Stockholm-based Tracklib, a platform providing licensed samples and stems to producers, has signed a license agreement with BANDAI NAMCO Arts Inc.
Based in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, and led by President Satoshi Kono, BANDAI NAMCO is known throughout the gaming world as the company behind the fighting franchise. tekken, Ultraman and Pac man. However, BANDAI NAMCO is also the operator of the Lantis music label.
Lantis is a label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks, and is a soundtrack publisher for very popular TV anime such as One-punch man.
The licensing agreement between the two companies will allow music producers around the world to use existing original songs from BANDAI NAMCO Arts’ label as samples and building blocks for new tracks.
The partnership began with the sound sources of Higuchi Kaede from BANDAI NAMCO Arts, a virtual artist from Japanese VTuber group NIJISANJI (MBW has previously reported on the success of virtual artists).
These sounds have been added to Tracklib’s catalog of over 100,000 all-original recordings.
More tracks, stems and sounds from BANDAI NAMCO Arts will continue to be added throughout 2022.
The partnership, the company says, “echoes the decades-long bond between hip hop and anime,” where the influence of Cartoon Network’s Toonami channel, as well as anime films like Akira, can be heard. in the production of artists such as Childish Gambino, Thundercat, Soulja Boy and Kanye West.
“We are thrilled to be able to bring Anime Music, which holds a huge chunk of Japanese pop culture, to all overseas creators.”
Akiho Matsuo, BANDAI NAMCO Arts Inc.
Akiho Matsuo, Chief Producer of Music Rights Department at BANDAI NAMCO Arts Inc., said, “We are delighted to be able to bring Anime Music, which holds a large part of Japanese pop culture, to all overseas creators.
“It’s not just going to be about our original artists earning new revenue; they will also gain brand new opportunities! We look forward to seeing songs created with our samples top the Billboard Charts in the near future.
“Anime soundtracks are a major source of inspiration for artists and producers around the world.”
By Almqvist, Tracklib
Pӓr Almqvist, CEO and co-founder of Tracklib, added, “Anime soundtracks are a major source of inspiration for artists and producers around the world.
“We are very pleased to now offer them easy and legal access to the fundamental BANDAI NAMCO Arts catalog for the genre.”
In September 2021, Tracklib secured an investment of $12.2 million in its latest funding round.
At the time, Tracklib told MBW that it had raised a total of $21.2 million in funding to date.
In June 2020, Tracklib raised $4.5 million in funding, in addition to the $1.7 million raised in 2019 through the Sony Innovation Fund, WndrCo and Jörg Mohaupt, a private start-up investor who has invested in several other music companies, including Discogs and Amuse.The music industry around the world
