Calliope Networks
Calliope Networks aggregates and licenses 35,000+ hours of curated, globally diverse audiovisual content to generative-AI companies for model training, while paying royalties to film/TV rights holders and creators via its License to Scrape program.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Calliope Networks does
Calliope Networks is a Los Angeles-based, private audiovisual rights and data intermediary founded in 2024 and acquired by Protege in 2025. The company aggregates licensed movies, TV series, news, and other video content for sale to generative-AI companies for use in model training, evaluation, and benchmarking. Its core product is a TV and film catalog of more than 35,000 hours of globally diverse content — spanning six continents in 4K and 3D formats — sourced from rights holders on a revenue-share/royalty basis with non-exclusive licensing terms that preserve the rights holders' existing exhibition rights.
The second product, branded "License to Scrape," is a voluntary collective licensing service that lets creators on YouTube and other platforms authorize AI companies to scrape and use their videos for training in exchange for compensation tied to volume and subscriber count. Calliope negotiates deals with AI companies on behalf of creators and rights holders, paying out the majority of receipts as royalties. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Dave Davis (formerly CCO at Motion Picture Licensing Corporation with senior roles at NBCUniversal, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox) and CTO and co-founder Jim Golden (formerly CDO at the Rockefeller Foundation). Distribution is exclusively direct and enterprise-led: B2B licensing contracts with AI model developers on one side and revenue-share partnerships with content rights holders and creators on the other. Following the 2025 acquisition, Calliope operates as part of Protege, an AI data platform backed by Andreessen Horowitz.
Calliope Networks firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Calliope Networks
- Legal name
- Calliope Networks
- Website
- https://calliopenetworks.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Calliope Networks aggregates and licenses 35,000+ hours of curated, globally diverse audiovisual content to generative-AI companies for model training, while paying royalties to film/TV rights holders and creators via its License to Scrape program.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Calliope Networks industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Training Data Licensing
- NAICS
- Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121), Broadcasting and Content Providers (516), Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)
- SIC
- Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Distribution (7822), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Music & Audio Streaming Platforms (BPAMAJAC)
Keywords
Where Calliope Networks is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Calliope Networks business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- AI Training Data Licensing: Licensing audiovisual content (movies, TV series, news) to generative-AI companies for model training purposes. AI model training licenses are non-exclusive and do not include exhibition rights.
- Content Owner Revenue Share: Operating on a revenue-share basis with rights holders. Calliope negotiates deals with AI companies on behalf of content owners and pays the majority share as royalties to rights holders.
- Creator Economy License to Scrape: Voluntary collective license model for YouTube and platform creators that compensates them based on volume and subscriber count when AI companies use their content for training.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels2 records
Calliope Networks product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Calliope Networks aggregates and licenses audiovisual content (movies, TV series, news, including 4K and 3D formats) to generative-AI companies for model training. Its core deliverables are a TV and film catalog with more than 35,000 hours of diverse global content from six continents and the "License to Scrape" voluntary collective licensing model, which lets creators on YouTube and other platforms authorize and receive compensation when AI companies use their content.
Product overview
Calliope Networks aggregates audiovisual content (movies, TV series, news) for licensing by generative-AI companies for model training. The platform consists of two main offerings: a TV and Film Catalog with over 35,000 hours of diverse global content in 4K and 3D formats, and the 'License to Scrape' service that enables creators to voluntarily authorize and monetize AI training use of their content. Calliope Networks was acquired by Protege in 2025.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- License to Scrape: A voluntary collective license model pioneered by Calliope Networks that enables creators on YouTube and other platforms to have more control over the use of their content for AI model training, with compensation based on volume and subscriber count.
Products and services
- TV and Film Catalog Audiovisual content catalog with more than 35,000 hours of TV and film content from six continents, including nature documentaries, travel programs, cooking shows, feature films, and TV series, offered in 4K and 3D formats for AI model training.
- License to Scrape Voluntary collective licensing service that lets creators on YouTube and other platforms authorize AI companies to use their videos for model training, with compensation paid to creators according to a formula based on volume and subscriber count.
Companies that use Calliope Networks
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Calliope Networks technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Calliope Networks partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Calliope Networks competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Shutterstock: Shutterstock has launched a contributor fund and AI licensing program that compensates creators for using their stock media to train generative AI models. It competes directly with Calliope in licensing visual content for AI training while paying underlying creators.
- CloudFactory: CloudFactory supplies AI training data through a managed workforce of data annotators serving ML teams. Comparable to Calliope as a third-party supplier of curated training data for AI developers, though focused on human-in-the-loop labeling.
- Defined.ai: Defined.ai operates an AI training data marketplace that aggregates licensed datasets (text, audio, image, video) for sale to AI developers. It is the closest direct competitor to Calliope's aggregation-and-licensing model for AI training data.
- Labelbox: Labelbox provides a data labeling and curation platform used by AI teams to build training datasets across modalities. It is comparable to Calliope as an AI training data supplier, though more oriented toward labeling workflows than content rights licensing.
- Getty Images: Getty Images runs a commercial AI training program (and has sued over unauthorized scraping) that licenses its stock library to AI developers with creator compensation. Directly comparable to Calliope's rights-holder-to-AI licensing motion.
- Surge AI: Surge AI provides high-quality labeled and curated datasets for training and evaluating frontier AI models, including multimodal/video data. Directly comparable as a specialized AI training data supplier targeting generative AI developers.
- Samasource (Sama): Sama provides high-quality training data and data annotation services, including video and image labeling for computer-vision and generative AI models. Directly comparable to Calliope as a training data supplier for AI labs.
Broad incumbents
- Scale AI: Scale AI is a large, well-funded AI data platform providing labeled datasets, evaluation, and fine-tuning services to foundation-model labs. It is broader than Calliope but competes for the same enterprise AI training data budget.
- Appen: Appen is an established data annotation and dataset provider serving major AI labs globally. It overlaps with Calliope in supplying training-ready data to AI developers but is a broader incumbent across text, image, audio, and video.
Emerging players
- Snorkel AI: Snorkel AI offers programmatic data labeling and dataset curation tooling for foundation-model training and evaluation. It overlaps with Calliope in supplying AI-ready datasets, but approaches the problem through software rather than content rights aggregation.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights1 record
Customer concentration
Calliope Networks social profiles
Digital presenceCalliope Networks financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Calliope Networks leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Calliope Networks funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Calliope Networks M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Calliope Networks
What does Calliope Networks do?
Calliope Networks aggregates and licenses audiovisual content (movies, TV series, news, including 4K and 3D formats) to generative-AI companies for model training. Its core deliverables are a TV and film catalog with more than 35,000 hours of diverse global content from six continents and the "License to Scrape" voluntary collective licensing model, which lets creators on YouTube and other platforms authorize and receive compensation when AI companies use their content.
Is Calliope Networks a public or private company?
Calliope Networks is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Calliope Networks founded?
Calliope Networks was founded in 2024. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Calliope Networks based?
Calliope Networks is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does Calliope Networks make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. AI Training Data Licensing is the primary driver. The others are content Owner Revenue Share and creator Economy License to Scrape.
Who are Calliope Networks's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Shutterstock, CloudFactory, Defined.ai, Labelbox, Getty Images, Surge AI and Samasource (Sama). Broad incumbents are Scale AI and Appen. Snorkel AI is listed as an emerging player.
Does Calliope Networks have an API?
No public API is recorded for Calliope Networks.
What industry is Calliope Networks in?
Calliope Networks's product category is AI Training Data Licensing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAC, Music & Audio Streaming Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5121 and its SIC code is 7822.