Music Story

What Music Story does

Music Story SAS is a French music metadata and integration services provider founded in 2008 and headquartered in Villeneuve d'Ascq, near Lille. The company curates and licenses a proprietary catalog of music metadata covering more than 30 million tracks, 640,000 artists, 3.57 million releases, 155,000 artist images, and 2.25 million album covers, augmented through partnerships with LyricFind (lyrics across 200 geographies and 33 languages), Muso.AI (verified credits for 192.5 million ISRCs and 47.5 million albums), Simbals (audio fingerprinting and ML-powered mood descriptors), and Getty Images (visual content). Content is produced by a global editorial community spanning 40 countries and 12 languages, which functions as a human-in-the-loop quality layer on top of the automated matching and normalization infrastructure.

The core product is the Music Story API, accessed via the Metadata Monitor platform, which permanently maps Music Story IDs to external identifiers across major streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Napster, SoundCloud), industry registries (ISNI, ISRC, EAN/UPC), and social networks (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter). Around this core, Music Story sells modular add-ons—image and biography licenses, Muso.AI credits, LyricFind lyrics, recommendation engine feeds, Simbals audio descriptors, and frameworks for content source benchmarking—plus professional integration services delivered by engineers who embed inside client development teams. Customers include Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer, Universal Music Group, LiveOne, Qobuz, SeatGeek, Sacem, Sony, Sonos, LG, Line Music, LyricFind, SoundExchange, and Fender.

Music Story generates revenue primarily through B2B licensing of its normalized, rights-cleared metadata catalog and through professional services fees for catalog cleansing, enrichment, and ongoing coverage monitoring. Pricing is not publicly disclosed but follows a freemium API evaluation tier paired with annual enterprise subscriptions priced per catalog size and service level. The company is privately held, founder-owned (CEO Jean-Luc Biaulet), and has no disclosed institutional funding, M&A activity, or parent company.

Name

Music Story

Legal name

Music Story SAS

Website

https://music-story.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Music Story provides B2B music metadata, licensing, and integration services to digital music platforms, streaming services, consumer electronics companies, and rights organizations, delivered via API and supported by a global editorial team spanning 40 countries and 12 languages.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Metadata API

NAICS

Music Publishers (51223), Other Sound Recording Industries (51229)

SIC

Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Rights Data, Metadata, Identifier & Repertoire Management (ISWC/ISRC/IPI, Matching) (MPAIAKAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Music Recognition, Lyrics & Metadata Platforms (MPAIADAK), Copyright Registration & Catalog Management (Metadata, ISWC/ISRC Linking) (MPAIABAC)

Keywords

• Music metadata services
• Metadata licensing
• Music API integration
• Audio fingerprinting
• Catalog enrichment

Headquarters

HQ city

Hellemmes-lille

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Music Metadata Licensing and API Access: Music Story provides music metadata solutions including tracks (30M+), artists (640K+), releases (3.57M+), artist images (155K+), cover art (2.25M+), audio descriptors, and recommendation data through API access and licensing agreements. Revenue is generated through B2B licensing of proprietary metadata catalog, including normalized, cleared, and licensed content for integration into customer platforms.
2. Integration Services: Professional services for complete design and implementation, project management, and metadata processing. Includes dedicated project teams, technical support with SLA monitoring, catalog cleansing and enrichment, coverage monitoring, and quality assurance. Revenue generated through service fees for technical expertise and ongoing support engagements.
3. Specialized Content Licensing (LyricFind Partnership): Through partnership with LyricFind, Music Story offers lyric licenses covering 5M+ songs and 3M+ recordings, available for 200 geographies in 33 languages, time-synced and translated into 7 languages.
4. Verified Credits and Featured Artists (Muso.AI Partnership): Partnership with Muso.AI provides verified credits covering 192.5M ISRCs and 47.5M+ albums, including roles for artist, songwriter, musician, producer, engineer, visual, management, organization with exclusive B2B license.
5. Image, Cover Art, and Biography Licenses: Licenses for artist images, cover art, and biographies through relationships with major labels and Getty Images. Covers 2.25M+ album covers and 155K+ artist images with worldwide licenses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Music Story provides customized music metadata, licenses, and integration services to digital music platforms, streaming services, and consumer electronics companies. Its core deliverable is the Music Story API, which exposes a proprietary catalog of 30M+ tracks, 640K+ artists, 3.57M+ releases, artist images, cover art, lyrics, verified credits, audio descriptors, and recommendation data. The company complements its API with professional integration services, working as an extension of client engineering teams to deliver cleared, normalized, device-optimized metadata.

