From stage to startup: Seattle musician launches AI platform to link artists with visual creators

Seattle musician Danny Newcomb launched Incantio this week, a startup leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a platform for musicians and creators to self-license their catalogs.

Incantio acts as a marketplace for artists to license their material and for creators to discover subscribers’ music for use in new projects.

“Our platform allows musicians, composers, songwriters, and sound artists to directly offer their work to visual creators,” Incantio said. “Set your own prices, get paid directly, and retain full ownership of your non-exclusive catalog.”

Seattle musician’s reasoning behind Incantio

Newcomb relayed his desire for continued growth in the independent music market and the importance of self-licensed catalogs for musicians.

“Half of the global music market is now independent,” Newcomb said, according to GeekWire. “And those artists don’t have access to self-license into a catalog where they can price and manage their own rights.”

Three record labels currently dominate the music market, holding a majority share of the music recording and publishing industry.

Sony Music Publishing (25%), Universal Music Publishing (23%), and Warner Chappell Music (12%) collectively shared 60% of published music revenue in 2022 and 2023, with the remaining 40% attributed to independent artists, according to Music and Copyright,

“Part of (Incantio), for me, is a way of creating an open platform where artists can set the value of their digital rights for licensing and gain some of that value back,” Newcomb said, stated GeekWire.

The musical expertise of Danny Newcomb

Newcomb has played in several Seattle bands, including Shadow, The Rockfords, Sugarmakers, and Goodness.

“I started every band I’ve ever been in,” Newcomb said, laughing, according to GeekWire. “So, yeah, (Incantio) does feel like that.”

Newcomb compared Seattle’s deep music recording history to a lack of focus on publishing.

“(Newcomb) called Seattle a music town, but said it’s not a ‘music publishing town,’” Newcomb told GeekWire.

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