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Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

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Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#51

Post by kisstheblade »

samschooler wrote: post #27
ttoinou wrote: post #22

Didn't know the app. I can only see compilation videos on youtube. What does the app do exactly ? It remaps the time of the video to match/sync lips with the lyrics, that's it ? Does the user has any other control on the result ? Thanks.

Basically a user chooses an audio track (this can be a wide variety of things. YouTube video, song, or other pop culture track, or silence), then they click record. The track is played and they can either match their lips or actions or both to the track. This simple style of recording tends to create some pretty impressive videos. Musical.ly took this and made it into a platform similar to Instagram or Vine. Here are…

Ok clicked this and a truly shocking amount of young girls in very little clothing. Don't know what this app does other than to get teens to pose sexy for youtube. Which is of course very nice, nothing wrong with that. "Women" need to "own" their sexuality as I learned on HN when the Maker-person was up for debate.

Edit: check the talent on these videos, wow! Hopefully I can see these in adult videos when they come of age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbNTm21H2UA

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#52

Post by coryl »

spmurrayzzz wrote: post #48
loxs wrote: post #38

WTF. Is 1B even a meaningful number any more. I literally hear about these guys for the first time.

This has turned into a very well-curated A&R scouting platform. The valuation isn't surprising to me at all.

Do music/entertainment companies even scout anymore? Seems like a redundant role, given music publishing is largely dying out as well.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#53

Post by philfrasty »

While $1B is certainly a lot of money this is the first time (in a long time) I would have rather seen the founder not sell. Musically has a very unique approach to encourage and enable users to create content that I have not seen on any other platform (challenges, smooth video creation process, etc). While I am certainly not in the target demographic I am sure we will see this approach in future (video)content platforms.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#54

Post by samschooler »

ttoinou wrote: post #33
samschooler wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically a user chooses an audio track (this can be a wide variety of things. YouTube video, song, or other pop culture track, or silence), then they click record. The track is played and they can either match their lips or actions or both to the track. This simple style of recording tends to create some pretty impressive videos. Musical.ly took this and made it into a platform similar to Instagram or Vine. Here are…

Thx. How does the "action matching" happens ? is automatic ? I can't see any screen recording of the app so I don't know

Nope, all of the movements and actions are up to the person recording. The app only plays the track, and records the video.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#55

Post by samschooler »

To understand why they have such a large valuation you need to understand that:

1. This is massive with the tween/teen market. That is why not many people understand its popularity; you either need to know a tween, or have one as a kid.

2. Musical.ly became Vine after Vine shutdown. The content moved from lip-synced videos to more of a mixure of vine-like videos and lip sync.

3. They currently have 60M monthly users, and as of now Musical.ly is still #58 on the App Store (they have been in the top charts for the past 2 years at least). Its hard to say people aren't using it when its above some large companies on the charts (Linkedin, Shazam, Dropbox).

4. Their influencer network is huge as well. Nearly every popular musical.ly star has some sort of swag from the company. Think about that in the tween's mind: you're just a normal kid going to your normal middle school with your normal friends, then a national company wants YOU to be a spokesman for the company. That is quite literally getting famous for these kids. At popular industry conferences like Vidcon, they literally are celebrities.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#56

Post by mistermann »

samschooler wrote: post #55

To understand why they have such a large valuation you need to understand that: 1. This is massive with the tween/teen market. That is why not many people understand its popularity; you either need to know a tween, or have one as a kid. 2. Musical.ly became Vine after Vine shutdown. The content moved from lip-synced videos to more of a mixure of vine-like videos and lip sync. 3. They currently have 60M monthly users,…

> This is massive with the tween/teen market. That is why not many people understand its popularity; you either need to know a tween, or have one as a kid.

So, so true. And as a result, some of these kids are not just "internet famous", but literally multi-millionaires.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#57

Post by NDizzle »

samschooler wrote: post #55

To understand why they have such a large valuation you need to understand that: 1. This is massive with the tween/teen market. That is why not many people understand its popularity; you either need to know a tween, or have one as a kid. 2. Musical.ly became Vine after Vine shutdown. The content moved from lip-synced videos to more of a mixure of vine-like videos and lip sync. 3. They currently have 60M monthly users,…

I have a tween/teen, but I don't let her use apps like this.

Have you taken a look at it? Maybe I'm turning into an uptight old man, but it's not a good idea, knowing what I do about the internet.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#58

Post by cromon »

coryl wrote: post #52
spmurrayzzz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has turned into a very well-curated A&R scouting platform. The valuation isn't surprising to me at all.

Do music/entertainment companies even scout anymore? Seems like a redundant role, given music publishing is largely dying out as well.

Music publishing is bigger than ever, Kobalt just got $600m to spend on copyrights.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#59

Post by spmurrayzzz »

coryl wrote: post #52
spmurrayzzz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has turned into a very well-curated A&R scouting platform. The valuation isn't surprising to me at all.

Do music/entertainment companies even scout anymore? Seems like a redundant role, given music publishing is largely dying out as well.

This article is a little dated, but dives into the engagement model and the multivariate role the app plays: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdbxxn/the-social-media-a...

Publishers have successfully been able to increase metrics like Spotify and YouTube plays with exposure via the app. Its one of the few examples in the creative/publishing industry thats great for both the artists and the publishers alike.

Re: Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1B

#60

Post by ttoinou »

samschooler wrote: post #54
ttoinou wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thx. How does the "action matching" happens ? is automatic ? I can't see any screen recording of the app so I don't know

Nope, all of the movements and actions are up to the person recording. The app only plays the track, and records the video.

Wow that's weird because the movements of the persons in the video don't seem natural at all
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