Snapchat's parent firm, Snap, has acquired Voisey, an app that allows musicians, vocalists, and producers to collaborate.
The deal came to light via filings analyzed by Business Insider that showed Voisey's registered UK address changed to Snap's London office. An industry source confirmed the acquisition. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Voisey has raised under $2 million and was valued at about $3 million, according to estimates by PitchBook.
Snap declined to comment. Voisey did not respond to a request for comment.
The Voisey app looks and feels strikingly similar to TikTok, with the app opening straight into vertical video and musical backing.
The twist is a focus on music creation. Users can pick from a repository of user-created backing beats, hit record, and overlay the track with their vocals and post it all as a 60-second clip.
In a musical equivalent of stickers and filters, users can edit their clips to add auto-tune, choral, spacey, and other vocal effects. One effect is named after Billie Eilish. Users can also contribute to Voisey's repository of backing beats.
And as with TikTok, users can like and comment on clips, as well as "reply" to clips with their own vocals.
The result for anyone scrolling through the Voisey app is an ongoing feed of short original music — with hip-hop, R&B, and trap as the most popular tags.
The app has already generated buzz in the music industry. The artist Olivia Knight, known on Voisey as Poutyface, signed a record deal with Warner Music in September, and a press release about the deal described her as the first major talent to emerge via the app.
The deal may signal major new music-creation features for the Snapchat app. Earlier Snap acquisitions have been precursors for new features, with the acquisition of PlayCanvas in 2018 heralding a push into lightweight games.
The acquisition also follows Snap striking licensing deals with major record labels to enable users to incorporate songs into posts.
Mark Mulligan, the founder of Midia research, told Business Insider the tie-up was about "Snapchat moving into creativity and the music sector."
He said: "We are on the verge of a revolution in music creation with the boundaries between creator and audience blurring like never before.
"Apps like Voisey focus on giving consumers tools that enable them to go from zero to 100 faster than ever before. Just like TikTok enabled consumers to create high-quality videos fast, and Instagram enabled consumers to create high-quality photos fast, the new generation of creator tools are enabling consumers to make music fast. Snapchat sees itself being able to be at the center of that."
One person close to Voisey described the concept as an evolution of TikTok. The person said TikTok, which is open to any type of creator, was the "lowest common denominator" and that a service catering to specific types of creators, such as musicians, was a logical next step.
Voisey was founded in 2018 by a collective of music-tech entrepreneurs from across Norway and London. They include Olly Barnes, who previously worked at Universal Music and the streaming service Rdio, and the Soundio veterans Erlend Hausken, Pål Wagtskjold-Myran, and Dag Langfoss-Håland.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence