Music Software Business

4 Music Software Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 9th, 2024

Looking to tap into the world of music and tech? A music software business could be your ideal venture. This business involves creating and selling software solutions tailored for musicians, producers, and audio engineers. Whether it's a digital audio workstation (DAW), plugins, or innovative music learning tools, the opportunities are vast.

To get started, you'll need a solid understanding of both music and software development. Your main tasks will include market research, software design, coding, testing, and ongoing customer support. If coding isn’t your strength, partnering with a skilled developer can bridge that gap.

As the music industry continues to evolve, there's a growing demand for tools that make the creation and production process simpler and more intuitive. A music software business allows you to be at the forefront of this innovation, enabling artists to bring their creative visions to life more easily.

In this list, you'll find real-world music software business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a music software business that makes money.

1. Easy Song ($3.78M/year)

Aaron Green and his childhood friend Mark Meikle started EasySongLicensing.com as a side project while running their mobile recording business, Legacy Productions. Sensing that the mobile recording industry had limited growth potential, Mark built a website to organize music licensing and saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between indie artists and large music publishers. They invested in the domain name EasySongLicensing.com and ultimately transitioned their focus to building the licensing agent business, which now boasts a user base of over 60,000 clients and brought in $2.5M in 2018 alone.

How much money it makes: $3.78M/year
How much did it cost to start: $75K
How many people on the team: 11

How We Bootstrapped A Music Licensing Business to $2.5M/Year

EasySongLicensing.com grew from a mobile recording business to a bootstrapped music licensing agent, with a user base of over 60,000 clients and a gross profit of $2.5M in 2018, seeing a 30% increase in 2019, through investment in online marketing, customer service, and forming new partnerships.

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2. Modern Producers ($1.44M/year)

A former music producer himself, Mordern Producers is Adrian's way of giving back to the music production community and leveling the playing field between up-and-coming, independent producers and the big league industry players. Helping other artists achieve success is the driving motivation for Adrian.

How much money it makes: $1.44M/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0

How I Make $85K/Month Selling Tools To Music Producers

Modern Producers is an e-commerce platform that sells software and tools for modern music producers and has more than doubled its revenue annually, earning $1.1 million in sales in 2019.

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3. Songstats ($828K/year)

Oskar Eichler, co-founder of Songstats, came up with the idea for his business while working as a label manager and DJ in Shanghai. Being involved in the music industry, he recognized the value of data analytics for artists and record labels and wanted to provide a platform that aggregated insights across various music services. After teaming up with his co-founders, they built Songstats and now have over 6,000 customers generating almost $1 million in annual recurring revenue.

How much money it makes: $828K/year
How much did it cost to start: $400K
How many people on the team: 8

How These Friends Bootstrapped A $1M/Year Business Out of Their Love for Music

Songstats is a music data analytics SaaS platform that aggregates insights across 14 different music services, approaching $1 million in annual recurring revenue and growing its team of music lovers, ultimate frisbee players, and close friends that came together in Bali, Indonesia with a shared vision of launching their startup.

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4. AudioCipher Technologies ($12K/year)

AudioCipher Technologies was founded by Ezra Sandzer-Bell, a musician with a passion for music philosophy and hidden messages in melodies. After discovering a technique used by classical composers to encode words into melodies, Ezra saw an opportunity to create a music software company. With a shoestring marketing budget, AudioCipher sold over 200 copies of their flagship product, earning $3000+ in revenue within their first 10 weeks on the market.

How much money it makes: $12K/year
How much did it cost to start: $7K
How many people on the team: 1

How We Earned 200+ Sales Of Our Music Software In Less Than 3 Months

AudioCipher Technologies has sold over 200 copies of its $15 MIDI plugin that translates words into music notes, earning $3000 in revenue during its first 10 weeks without any pre-existing mailing lists or industry leads, despite a shoestring budget.

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Read by 3,234 founders