Cipher
Setting the Scene
Short-form video dominates modern attention, but unlike consumers, brands can’t legally use the viral music that helps short form content take off.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram restrict major label music from commercial use, cutting brands off from culture's loudest channel.
The result? Brands either risk multi-million dollar lawsuits or settle for low-quality stock tracks that don’t perform.
Meanwhile, the music industry misses out on billions in licensing revenue because it lacks the infrastructure to meet modern demand.This week’s company is building the licensing infrastructure for short-form content, enabling brands to legally use trending sounds in marketing videos.
In a Sentence
Cipher is a commercial music licensing platform that allows brands to legally use copyrighted songs in short-form social video.
Brands: Marketers, agencies, and creators can access a curated catalog of culturally relevant, trending music.
Copyright: Cipher handles the licensing agreements directly with rights holders, so brands don’t need to negotiate deals or worry about legal risk — every track in the catalog is pre-cleared.
Video: Once a brand selects a song, they can instantly download both the audio file and a commercial license, making it legally usable across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and more.
Bulleted Version:
- Similar to how Getty Images made it easy for brands to license photos, Cipher makes it easy to license the sounds driving culture across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts.
The Basics
- Headquarters: New York, NY
- Employee Count: 3
- Investors:
Cornell University (Open Studio competition), Friends & Family
- Funding amount: ~$400K
- Business model: SaaS subscriptions + pay-as-you-go licensing
- Early traction: Signed 20+ music partners including BMG, Empire, SoundOn (TikTok), and Insomniac Records; first brand subscribers (including a Unilever company) onboarded within one month
Due Diligence
WHAT WE LIKE
Market Size: Short-form accounts for 91% of mobile internet traffic, 89% of businesses now use it for marketing, and over 85% of those videos include music, yet most of that music isn’t licensed for brand use.
Proven Budget Allocation: Brands already dedicate a significant portion of ad spend to music, making Cipher a natural reallocation of existing marketing budgets rather than a new expense.
Not Just Songs: Cipher’s catalog includes not just popular songs, but trending non-song audio as well, thereby protecting brands across all types of background sounds.
POTENTIAL RISKS
Dependency on Rights Holders: Scaling the catalog requires continued buy-in from labels and publishers, who are often slow-moving and risk-averse.
Adoption Behavior: Many marketers default to royalty-free libraries out of habit or perceived simplicity, and may be slow to adopt paid licensing, requiring education, behavior change, and cultural buy-in.
Rise of AI-Generated Music: As AI tools make it easier and cheaper to create royalty-free tracks, some brands may opt for generic, risk-free audio instead of licensing real, recognizable music, even if it performs worse.
Founder Profile
Faris Bseiso, CEO: Former PM at Stadium Goods.
Burke Reimann, COO: Former cloud analyst at Oracle.
Comps
Epidemic Sound: Valued at over $1B; offers royalty-free stock music for creators but lacks access to trending or major-label tracks.
Artlist: Subscription-based platform for royalty-free music and sound effects, primarily used by YouTubers and filmmakers.
Soundstripe: Provides affordable stock audio for creators, focused on royalty-free licensing rather than commercial social use.
Lickd: Enables YouTube creators to license mainstream songs but does not yet support TikTok or Reels integrations.
Why Cipher
By bridging the licensing gap between music and marketing, empowering brands to legally use trending audio on short-form platforms, and enabling legal access at scale, this company is deciphering the future of sound in digital advertising.
