A Los Angeles-based startup called HAAWK, which specializes in rights management, copyright enforcement, and monetization for user-generated content, has announced two business developments. First, the company secured a $2.5 million seed round of financing that will support building out its technology that helps entertainment rights holders to monetize, distribute, and administer their work across multiple platforms.
Second, HAAWK said it has acquired assets from Dart Music. Dart is a music distribution and metadata company focused on the classical genre that filed for bankruptcy in February. The newly acquired assets will improve HAAWK’s systems for delivering assets to and administering royalties from digital music companies such as Apple Music/iTunes, Amazon Prime Music, Deezer, Google Play, Pandora, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube Content ID.
This isn’t the first rodeo for HAAWK’s leadership. CEO Ryan Born and COO Benjamin Barger previously founded AdRev, which also specialized in digital rights management.