Utopia Music acquires ISPY Group

Zug, Switzerland-headquartered blockchain-powered music data tracking platform Utopia Music has acquired Swedish full-service technology development company ISPY Group, according to a press release CoinReport received from Wachsman, Utopia Music’s PR agency.

Stockholm-based ISPY Group was established in 2003. The digital agency is an expert in multi-platform creation, design and usability, customized online strategies and hosting infrastructure for online media and internet firms. The group provides secure and scalable worldwide infrastructures with some of its clients’ platform managing more than 100 million users globally.

Utopia Music founder and CEO Mattias Hjelmstedt

Utopia Music founder and CEO Mattias Hjelmstedt said in the news release we received, “At Utopia Music, we are building an inclusive ecosystem which will benefit all stakeholders in the music world by removing existing inefficiencies and unlocking untracked revenues. Our technology will fuel streamlined rights management, allowing for flexible and customisable payments, as well as providing insightful user data to help artists and businesspeople make more informed decisions.”

He added, “Our strategic acquisition of the ISPY Group will help us build a powerful data communications protocol upon which any third-party can build new products and services, fuelling value creation in the wider music ecosystem. The wealth of tech talent from ISPY Group — composed of more than 30 R&D engineers and designers — and their cutting-edge technological solutions will strengthen our platform and service offering, allowing us to become a leader in the space.”

Following the acquisition, the Utopia Music platform is expected to rapidly scale globally and see its business operations expand. After the starting of the acquisition in mid-June, the group is projected to be completely merged into Utopia Music AG by the year’s end.

The ISPY Group’s management will keep functioning from Crypto Valley in Zug, along with Utopia Music’s head office. Development, technology and operations will be operated from Stockholm, Sweden and Barcelona, Spain.

ISPY Group CEO and strategic business developer Peter Karlsson commented, “ISPY Group has always had a bold vision to help our clients change the way they leverage technology, and we are proud to be contributing to the end-to-end digitisation of the music value chain and the revitalisation of the status quo with our deep expertise and knowledge. Joining forces with Utopia Music allows us to strategically pivot from being a consulting business to becoming a product development company, and the engine that powers the music industry.”

Utopia Music says it is unlocking innovative value and paving the way to access an assessed $30-$60 billion of unexploited income in the music industry by gathering huge volumes of data, generating unique metadata and developing real-time analytics tools.   

To assist in making better commercial choices in a digital era, Utopia Music says it will also provide refined user data, to better link artists to fans. The platform’s transparent and integrated music rights database will allow for licensees and rights holders to be represented, protected and remunerated. It’s blockchain-based, smart contract-powered architecture will also enable the automated management and distribution of royalty payments.

Images via Wachsman