YouTube acquires music startup BandPage

YouTube has acquired the online music platform BandPage. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor was there any mention of whether BandPage would be shuttered in the process.

BandPage is a marketing platform for musicians to connect with their fans and also promote their music on Facebook. Beyond the popular social network, BandPage also has a product called BandPage Everywhere that enables musicians to build a website and update their other promotional sites in just a few clicks. It’s likely that the value of the startup closely matched the synergies of YouTube — an artist can post their music video on the Google-owned social network and then have it instantly distributed to other online sites.

Over time, BandPage has moved beyond Facebook to partner with other services like Spotify, Ning, SoundCloud, StubHub, Rdio, iHeartRadio, and Twitter.

This isn’t a random acquisition as both companies share a common bond. Mike Cassidy, Google’s vice president and project leader of Project Loon, is an advisor to BandPage.

In a blog post, BandPage announced that it “is dedicated to helping musicians build their careers by growing their fan bases and increasing their revenue on the largest digital music services in the world. By joining forces with the team at YouTube, we can help artists reach their fans in more powerful ways than ever before.”

“YouTube already offers a global distribution platform for any artist to be discovered and some of the best self-publishing tools for musicians and other creators. The team has a lot of things planned to help musicians succeed on the platform, and more broadly across the BandPage network,” the post continued. “Our collective goal remains the same: to grow an open network of digital music services, develop intelligent new tools for managing/distributing artist content and commerce, and create new revenue opportunities for all musicians, on YouTube and beyond.”

BandPage claims to have more than 500,000 musicians on its platform, including Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Carrie Underwood, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Maroon5, P!nk, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, and Paul McCartney.

Since being founded in 2009, the startup has raised $27.6 million in funding. Investors include GGV Capital, IDG Ventures USA, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Northgate Capital, Walden Venture Capital, and several individuals. It competes with the likes of AAMPP, Sound Rink, Listener Approved, BandCamp, and others.

We’ve reached out to Google for comment and will update if we hear back.