Bronze Raises $1.3M in Pre-Seed Funding Round

AI music startup Bronze raises $1.3m in pre-seed funding round led by Disclosure, Arca, Jimmy Napes, DAO Jones, Method Music, and September Management.

Audio tech startup Bronze has raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round led by Disclosure, Arca, and Jimmy Napes, alongside DAO Jones, Method Music, and September Management.

Founded by record producer Lex Dromgoole and composer Gwilym Gold, the London-based company says it will launch the beta of its AI music creation tool this year, which it boasts already has over a thousand artists on the waiting list.

Bronze specializes in a range of adaptive AI-based technologies at the heart of which lies a “transformational sound format” that the company says is already being licensed by platforms to “produce experiences beyond traditional recordings.”

Having worked on projects with A24 Films, MoMA, and Richie Hawtin, Bronze announced their latest project in December, a collaboration with electronic duo Disclosure in a partnership with Beatport.

With Bronze’s technology, Disclosure created a version of their single, “Simply Won’t Do,” that allows them to instantly capture 1,000 unique versions of the track. These versions are being released exclusively as NFTs through Beatport, each in a unique digital edition with an accompanying generative artwork.

What sets Bronze apart from other platforms in the space, according to its founders, is what it calls “training in context.”

“Many companies are currently training models on unlicensed music — instead, we are developing intuitive and code-free ways for creators to train on their IP to produce personalized, contextually aware models that are unique to them,” says Bronze founder Lex Dromgoole.

Bronze first debuted as an app that reinterpreted a song in real-time, starting with Gwilym Gold’s 2011 single, “Flesh Freeze.” The app manipulated “all aspects of the sound, from the rhythms to the texture and structure, and generating a unique version on each and every listen.”