Is Splice planning on going beyond samples and creating its own music-making apps?
Acquisition of development framework Superpowered fuels speculation
Splice has become a go-to destination for sample-hungry producers and those wishing to share DAW projects, but its latest acquisition suggests that it has plans to get involved in audio app development, too.
It’s just purchased Superpowered, an audio technology company that offers a framework for developing cross-platform applications. This enables developers to create real-time audio apps within Javascript; these can run on mobile, web, desktop and more. Existing clients include the likes of Beatport, Byte, Fishman, Hoopla Digital, InMusic, Libsyn, Pzziz, Naver, Tencent and Voloco.
“We created Splice with the mission of empowering musicians to realize their creative potential,” says Splice Co-Founder and CEO Steve Martocci. “Content - samples - have been a huge part of achieving that mission to date. But technology is also key to the creative process, and we’re excited to be investing in technology that will usher in a new era of creation and collaboration tools that empower musicians to realize their creative potential.”
Whether this means that Splice wants to start creating apps of its own or simply to give more support to third-party developers isn’t clear, but this feels like a significant move, with the company saying that “Splice and Superpowered join forces with a shared mission to transform the audio ecosystem.”
Variety reports that Splice has enjoyed record activity during the current lockdown period, with downloads up almost 50% to 1.1 million per day since the week of 23 March.
You can find out more about the acquisition on the Splice website.
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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.