Soundstripe, the premier music licensing platform, is collaborating with Abu Dhabi-based independent music company PopArabia to create a series of songwriting camps for MENA based artists and songwriters. The first camp, Soundstripe’s first outside of the US, took place this October in Abu Dhabi. Future, similar camps will be held in Abu Dhabi over the next two years with a view to expanding regionally. 

Designed to bolster Soundstripe’s catalog, the camps represent the company’s ongoing expansion into regional genres and sounds, music that is increasingly in demand from creatives worldwide. “Arabic music and music from the MENA region is rapidly gaining popularity, and we’ve seen an uptick in requests on Soundstripe,” says Jeff Perkins, Soundstripe’s CEO. “As part of our overall global strategy, we wanted more original music from the region in our catalog and wanted to expand in the most artist-friendly way possible. PopArabia was the perfect partner.”

Together, Soundstripe and PopArabia are assembling artists and songwriters from UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan, giving them creative prompts with universal resonance and encouraging them to add their own cultural influences and sounds. At their first camp earlier this year, they collaborated in pairs and small ensembles to create new tracks over the course of several days. The resulting 23 songs will become part of Soundstripe’s catalog.

"The camp was a true highlight,” exclaims camp participant Assouad, one half of ISSA & ASSOUAD, genre-shaping artists who regularly play for tens of thousands of fans, as well as produce hits for regional superstars (Wegz, Sherya Ghoshal, ElGrandetoto). “The talent, focus, and collaborative spirit were exceptional, and the results speak for themselves."

The choice of regions was a logical one for Soundstripe, and the camps reflect PopArabia’s mission, with support from Abu Dhabi’s Creative Media Authority. “The Middle East is one of the fastest-growing music markets in the world, and we’re witnessing the emergence of a vibrant regional sound that is resonating with global creatives and agencies,” explains Hussain (Spek) Yoosuf, Founder and CEO of PopArabia. “PopArabia sees this writing camp as a natural extension of our mission to support a thriving ecosystem for music in the UAE and the wider region and grow real opportunities for our region’s artists.” 

“These camps underscore two realities: human-made music has never been more essential, and the world, including its music, is more connected than ever,” explains Josh Collum, Soundstripe’s VP of Music. “Soundstripe was founded by musicians, and we remain committed to creating real music with real artists. The result for our customers is one-of-a-kind songs that will make their projects standout from the rest.” 

About Soundstripe
Based in Nashville, Soundstripe is the premier music licensing company for  creative industries. The company was founded in 2016 by three professional musicians as a subscription licensing service for freelancers, and has since expanded to serve the entire creator economy, advertising professionals, production companies, and large enterprises. The company has worked with over 1.5 million users globally, facilitated over 20 million licensed downloads, and its music has been streamed over 400 billion times across platforms. Soundstripe’s diverse catalog contains over 58,000 owned audio tracks, 100,000 sound effects, and 100,000 video clips. 

About PopArabia

PopArabia is an independent music company, label and publisher founded in 2011 by Canadian hip-hop pioneer, music executive and entrepreneur Spek, in partnership with twofour54, the Abu Dhabi media zone that is home to the region’s entertainment industry. As a sub publisher, PopArabia represents the world’s leading music catalogs across the MENA territories and has pioneered music licensing in the region. In 2020, PopArabia announced a partnership and joint venture with New York headquartered Reservoir to sign and develop regional talent to export Arabic music around the world. PopArabia also launched ESMAA later that year, a rights management entity working with rights organizations, licensing performance, mechanical and neighbouring rights in the Gulf states.

Finding the perfect soundtrack is now three times easier, thanks to a new expanded library at Soundstripe that includes a curated collection of world-class music from Emmy-winning Warner Chappell Production Music. Known for scoring some of the most recognizable shows, films, and trailers in Hollywood, Warner Chappell Production Music is now making a curated selection of its catalog available on-demand for user-generated content, micro-sync, and more through a partnership with the creator-focused music licensing platform, Soundstripe.

“We know that finding the right soundtrack can often be the most frustrating, time-consuming part of the video creation process,” explains Soundstripe CEO Jeff Perkins. “We are now offering creators more music options for their stories. In addition to Soundstripe’s amazing  library of high-quality music, we have partnered with WCPM to curate an inspiring collection of tracks that span over thirty different genres, tripling the amount of music currently available in the Soundstripe platform and making some of the best production music out there available to more creators.”

