What kind of service is BandLab?
――This is the first time you've learned about a service called BandLab. First of all, please give us a brief overview of what kind of service this is.
Cook (henceforth abbreviated title): BandLab is a music application platform launched in 2015 for creators and musicians to share the process of making music and to share the completed music with fans. We position it as a “social music platform”.
It is designed to be used on iOS, Android, and PC web browsers, and we just released an app that supports Japanese. It's the world's first cross-platform digital workstation with social features such as video sharing, messaging, and discovery.
Android version screen PC web browser screen
――How many people are actually using it?
Cook: The number of users has grown rapidly in the last two years, mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom, and is currently about 2 million. Until now, it was not possible to localize to languages other than English, so the number of Japanese users was still small, but since the music production market in Japan is still very large, we will be the first to support Japanese while making it available in each language. I have just done it. However, we do not provide services only in Japan, and since everything is seamless, it is possible to communicate with overseas as it is.
Changes in the number of users-You said that the BandLab app is free, but there are several pricing systems, right?
Cook: At the moment, BandLab is all free. Of course, the iOS and Android app prices are free, and it is also free to use on a PC web browser. There are no special premium courses to use, and everyone can use everything for free. Other companies charge a monthly fee, and some additional options are required, but BandLab is all free. Also, there will be no ads on the app or web browser. We recommend using Google Chrome as your web browser.
――In that case, how do you actually make a profit?
Cook: It's free because we provide the service with the intention of "I want to empower everyone's music!" In addition to BandLab, we are able to provide BandLab for free because we are developing various services as a group company. For example, Rolling Stone, a historic American magazine, is part of the group, and MONO, a brand that sells award-winning music lifestyle products such as guitar straps and cases. We also supervise Swee Lee Music, which develops the retail and distribution business of musical instruments that represent Asia, so it's okay if you think that it is the driving force of the entire group. However, we plan to release hardware products in the future, and these are not free of charge. I'm hoping to earn a total of money including these things.
