NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gifnote™, the new music messaging platform for Songbytes™— byte-sized music clips— today announced the appointment of Richard Johnson as an Executive Advisor. Johnson will lead Gifnote’s strategic partnership development with the music industry, large-scale technology integrations and business development efforts for Gifnote’s API. The Gifnote API is currently integrated into Slack and will soon be available in Facebook Messenger.
Gifnote works in compliance and partnership with the music industry, offering a patented technology platform, comprehensive database and search engine of licensed Songbytes from thousands of artists. Gifnote provides a simple and effective way for music to be integrated into the 15 Billion pieces of byte-sized content shared daily across text and social. Gifnote works directly with music labels, publishers, artist managers, artists and back-end reporting platforms, to ensure compliance and thought leadership in this new space.
“Richard is a proven thought leader, with a stellar track record of distributing and promoting music across the ever-evolving landscape of new media,” said Andrew Blacker, CEO and Co-Founder, Gifnote. “Richard and I share the belief that Songbytes will drive new revenue opportunities for the music industry, and provide promotion for artists and songs, by leveraging the massive volume of content discovery that happens daily across messaging, texts and social posts.”
Richard is the former President and Co-Founder of Qello, the premiere, on-demand OTT concert streaming service, reaching music fans in more than 160 countries. While at Qello, Johnson was responsible for music industry partnerships and all distribution deals with the major music labels. Additionally, he led groundbreaking, first-to-market integrations with Apple, Google, and Amazon.
Known in the industry for his unique foresight, Richard was an early innovator, identifying the transformation of linear content to digital video. Under his leadership, Qello secured global OTT rights in the music space, years before other companies identified these trends. In December 2017, Qello was acquired by Stingray Digital, where Johnson became its first Head of Global Strategy.
"Gifnote’s innovative and patented platform brings Songbytes — byte-sized music clips — directly into messaging and social feeds, said Johnson. “The platform is a momentous opportunity to introduce a true end-to-end music solution that benefits not only consumers but also every facet of the music ecosystem,” stated Johnson. “I am excited to join the Gifnote team at this transformative time to leverage the massive opportunity around the global phenomenon of texting and self expression.”
This appointment adds further expertise to the current roster of music, mobile and brand experts, who have joined Gifnote from such companies as Bandsintown, HearMusic and Soundscan. Gifnote’s current executive team is Andrew Blacker, CEO and Co-Founder, John Van Suchtelen, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Kristin McDonnell, Chief Business Officer and Bill Campbell, Chief Music Officer.
ABOUT GIFNOTE™
Gifnote is a music app that uses proprietary technology allowing people to pair and share Songbytes™ — byte-sized music clips — of the world’s most popular songs with GIFs, videos and photos. Working in partnership with the music industry, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Gifnote is the preeminent, fully-licensed music messaging app and has recently been featured as an Apple "New App We Love" and "App of the Day.” Gifnote is the first product from its parent company, Audiobyte™.
ABOUT AUDIOBYTE™
Audiobyte is the creator of a patented and proprietary technology platform, database and search engine of legally compliant Songbytes™ — byte-sized music clips. With its scalable API, Audiobyte powers self expression using five to fifteen second clips of popular music across all digital and mobile platforms. Its debut product, Gifnote™, has been featured as Apple’s “App of the Day.”
