Songscription, an AI (artificial intelligence) music transcription startup, is expanding its licensing work with music publishers while adding new tools for songwriters and learners, CEO Andrew Carlins said in a recent interview.
The company first drew attention in July 2025 for its automatic music transcription service, which raised questions about copyright in a grey area. In November 2025 it raised $5m in funding, and adviser and music-tech veteran Elizabeth Moody said publicly that the company wanted to sign deals with music publishers and act ethically.
At the time of the funding, the service had signed up more than 150,000 users. Carlins said that figure has grown by more than 20% month-on-month since then, with most users being songwriters and creators getting their work written down for the first time.
Publisher licensing and user growth#
Songscription has signed deals with independent publishers, including a public agreement with Spirit Music Group, and expects more to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Generally, publishers have been very supportive,” Carlins said. “Given well over 90% of songs written are untranscribed today, and those that are transcribed have limited instrumentation and leveling, publishers understand how Songscription can stand to empower artists and songwriters in their creativity workflows, and expand access to written notation for musicians of all levels.”
He added that publishers have responded to the company’s proactive approach to licensing. “They seem more keen to license us than some other AI services.”
“For us, it wasn’t a tough decision to engage with the industry early on. As a team on a mission to empower artists and music learners, we understand we need to work alongside the industry.”
New transcription and learning tools#
Songscription has added chord recognition, the ability to simplify transcripts to different skill levels including beginner, and a text-based notation editor that uses an AI chat interface.
Beta features include aligning lyrics to music and outputting transcripts as lead sheets or duets.
The company has also launched Anything Piano, a piano-learning app for Apple devices, after noticing that many users were either learning piano or looking for more structured ways to practise.
“In its current form, Anything Piano turns any audio into a simplified piano tutorial with guided fingerings and can listen to the user playing the piano and give feedback on their performance,” Carlins said.
“We recently rebranded into Play Anything to encapsulate our broader mission of empowering people to learn and play the songs they love,” he added. “Our plan is to continue developing Songscription as a platform for music creators and songwriters and Anything Piano as a platform for music learners and people looking for feedback on their performances.”
