised $600,000 from investors including Future Now Ventures, early Atlassian employee and Code Barrel founder Nick Menere, and co-owner of The Drop Festival Peter Strain.

The funds will be used to launch a film and TV licensing department in the US, ramp up API partnership efforts, and continue to grow its catalogue of high-quality music from local and international acts.

Managing director Evan Buist noted the seed funding’s potential to help the company expand into new areas.

“After more than three years of bootstrapping, we’re delighted to welcome our new shareholders to the family, bringing Melodie’s world-class catalogue of impactful, simply-licensed music to the rest of the world,” he said.

“As well as our focus on broadcast media, we now provide authentic, copyright-safe music to all kinds of creative platforms via our API. These platforms include text-to-speech, crowdsourced video, e-learning, video/podcast creation, and more. It’s a huge growth area that we’re really excited to be driving.”

New investor Strain said it was great to be supporting Australian businesses and performers at this time.

“At a time when the live music scene is on its knees due to COVID, it’s a pleasure to support an Australian business providing alternative revenue streams for local artists and exporting all of this fantastic music,” he said.

Melodie’s catalogue has been heard on shows including Australian Ninja Warrior, Bondi Rescue, Drunk History, Love Island Australia and One Born Every Minute. 

The company recently launched a campaign encouraging more content producers to utilise local Australian music. The #LicenseLocally campaign said every Australian brand and company should be making a conscious decision to support the local industry as it remains on its knees due to COVID and the associated lockdowns and restrictions.