“Exceptional storytelling deserves a soundtrack to match, and we’re excited to make this curated selection of our world-class catalog more accessible than ever,” says Head of Production Music, Alec Sharpe. “Through this partnership, we’re empowering independent creators with music from the same composers and producers trusted by film and television studios around the world.”

Designed to address the increasingly diverse needs of creators, Soundstripe’s partnership with WCPM will allow freelance videographers, independent filmmakers, and influencers to access the range, cross-cultural authenticity, and production quality typically reserved for major entertainment companies. For creators who grew up inspired by the soundtracks of Hollywood, it’s a chance to bring some of that same emotional scale and sonic storytelling to their own work. 

This selection from WCPM includes performances in nearly a dozen languages and spans in-demand genres like K-pop, Bollywood, Afrobeat, and reggae. The collection also boasts nearly 8,000 songs across rap, rock, and country, three of the top 5 searched genres on the Soundstripe platform. Tracks in Soundstripe’s WCPM collection are easy to license via a simple subscription add-on or a la carte license. Creators can find and access these works directly on Soundstripe without any additional signups, new UIs to navigate, or logins to remember. 

“Creators can now get the genres, vocals, and cinematic builds they need. They don’t have to settle for ‘close enough,’ or search across and subscribe to multiple music platforms to find the right fit. They can get exactly what’s needed to tell their stories right through Soundstripe,” notes Perkins. “We can’t wait to hear what kinds of stories our creators will tell with this incredible music.”

About Soundstripe
Based in Nashville, Soundstripe is the premier music licensing company for creative industries. The company was founded in 2016 by three professional musicians as a subscription licensing service for freelancers, and has since expanded to serve the entire creator economy, advertising professionals, production companies, and large enterprises. The company has worked with over 1.5 million users globally, facilitated over 20 million licensed downloads, and its music has been streamed over 400 billion times across platforms. Soundstripe’s diverse library contains over 58,000 owned audio tracks, 100,000 sound effects, and 100,000 video clips, as well as tens of thousands of tracks from WCPM’s library.

About Warner Chappell Production Music 
Warner Chappell Production Music (WCPM) is a global leader in the production and custom music industry and a proud member of the Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell Music family. Together they share a commitment to inspire through music. WCPM’s hand-picked composers and artists have garnered GRAMMY, Emmy, Telly, Addy, and Promax Awards. 

With offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Nashville, Hamburg, Paris, Amsterdam, and São Paulo, WCPM releases hundreds of albums a year from all over the world across a variety of  popular genres, as well as orchestral, modern underscore, trailer music, sound design, and archival music. Their music has been heard in countless films and shows including Anora, The Righteous Gemstones, and The White Lotus, as well as in commercials for RAM, Verizon, Ocean Spray, and many more.

Soundstripe, the premier music licensing platform, is announcing that experienced sync and music executive Jelena Grozdanich is joining the company as Sync Director. In this new role, Grozdanich will represent Soundstripe’s extensive catalog of high-quality, artist-made music for traditional sync placements in films, shows, trailers, ads, and more. Stewarded by Music VP Josh Collum and A&R Director Ashton Myers, traditional sync has grown into a significant business line at Soundstripe, expanding by 150% YoY in 2024 alone. 

“Soundstripe is building one of the most inspiring music libraries by empowering independent artists and fueling authentic storytelling across all visual media,” Grozdanich says. “I’m excited to champion a community where real artistry drives creative opportunities and helps musicians thrive.”

Grozdanich’s career has been marked by a penchant for creativity, a deep understanding of what music supervisors and artists need, and a passion for blending art and business. After a decade at Sony Music Entertainment/Columbia Records, where she helped shape the company’s global sync strategy, she became Vice President of Music at FivePointFive, an on-demand breathwork app. She also founded her own talent management firm, Guardian MGMT, and wellness community, TheSecret.LA. Over the course of her career, she has worked with a wide range of artists including Beyoncé, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Styles, Hozier, Tyler, The Creator, and Miley Cyrus. She has placed music in TV shows (The Bear, Love Island, Euphoria, and Ted Lasso), in films (John Wick: Chapter 4), in video games (Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto), and in ads and promos (Apple TV+, HBO Max, ESPN, and TikTok). 