Product overview

Music Story is a music metadata solutions provider operating as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The core product is the Music Story API, which enables integration of music metadata into any environment. This core API is complemented by the Metadata Monitor platform for API access. The product portfolio includes specialized licensing modules for images/cover art/biographies (via Getty and direct label relationships), Muso.AI credit licenses for verified artist credits, and LyricFind licenses for synchronized lyrics. Additional modules include recommendation engines for music discovery, external ID matching across major music platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc.), Simbals-powered audio processing for fingerprinting and mood analysis, and frameworks for content source accuracy assessment. The company also provides data feed support and integration services with dedicated technical support and SLA monitoring.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Music Story API The Music Story API streamlines integration of music metadata into customer systems across every context and environment, enabling fast access to Music Story's catalog of tracks, artists, releases, images, lyrics, credits, and recommendation data. It is designed for enterprise digital music platforms and consumer electronics companies.
• Metadata Monitor Platform Metadata Monitor is the platform through which users can subscribe to access Music Story's metadata services and integration capabilities. It provides a free API account with limited calls for exploring the API, supporting self-service evaluation by prospective enterprise customers.
• Music Story Integration Services Music Story provides professional integration services including complete design and implementation, project management, catalog cleansing and enrichment, coverage monitoring, and quality assurance. Music Story's engineering teams work as an extension of client development teams to deliver faster, more accurate, and less expensive metadata integrations.
• Image, Cover Art and Biography Licenses Licensing offering for more than 155,000 artist images and more than 2.25 million album covers, alongside artist biographies available in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Japanese. Content is licensed worldwide through long-standing relationships with major labels and Getty Images.
• Muso.AI Credit Licenses Verified featured and credited artist data provided through the Muso.AI partnership, covering 192.5 million ISRCs and more than 47.5 million albums. Includes roles for artist, songwriter, musician, producer, engineer, visual, management, and organization, integrated with Music Story IDs.
• LyricFind Lyric Licenses Licensed lyrics provided through the LyricFind partnership, covering more than five million songs and three million recordings. Lyrics are available for 200 geographies in 33 different languages, with time-synced lyrics translated into seven languages and integrated with Music Story IDs.
• Recommendation Engines Music recommendation systems providing song-level descriptors including related artists and songs, genre classifications, release dates, and audio descriptors for danceability and vocals versus instrumentals. Includes guaranteed coverage for the most popular songs played on client platforms.
• External ID Matching Service External identifier matching service that permanently integrates Music Story's database with third-party platforms and identifiers including Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, Napster, SoundCloud, MusicBrainz, Discogs, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, ISNI, ISRC, and EAN/UPC, ensuring accurate content association and license clarity.
• Simbals Audio Processing Audio fingerprinting and identification solution offered through the Simbals partnership, providing complete audio identification and recommendations including fingerprint calculation with high recognition rates in short acquisition times. Includes low-level descriptors (tempo, volume) and high-level descriptors (music vs speech, vocals vs instrumentals), with mood and theme descriptors powered by machine learning.
• Frameworks for Assessing Accuracy Technical frameworks that help customers evaluate the accuracy of content sources and determine the best sources to meet their objectives, including quality control and benchmarking for metadata from different sources.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30M+ tracks, 640K+ artists, 3.57M+ releases in catalog
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration21 records

AI capability5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, strategic and minor.

• LyricFindcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership provides lyric licenses covering more than five million songs and three million recordings. Lyrics available for 200 geographies and in 33 different languages, time-synced and translated into seven languages. Integrated with Music Story IDs and traceable for display. This partnership extends Music Story's content offerings with comprehensive lyric data.
• Muso.AIcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership provides verified credits covering 192.5 million ISRCs and more than 47.5 million albums. Includes roles for artist, songwriter, musician, producer, engineer, visual, management, organization and more. Exclusive B2B license granted by Music Story, integrated with Music Story IDs.
• SimbalscoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership for audio processing and fingerprinting. Provides complete solution for audio identification and recommendations including fingerprint calculation with high recognition rates in short acquisition times. Offers audio descriptors for tempo, volume, music vs speech, vocals vs instrumentals, and mood/theme descriptors powered by machine learning.
• Getty ImagesstrategicTechnology or IntegrationLong-standing relationship with Getty Images as source for artist images and other valuable metadata. Getty Images provides high-quality visual content that Music Story licenses to customers as part of their metadata catalog.
• OVH SASminorOthersWebsite hosting by OVH SAS, 2 rue Kellermann, 59100 Roubaix, France. Hosting type: OVH Cloud Compute (France).
• bunny.netminorOthersAdditional CDN infrastructure provided by bunny.net (Slovenia) to optimize website performance and content delivery.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Gracenote: Gracenote (owned by Nielsen) is the most established music metadata provider globally, delivering artist, track, cover art, lyrics, and credit data to streaming services, broadcasters, and CE manufacturers — directly comparable to Music Story's core catalog and licensing business.
• MusicBrainz: MusicBrainz is a community-maintained open music encyclopedia covering artists, releases, and ISRC/ISNI identifiers. Music Story explicitly integrates with MusicBrainz, making it both a peer in music metadata and an upstream complement in the ecosystem.
• Discogs: Discogs is a large crowdsourced database of music releases with detailed metadata, credits, and identifiers. Music Story permanently matches its IDs against Discogs, positioning it as a parallel metadata catalog with overlapping commercial and community dynamics.
• Musixmatch: Musixmatch is the largest lyrics platform with global licensing rights and deep integrations with streaming services — directly comparable to Music Story's LyricFind-based lyric licensing module and overlapping B2B catalog ambitions.
• BMAT Music Identifiers: BMAT provides audio fingerprinting, music identification, and rights/usage reporting across broadcast and digital platforms — directly comparable to Music Story's Simbals-powered audio identification and audio-descriptor capabilities.
• Audible Magic: Audible Magic is a leading audio identification and content recognition vendor serving streaming, UGC platforms, and rights organizations — comparable to Music Story on fingerprinting, identification, and rights-aligned metadata.

Emerging players

• Chartmetric: Chartmetric aggregates streaming, social, and radio data for artists and labels with analytics-driven dashboards — an emerging player serving the music industry with metadata-adjacent intelligence, partially overlapping Music Story's data licensing value proposition.
• Viberate: Viberate curates artist and release data plus analytics for the global music industry — an emerging niche vendor with comparable catalog and metadata ambitions to Music Story's artist- and release-centric catalog.

Broad incumbents

• Spotify (The Echo Nest): The Echo Nest, now part of Spotify, was the pioneering recommendation and metadata engine for music. As a broad incumbent, Spotify/Echo Nest represents the largest integrated competitor in music metadata and recommendation — a comparable reference point for Music Story's market.
• Nielsen (Gracenote parent): Nielsen, via Gracenote, is the dominant incumbent in music and entertainment metadata — broad incumbent with overlapping capabilities covering music, TV, and sports metadata, with deep streaming and CE relationships comparable to Music Story's customer base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/music_story

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Music Story