More than 40 million people have used BandLab to make and share music, making it one of the leading lights of the ‘creator tools’ economy that investors are currently so keen on. They’re certainly keen on BandLab: the company has raised a $53m funding round valuing it at $303m. The round was led by Vulcan Capital, with ByteDance investor K3 Ventures also involved.

The news comes a couple of weeks after BandLab revealed its new corporate brand, Caldecott Music Group, which (slightly confusingly) is also listed as one of the investors in the new funding round. “We’re not only doubling down on our market leading creator tools, but also prioritising compensation for artists and protection for rights holders,” said CEO Meng Ru Kuok.

The 40 million users figure is up from 30 million in March this year, and together with recent funding rounds for Splice ($55m valuing it at $500m), Output ($45m), Splash ($20m) and Tracklib ($12.2m) heralds a fascinating 2022 for further developments in their sector, not least as these companies investigate opportunities to expand beyond music creation to other kinds of services required by musicians.