Groundbreaking Sample Startup Tracklib Expands Advisory Board with Two Spotify Veterans

Stockholm-based Tracklib, the first service to offer legal, affordable samples at scale, has invited two Spotify veterans to their advisory board.

Petra Hansson joined Spotify in early 2007 from top Swedish law firm Mannheimer Swartling. During her time at Spotify, she served as General Counsel and Head of Business Affairs & Associate General Counsel. After 10 years, she moved on to assist startups and other companies as an advisor and investor.

Niklas Ivarsson has devoted decades to sales and technology, and was the global head of licensing at Spotify for nine years. Now he supports promising startups through advisory roles, board representations and angel investments.

It’s no coincidence that two major players from the Swedish startup that transformed the music industry are teaming up to support another Swedish startup poised to spark its own revolution. “Petra and Niklas have decades of experience between them in the areas that are most vital to us,” says Pär Almqvist, founder and CEO of Tracklib. “We’ve built great relationships with the global music industry over several years, and their insights will be important guides as we move into our next phase of growth.”

This growth promises to accelerate in 2019, as Tracklib quickly adds catalog to its existing offerings, making a large amount of songs available in high-quality file formats for legal sampling. Tracklib customers – music producers in more than 130 countries – can already today easily browse more than 70,000 tracks and purchase downloads for sampling, then instantly get a licence using an easy-to-use category and sample length calculation. No waits, no negotiations, no huge fees. Just great, original music ready for commercial release. “We’re making sample clearance a possibility for everyone,” Almqvist notes.

“Tracklib’s platform makes otherwise complex sample licensing easy for the creative community,” says Hansson. “By doing so, Tracklib not only enables the creation of new music, but also respects and rewards the creators of the original musical works and sound recordings.”

"Collaboration in music will continue to grow and Tracklib's platform will help the creative community to become even more creative, while at the same time making sure that the monetary value is fairly shared between the right copyright owners." agrees Ivarsson.

Ivarsson and Hansson join an already strong group of Tracklib advisors, consisting of industry legends and producers, and including Erick Sermon, Zaytoven, Drumma Boy and Prince Paul. All with first-hand knowledge of the agony and struggle of clearing samples the traditional way. “I think Tracklib will definitely change the way people create music,” enthuses Prince Paul, the legendary producer behind beloved hip hop classics from the likes of De La Soul.