AI Powers New Music Licensing Platform for Indie Artists

Seattle musician Danny Newcomb recently unveiled Incantio, his new startup. This innovative venture harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) to offer a platform where musicians and content creators can manage self-licensing for their music catalogs.

Incantio serves as a dynamic marketplace. It enables artists to license their original material and helps creators find music from subscribers for their upcoming projects.

According to Incantio, "Our platform allows musicians, composers, songwriters, and sound artists to directly offer their work to visual creators. Set your own prices, get paid directly, and retain full ownership of your non-exclusive catalog."

Empowering Artists in the Digital Age

Newcomb expressed his commitment to fostering growth within the independent music scene. He emphasized the critical role that self-licensed catalogs play for musicians navigating today's industry.

Highlighting the market shift, Newcomb stated, as reported by GeekWire, "Half of the global music market is now independent. And those artists don’t have access to self-license into a catalog where they can price and manage their own rights."

Navigating the Music Industry Landscape

The music industry landscape is currently dominated by three major record labels, which collectively hold a significant majority share in both music recording and publishing.

Data from Music and Copyright reveals that Sony Music Publishing (25%), Universal Music Publishing (23%), and Warner Chappell Music (12%) accounted for a combined 60% of published music revenue in 2022 and 2023. The remaining 40% was generated by independent artists.

Newcomb further elaborated to GeekWire, "Part of Incantio, for me, is a way of creating an open platform where artists can set the value of their digital rights for licensing and gain some of that value back."

A Musician's Journey to Innovation

With a rich history in the Seattle music scene, Newcomb has been a part of several notable bands, including Shadow, The Rockfords, Sugarmakers, and Goodness.

Reflecting on his entrepreneurial spirit, Newcomb shared with GeekWire, laughing, "I started every band I’ve ever been in. So, yeah, Incantio does feel like that."

Newcomb drew a comparison between Seattle's well-established reputation for music recording and a relative lack of emphasis on the music publishing sector.

As he told GeekWire, Newcomb described Seattle as a "music town," but pointed out that it is "not a music publishing town."

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