Is Triller the new Musical.ly? Pitched as a ‘Music Video Maker’ app, it helps people make their own music videos alone or collaborating with friends, with clever auto-editing features to make the results look professional. Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Rita Ora are among the musicians who’ve dabbled, too. That’s been enough to attract 28 million users so far, as well as a recent $5m funding round.
Now Triller has signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Group, which will see tracks from the likes of Drake and Rihanna incorporated into the app, for fans to use in their videos. “Triller users are exceptionally creative, and we’re excited to watch along as our talent base creates new music video mashups with our expanded catalogue,” said CEO Mike Lu.
The news comes at a time when user-generated content and licensing is all the rage, thanks to Facebook’s first licensing deals with rightsholders – including last night’s news of Instagram stories getting music. Musical.ly managed to cash out in an acquisition before securing a full set of label deals, which can only sharpen rightsholders’ desire to get in early on apps that could become the next big UGC music craze. A startup like Triller that’s gaining traction can expect intense incoming attention, then.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…