Her deep industry connections and devotion to music have made Grozdanich an ideal fit for this new role. “With the growth we’ve seen in our traditional sync business, it was time to find someone who could really lean in and drive continued sustainable growth,” explains Josh Collum, VP of Music at Soundstripe. “We were searching for someone music supervisors could rely on, who would keep our 58,000+ high-quality audio tracks at the forefront in fresh, creative ways, and who leads with an artist-first approach. That’s exactly who Jelena is.”

Grozdanich’s creativity is coupled with a grasp of what music and media professionals need most. “Music supervisors, creative directors, and producers are looking for the simplest, most efficient process,” Grozdanich notes. “We’re coming to them with really incredible music from real people that’s simple to transfer into their medium, whether that’s a commercial, a show, or a trailer. They want a seamless process and a premium experience. Only Soundstripe can do both, and I’m excited to be a part of this talented team.” 

About Jelena Grozdanich
Jelena Grozdanich (YELL-eh-nuh GROWS-duh-nitch) is a music industry leader with over a decade-long track record of turning creative vision into cultural impact. She has built a career at the intersection of art, commerce, and storytelling—securing high-profile placements for some of the biggest names in music including Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan across film, television, video games, and digital platforms that resonate far beyond the screen. She most recently served as Vice President of Music at FivePointFive, a science-led welltech company, where she oversaw music strategy for its on-demand breathwork platform. Before that, she spent 10 years at Sony Music Entertainment and Columbia Records, rising to Director in the film and TV licensing division and helping shape the global sync strategy for some of the world’s most influential artists. At Sony, she was also a founding board member and VP of Wellful, Sony’s employee wellness group. Beyond her corporate achievements, Grozdanich founded Guardian MGMT, a talent management firm, and TheSecret.LA, a philanthropic wellness community. Equal parts strategist, curator, and connector, she is known for pairing impeccable taste with an instinct for where culture is headed next.

About Soundstripe
Based in Nashville, Soundstripe is the premier music licensing company for  creative industries. The company was founded in 2016 by three professional musicians as a subscription licensing service for freelancers, and has since expanded to serve the entire creator economy, advertising professionals, production companies, and large enterprises. The company has worked with over 1.5 million users globally, facilitated over 20 million licensed downloads, and its music has been streamed over 400 billion times across platforms. Soundstripe’s diverse catalog contains over 58,000 owned audio tracks, 100,000 sound effects, and 100,000 video clips. 

Thanks to Supe, Soundstripe’s just-launched AI search assistant, the first of its kind, creatives can now find the right track for every project faster. Shorthand for music supervisor—the expert whose comprehensive musical knowledge gets projects over the finish line—this new feature joins an entire AI-powered toolkit, including AI Song Editing, right in the platform. It furthers Soundstripe’s vision to unite world-class music by real artists with powerful tools to find, customize, and license it, making content creation easier for everyone from in-house and agency creatives to freelancers, filmmakers, and influencers.

An interactive assistant users can chat with in natural language, Supe continuously refines results in response. It’s multimodal, meaning users can upload a simple text prompt, an entire creative brief, or still images that capture the feel of what they’re looking for.

“Our customers consistently tell us how hard it is to describe precisely what they want to hear when they’re working furiously on a project, but Supe is specifically tailored to help you find exactly what you want,” says Trevor Hinesley, Co-Founder and CTO of Soundstripe. “Supe works like an experienced music supervisor who has an encyclopedic knowledge of music, who can ask the right questions, and who can find the perfect vibe and sound fast. We’ve been testing this agent with a subset of our customers to refine its capabilities, and it’s already proved that it helps creatives discover exactly the right song, even when they might not know how to articulate that from the outset.”

This process is simple and resolves a major bottleneck for creatives, the extensive time it takes to find that one perfect track—a problem cited by 70% of agency and freelance creators according to a recent Soundstripe survey. Supe acts as a knowledgeable partner that instantly and dynamically returns results from Soundstripe’s wide-ranging catalog of over 50,000 tracks by Grammy-winning musicians. It does more than respond to one-and-done prompts; it asks astute questions designed to serve users more nuanced results. If the results aren’t quite there, creatives can refine things conversationally—“Can you slow it down?” “More piano, please!” or “I like this track but need something without vocals.”—and get to the best track in a fraction of the time.

