BandPage Acquired By YouTube

BandPage, a company that began its life as a way for artists to aggregate their many digital homes (Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Xbox... the list is long) before 'granularizing' (don't say 'pivoting') itself into what is best described as a digital marketing optimization firm for musicians, has been acquired by YouTube. The news was announced in a post on the company's blog today (Feb. 12) and promptly heralded by YouTube's Chief Business Officer, Robert Kyncl (see below).

Thrilled to welcome @BandPage to @YouTube. Together we can do even more to empower artists & connect them w/ fans https://t.co/k63r8vd8rd
— Robert Kyncl (@rkyncl) February 12, 2016

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and requests for comment from BandPage and YouTube were refused. That BandPage would eventually be acquired was an easy assumption given the work the company had undertaken in recent years. Working with data provided to it exclusively from streaming services like Rhapsody and Spotify (it was the only way to place merch for sale on the latter), Chief Marketing Officer Doug Scott used his experience in the video game industry, which has seen revenues skyrocket thanks to business innovations around augmented content, to start analyzing how to segment and target music fans on platforms like Spotify and StubHub.

That research produced promising results -- though short of the "billions" predicted. Through a partnership with Rhapsody around targeted push notifications to peoples' phones, engagement was said to increase 50 percent, a significant achievement in wooing fickle digital fans.
However, as was seen in the wake of Next Big Sound's acquisition by Pandora, an acquired company whose business was based on a broad swath of partnerships can expect those partnerships to cease immediately. But before it's disinvited from those many walled gardens, BandPage got a very close look at the flora and fauna, knowledge it will now bring to -- and use to benefit -- Google's video giant.