This AI-powered startup helping content creators avoid copyright infringement

Music licensing marketplace Hoopr allows video creators and businesses to license royalty-free music for ads, videos, and films. Keeping in mind the diverse needs of creators, the platform specifically works with composers to bring in local/regional flavours and have created tracks that are unique and aligned with the requirements of content. Meghna Mittal, Co-founder & CMO, Hoopr.ai in an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz, says, "we're actively working on the supply side of things too wherein we're sourcing music from great musicians, composers, and producers across India. We also plan on sharing royalties with them so that they are compensated for their creations. In many ways, this will expand the avenues from where musicians, composers, and producers can earn money."

How has been the journey for Hoopr.ai?

We have built Hoopr with a lot of grit, tenacity, and determination. The venture is the result of our unique vision for boosting the prospects of the creator economy in India. I along with my co-founder Gaurav Dagaonkar have been closely associated with the creator economy and now with the flagship platform Hoopr, we are ready to bring transformative change to the music industry. While I have been overseeing the entire marketing and customer acquisition operations at Hoopr, Gaurav with his strong background in music is taking care of the creative facets of the business.

The journey so far has been very exciting and full of learning for us. We're proud of the fact that we've built something very unique which has received unprecedented love and support from all the stakeholders in the music industry, especially from music creators and users. In fact, within eight weeks of its launch, more than 6,000 users signed up and started using the platform. Also, we're excited about the team that is working on various facets of Hoopr which includes music curation, understanding customers, and driving growth for the brand. We are very confident about the future of music licensing in India and firmly believe that Hoopr will soon become a one-stop destination for all music licensing and buying needs in future.

When was the startup conceived and why?

Gaurav and I also run a niche music-content studio called 'Songfest', that conceptualizes and creates music IPs for brands. And at one such occasion, while working on one of the campaigns, we required an Indian track that could reflect the regional essence of the visuals. Well, to our surprise, we could not find this on any of the international platforms, which have been essentially operating in the soundtracking business for a while.

And a more astonishing fact was that - we're looking at a country with a combined value of $15 billion if you put together the film, television, advertising, and music industries, and strangely not a single music licensing marketplace was focused on creating music for India/regional content. We ultimately resorted to our network of musicians to create the track, which - Gave us limited options to choose from and the turnaround time & costs ended up being unaffordable.

A deep dive into this problem of sourcing the right music for Indian content, led us to this larger opportunity. With the number of content creators in India projected to reach 100 million by 2025, we realized that these video creators also want to have access to a library that can give them today's Indian music that resonates with their target audiences as well and help them accentuate their videos that could drive a higher engagement. And all this while solving an associated problem of copyright claims! Which by the way one of India's top influencers; Anushka Sen got when she used one of our songs which she featured in. She received a copyright claim for using that song in a promotional video that was published on YouTube and requested a license copy to get it released. While we all knew it was a collaborative effort and she was using it rightfully, we wondered if there was a way to generate a license instantly for the said use case.

Upon a detailed market research and speaking to potential users, we were sure of this demand and we decided to build a platform that could solve this problem for video creators, filmmakers, brands, podcasters, production houses etc. while also giving an opportunity to Indian musicians to explore a new source of revenue for their music.

What is the problem that Hoopr is trying to solve?

The fundamental issue of copyright infringement can lead to legal trouble for content creators. The infringement can also damage the reputation of content creators and bring financial losses to their doorsteps. Hoopr is incorporated with the aim of solving these issues and by offering a solution that addresses not only the root case but also helps build synergistic alliances in other areas. Firstly, because we offer licensed music to content creators, they don't have to worry about copyright strikes and can create more content knowing that their videos won't be taken down due to legal issues on the music front. Secondly, this will help pave the way for many of these creators to become a part of the creator economy. Hoopr, along with licensing music, also help users to select the best soundtrack and music for their content; this will ensure that even though creators are using fully licensed music, the variety and quality of music on offer does not suffer. Lastly, we're actively working on the supply side of things too wherein we're sourcing music from great musicians, composers, and producers across India. We also plan on sharing royalties with them so that they are compensated for their creations. In many ways, this will expand the avenues from where musicians, composers, and producers can earn money.

What is the USP of the startup. How is it different from its competitors?

There are many different capabilities that set us apart from the competition. Firstly, Hoopr is designed to offer a large volume and a wide variety of music to content creators. Keeping in mind the diverse needs of creators, we've specifically worked with composers to bring in local/regional flavours and have created tracks that are unique and aligned with the requirements of content. Secondly, we are proud of our value-for-money proposition that allows creators to have access to our diverse range of music libraries at unbelievably affordable prices. The platform is committed to the cause of content creators and by keeping prices affordable, we believe we are contributing to the content creation ecosystem. Another distinguishing feature of Hoopr is the wide range of playlists offered by the platform to content creators. Creators can choose from use cases, moods, genres, and sound effects and this variety makes the Hoopr a one-stop solution for all music needs of content creators. In Sum, Hoopr has been specifically founded to meet the needs and aspirations of new-age content creators in India who want to make the most of the social media platforms without entangling them in copyright infringement issues.

What are future plans of Hoopr?

The future belongs to the creator economy and we at Hoopr are very confident about solving the problems of content creators through the use of innovative tools and technologies. In terms of our future focus, we are striving to become a large-scale platform that will revolutionize the music licensing industry by offering musicians and content creators an ideal platform for interaction. We are also expanding our database to incorporate a wider variety of music and tracks that take into consideration the preferences of creators and emerging trends. This expanded scope will bring enormous benefits to creators and help the entire ecosystem of the music industry to flourish in the long run.