YouTube buys artist profile service Bandpage

YouTube has acquired Bandpage, a service that aims to help musicians reach fans and make money across a number of platforms.

Announcing the deal, Bandpage said that joining YouTube “dramatically accelerates our shared goal of helping musicians everywhere thrive.”

“By joining forces with the team at YouTube, we can help artists reach their fans in more powerful ways than ever before. We are extremely excited about this because we believe YouTube truly shares our commitment to musicians,” said Bandpage.

“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.”

BandPage is designed to let musicians create a central profile that they can use to engage and sell to fans. It powers users’ stores on Spotify, Shazam, YouTube, and Rhapsody.

It also powers tour dates on Google Search, store and tour dates on lyric sites, and profiles on services like Vevo, SoundCloud and Xbox Music.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by Bandcamp, though a Techcrunch report claims the acquisition price was around US$8 million.

Last March, YouTube launched YouTube for Artists, a service designed to help musicians connect with fans, run promotional programs and get discovered. YouTube said at the time that it is also working on new ways to celebrate and promote the wide range of artists on YouTube, such as the YouTube Music Awards.