Downtown's AdRev takes control of France's data and analytics firm Simbals

By Emmanuel Legrand

AdRev, a subsidiary of Downtown Music Holdings's division AVL Group, has acquired Simbals, a French music analytics and technology company. Prior to the acquisition, Simbals served as a key technology partner for AdRev.

  Simbals uses industry-leading audio fingerprinting technology and advanced machine learning and AI techniques to better identify audio content across platforms, including TV, film, radio, streaming platforms, and live performance. 

   The acquisition, the financial details of which have not been disclosed, will allow AdRev "to better provide fair usage of music compositions and reporting at scale, across platforms," said the company. 

Accurate and fair reporting

  Simbals was started in 2012 by three researchers from the University of Bordeaux: Matthias Robine, Founder, Researcher and Product Director; Pierre Hanna, Founder, Researcher and Director of Research and Development; and Pascal Ferraro, Founder, Researcher and President. Simbals's team will join the AdRev team, and will "study and develop new ways to apply audio identification and analysis to better serve the music ecosystem."

  Simbals’ patented audio fingerprinting technology and machine learning-driven analytics will be integrated into AdRev’s existing technology used by audio rights holders "to ensure fair and accurate usage and reporting at scale." Future applications of Simbals's research could include music creation, storage, archiving, and more. 

  Simbals’ audio content recognition enables the accurate identification at scale of music used in various video and audio formats, such as TV, film, and radio, as well as in live performances or on streaming platforms.

Collaborative relationship

  "Matthias, Pascal, Pierre and Florian [Iragne, CTO] have built an incredible suite of technology and tools that help empower a thriving, democratic music ecosystem,” said Noah Becker, Founder and President of AdRev. "With the new user generated content platforms regularly emerging, and the need for platforms to meet the changing demands of copyright legislation around the world, the technology developed by Simbals is more important than ever. The entire Simbals team are brilliant, humble, and hard working, and I couldn't be more pleased to officially welcome them to AdRev."

  “All of us at Simbals are excited to build on our existing, collaborative relationship with AdRev," commented Robine. "We develop innovative solutions for automatic audio identification, personalised music recommendation and prediction of music-related trends. AdRev is the perfect partner to grow and provide our disruptive solutions to the global music industry.”