This new AI search assistant is the latest in an expanding toolkit of AI-powered features and capabilities, all designed to make it easier and more inspiring to find, customize, and license music. AI has long played a key role in Soundstripe’s search, tagging fresh tracks with rich metadata to surface better results and letting users discover similar songs at the click of a button. Once users find a track they love, they can use Soundstripe’s pioneering AI Song Editing tool to cut or extend it to the perfect length in seconds. There’s evidence that these creatives are striking musical gold: those who use AI Song Editing download 200% more tracks and come back to Soundstripe 200% more than those who don't.

Now, thanks to more intuitive, interactive search, that workflow is even more streamlined. “Our community is using our AI tools and finding them extremely helpful, we’ve discovered," reflects Hinesley. “They want music made by real artists, but find that AI has an important role to play in making music discovery, customization, and licensing easy. The combination of human expression and AI efficiency is the real sweet spot for creatives.”

About Soundstripe
Based in Nashville, Soundstripe is the premier music licensing company for the creative industries. The company was founded in 2016 by three professional musicians as a subscription licensing service for freelancers, and has since expanded to serve the creator economy and advertising professionals. The company has served over one million users globally and facilitated more than 20 million licensed downloads. Soundstripe’s diverse catalog contains over 50,000 owned audio tracks, 95,000 sound effects, and 100,000 video clips.

Soundstripe, the Nashville-based music licensing solution for creatives, agencies, and brands, has acquired The Rights, a technology startup founded in 2021, to streamline the sync licensing process for music labels, publishers, and supervisors. The acquisition will help Soundstripe accelerate its development of the music industry’s most robust click-to-license platform, slated to launch in the first half of 2025.

Founded by music tech industry veterans Tres Williams and Keatly Haldeman, The Rights has built an innovative technology platform that simplifies and automates the arduous process of fulfilling sync licensing requests. The platform also provides tools for rights holders to set pricing and secure approvals from multiple parties in a single transaction. 

“The Rights and Soundstripe share a deep commitment to empowering creatives and rights holders with solutions that make music licensing faster, easier, and more accessible,” said Soundstripe co-founder Travis Terrell. ”This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our shared mission to simplify and scale the licensing process for everyone involved.” 

“We are thrilled to bring our innovative technology platform to Soundstripe and its large user base of creators, agencies, and brands,” said Tres Williams, founder and CEO of The Rights, who will join Soundstripe in an advisory role. “Combining forces will accelerate our mutual goal of unlocking music licensing at scale, allowing artists and rightsholders to benefit from the increasing demand for sync licensing in online media, advertising, podcasts, and other creative productions.”

This acquisition follows Soundstripe’s November announcement that it is partnering with music tech companies Orfium, Tuned Global, Music Reports, and Cyanite to expand its music licensing platform. The advanced metadata ingestion and automation tools built by The Rights will complement these integrations and enable a seamless licensing experience for music from Soundstripe’s growing slate of new rightsholder partners.

“By combining The Rights’ innovative technology with Soundstripe’s scale and expertise, we’re creating the music industry’s most robust ‘click-to-license’ platform, set to launch this spring,” said Angela Abbott, Soundstripe’s Global Head of Music Partnerships. “This platform will provide rights holders with a seamless, transparent solution while unlocking meaningful revenue opportunities for their music makers, reflecting our long-term commitment to empowering artists, publishers, and labels with tools that drive sustainable success in the evolving world of sync.”

About Soundstripe
Soundstripe is the premier music licensing company for everyone from independent creators and small businesses to international brands and agencies. Founded in Nashville in 2016 by three professional musicians as a platform to support freelancers, Soundstripe has expanded to serve filmmakers, in-house and agency marketing professionals, and other creatives worldwide.  Soundstripe has facilitated more than 18 million licensed downloads for over one million users globally. 

Soundstripe caters to some of the industry's leading brands including Microsoft, Pepsico, and Nike. It also has provided music for some of the most innovative teams in film and television, such as the Soundstripe-exclusive cover recently featured in Season 3 of Bridgerton. Soundstripe artists have collectively won 12 GRAMMYs, achieved 30 certified-Gold/Platinum records, and landed four Billboard #1s.

About The Rights
The Rights is a leading innovator in the music industry, dedicated to eradicating the friction inherent in music licensing. As former Head Of Business Affairs for iHeartMedia, The Rights founder & CEO Tres Williams licensed songs for countless projects and directly experienced the dysfunction endemic to the sync industry. Keatly Haldeman, President, The Rights, was co-founder and CEO of Dequency, the world’s first web3 sync marketplace, and co-founder and CEO of Riptide Music Group.