We first knew Soundrop as a consumer-focused startup offering social ‘listening rooms’ for music-streaming users, before it later pivoted into marketing tool Show.co.

In October 2015 it reappeared as an independent playlists brand, but was then bought by CD Baby in November 2016, with the distributor planning to change it again – into a “springboard for artists looking for an alternative distribution approach, one that favours constant creation and single-first strategies”.

That’s now happened. New Soundrop will initially distribute songs to six digital music platforms – Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon and Deezer – with YouTube and Pandora to come later this year.

The platform will include cover-song licensing in its offering, as well as a feature to make it easier to split the income from collaborations. Those both speak to its focus on YouTube-native musicians.

“These are folks who release on YouTube first,” said brand manager Zach Dorner in a statement. “They have a strong supporter base on Patreon. They come from EDM or game music scenes. This is the place for them… Creators on platforms like YouTube are used to a fast, furious, responsive pace in serving their audience. Soundrop will be the perfect partner in this enterprise.”