Zealot Networks, a “digital-first” media company started by Maker Studios founder Danny Zappin, announced on Thursday that it has acquired a majority stake in AudioMicro, parent company of the leading YouTube music licensing and administration platform AdRev.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. DH Capital served as advisor on the deal.
AudioMicro operates 4 content licensing brands – AdRev, AudioMicro, DashGo and ImageCollect.
AdRev represents over 6 million music copyrights that collectively generate 2.9 billion views per month across more than 27.5 million videos. It issues blanket micro synchronization licences for music usage to major YouTube MCNs, including 150,000-plus individual channels.
DashGo distributes music into digital retailers, including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play and YouTube Music Key.
ImageCollect licenses celebrity stock photography to editorial news outlets and publications from its archive of over 6.5 million images.
“We’re building an innovative business model for a new media company – thinking about it from the digital point of view. Nothing we’re doing is bound by traditional models,” said Zappin, president and CEO of Zealot, in a statement. “AdRev has created a whole new model for monetizing music, video and photo rights and will support Zealot as part of an infrastructure for managing a multi-vertical, multi-platform network on YouTube and beyond.”
As part of the deal, Zappin joins AdRev’s board of directors. Ryan Born will retains his position as AdRev’s CEO and continues to run day-to-day operations. DH Capital served as advisor in this deal.