Gaming giant Roblox is doubling down on its music offerings as it seeks to become \u201ca destination for organic and immersive music discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday (September 6), at the annual Roblox<\/span> Developers Conference (RDC),<\/a> the platform announced three new music-related features.<\/p>\n First up, <\/strong>Roblox formally announced its DistroKid integration, which MBW broke the news about last month.<\/a> The partnership between Roblox and DistroKid <\/a>enables DK\u2019s artists to make their music available to Roblox\u2019s 80 million daily active users.<\/a><\/p>\n As reported last month, however, per the opt-in form obtained by MBW, indie artists signing up for the beta program \u201care granting rights for Roblox developers to use [their] music on a gratis basis\u201d.<\/p>\n In addition to the DistroKid integration, Roblox launched two other features also aimed at fueling on-platform music discovery: \u2018What\u2019s Playing\u2019 <\/b>and music charts<\/b>.<\/p>\n The upcoming What\u2019s Playing<\/strong> feature will allow users to discover music, identify songs, and \u201clike\u201d their favorites while playing games.<\/p>\n Based on these likes, Roblox will create music charts, which it plans to roll out in early 2025, to highlight popular artists, musicians, and audio experiences.<\/p>\n Amanda<\/b> Ferri<\/b>, Vice President of Marketing at DistroKid, described the new features as a \u201cmajor step forward for music discovery within one of the world\u2019s largest immersive platforms and digital communities\u201d.<\/p>\n Added Ferri: <\/b>\u201cRoblox is more than just a platform; it\u2019s a space where creativity and engagement happen on a global scale. With millions of games and experiences, we\u2019re excited to offer independent artists the option to have their music become part of the Roblox experience.\u201d<\/p>\n “With millions of games and experiences, we\u2019re excited to offer independent artists the option to have their music become part of the Roblox experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Amanda<\/b> Ferri<\/b>, DistroKid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Greg<\/b> Hartrell<\/b>, Senior Director of Product, Creator Services and Creator Content at Roblox, said: \u201cBy fostering an environment where music and creativity thrive, we want Roblox to be at the forefront of the next wave of digital music discovery and engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor artists, Roblox creates truly unique opportunities to deeply connect with a massive and engaged community and build up their fan base. By offering a variety of immersive and organic ways for users to discover music, both emerging and popular artists can deepen their connection with fans and create memorable moments that drive engagement on the platform.\u201d<\/p>\n “we want Roblox to be at the forefront of the next wave of digital music discovery and engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n Greg<\/b> Hartrell<\/b>, Roblox<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Roblox has become increasingly intertwined with the music industry in recent years. All three major music companies \u2014 Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, <\/b>and Sony Music<\/b> \u2014 have been involved in\u00a0<\/span>in-game events, promotions, and partnerships on the platform. After investing<\/a> in Roblox in 2021, Warner Music launched<\/a> Rhythm<\/b> City <\/b>in <\/b>2023, which it describes as \u201ca first-of-its-kind music-themed social roleplay experience\u201d on Roblox.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Universal Music launched<\/a> a music hub called Beat Galaxy <\/b>on Roblox in partnership with virtual world developer Supersocial<\/b> in December 2023. In March, Universal and Republic Records introduced a new feature called Boombox <\/b><\/a>on Roblox. This ad-supported music player allows labels to create playlists and integrate them into the gaming experience.<\/p>\n Sony Music also partnered<\/a> with Roblox in 2021 to bring its artists to the metaverse.<\/p>\n By the end of this year, Roblox said it plans to expand its music offerings, providing a wider catalog of music from multiple genres including electronic, pop, dance, rock, country, and rap\/hip hop.<\/p>\n DistroKid has previously\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0to be the \u201cworld\u2019s largest distributor of independent music\u201d and estimates that it distributes 30-40% of all new music in the world.<\/p>\n The company says that its platform is used by more than 2.5 million<\/strong> artists.<\/p>\n Three years ago, in August 2021, DistroKid accepted an investment from Insight Partners,\u00a0which valued the distribution platform at USD $1.3 billion.<\/a><\/p>\n Following that transaction, Boston-based growth equity firm\u00a0Silversmith Capital Partners<\/strong>, which\u00a0led DistroKid\u2019s first outside investment in 2018<\/a>, retained \u201ca meaningful ownership position\u201d and remained on DistroKid\u2019s board.<\/p>\n Spotify<\/a>\u00a0retained its\u00a0minority stake<\/a>\u00a0in DistroKid when it received the Insight Partners investment;\u00a0a few months later,\u00a0SPOT<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0offloaded two-thirds of its stake<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0$167 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gaming platform also formally announced its DistroKid integration at the Roblox Developers Conference (RDC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":210675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[129012],"class_list":["post-210638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-roblox"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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