Israeli karaoke app acquired by Canadian music giant
The Montreal-based Stingray Digital Group has acquired Israel’s Yokee Music Ltd., a globally popular karaoke and instrumental music app provider, the companies announced on Tuesday.
Yokee Music – headquartered in Yehud in central Israel – is the proprietor of the flagship Yokee karaoke app, Yokee Guitar and Yokee Piano, which together accrued more than 80 million downloads in four years. Regularly landing in the music category’s top 10 in 100 countries, these three social music applications boast four million monthly users and more than 50% year-over-year growth, a joint statement from the companies said.
As a leading business-to-business multi-platform music company, Stingray is aiming to connect with younger music fans around the world by acquiring Yokee. The Canadian music giant has an estimated 400 million pay-TV subscribers in 156 countries and offers a variety of digital music and video services.
“Stingray and Yokee Music have been long-time friends and partners with a shared passion for connecting people through music,” said Eric Boyko, president, co-founder and CEO of Stingray. “I could not be more pleased to officially welcome the Yokee Music team to the Stingray family. This acquisition is highly complementary to our business and significantly expands our reach in the business-to-consumer mobile app market.”
Yokee’s karaoke app will complement existing Stingray services, including the Stingray Karaoke library and the Karaoke Channel – karaoke experiences available on television, online and on mobile devices, the statement from the companies said. The combination of these popular platforms therefore has the potential to create “powerful content synergy opportunities and growth for the karaoke product line,” the statement added.
Yokee – which earns revenue from ad and subscription services – was founded in 2013 by Gil Selka and Ariel Yaloz and now has a team of 18 musicians, engineers and product managers. While the original Yokee app transformed mobile phones and tablets into “wireless karaoke machines,” the piano and guitar apps allow users to instantly play tunes on these instruments.
“Yokee Music has been a labor of love, in which we poured all our expertise, passion, and energy over the past years,” Yaloz said. “Joining forces with Stingray is a natural extension of the growth strategy we have been pursuing since our launch and will provide us with exciting opportunities as part of a larger, more diversified company. Working together, I am confident, will foster even greater success and innovation in the mobile app market.”