MusicStream was developed in response to the growing demand for royalty free music (a.k.a. licence free music), observed by one of the companys founders, ex-Mezzoforte guitarist, session musician, composer and iChill music label owner, Fridrik Karlsson. Karlsson recalls, Ive been creating and marketing a range of royalty free CDs for 10 years and I was receiving more and more emails and calls from my web-site, from retailers who wanted to avoid PPL and PRS music licence costs
A 100 store retail chain using a licensed background music service could save as much as 100,000 GBP per year, representing a saving of over 70%. MusicStream CEO Jeff Stewart adds, If we achieve our expected number of new sites in 2012, we will save those customers a total of 3m GBP in year 1 alone. Its significantly more cost effective than licensed options and we believe the music speaks for itself
MusicStream will be demonstrating the service at Spring Fair 2012. Spring Fair visitors will be offered a 28-day free trial. Our number one priority has always been to deliver on music quality, says Stewart. We decided the simplest way to showcase the music was to let businesses live with the service and all the current music for a while, with no obligation to sign up. MusicStream soft launched in the latter half of 2011, and successfully tested all aspects of the service with clients ranging from Marta Jonssons shoes on Londons Kings Road, to Bannatyne Spas nationwide. The official launch will see MusicStream made available to the wider market.
The idea of combining a library of high-quality, licence free music, with a web-based digital music service, emerged in 2010 during conversations with Louis Langerman, a South African sound engineer, composer and software developer, who was marketing his own range of royalty free spa music at the time. Jeff Stewart, MD of New Age Music label New World Music, made up a trio of founders.