The InterSpace Group, a holding company based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, has partnered with Masterchannel, a mastering company based in Oslo, Norway, to add mastering to the dashboards artists use to distribute their music. The companies announced the partnership on 3 November in a press release on InterSpace’s website.
The tool is live on two of the group’s platforms, according to the announcement: InterSpace Distribution, its direct-to-artist distribution service, and ToneGrid, a white-label platform on which labels and distributors run their own branded distribution businesses.
How it works#
According to the companies, artists open Mastering from their dashboard menu, upload a mix and get a mastered version back within minutes. A free full-length preview plays against the original mix with loudness-matched playback, so the two can be compared at the same volume.
Artists pay only if they download the final master, the companies say, with no subscription and no automatic charges. A notice on the Mastering page, seen in a screenshot InterSpace supplied, says payments are made to Masterchannel and appear under that name on bank statements.
Because the integration is built into ToneGrid at platform level, the companies say every label and distributor on ToneGrid can offer the same tool to its own artists, inside its own branded dashboard, with no integration work on its side.
The companies pitch the tool at independent artists for whom mastering has meant paying for studio time or releasing without it. InterSpace Distribution, founded in 2021, says it works with more than 20,000 independent artists.
Who Masterchannel is#
Masterchannel says it was founded by a mastering engineer, an independent artist and a producer. According to the company, its technology analyses the sonic character of an uploaded mix and calculates adjustments to tonality, dynamics and loudness. It says the tool does not generate or alter musical content, was not trained on copyrighted recordings, and leaves every master entirely the artist’s own. The company’s website is now master.channel.
What the companies said#
“A great release starts with a great master, and for too many independent artists that last step has meant expensive studio time or guesswork,” Eric Okechukwu, Founder & CEO of The InterSpace Group, said in the announcement. “With Masterchannel built into the dashboard, an artist can get a professional master in minutes, hear the whole track before paying anything, and release with confidence. Because it ships on ToneGrid as well, every label and distributor on our platform can now give the same tool to their own artists, under their own brand.”
“Our partnership with InterSpace stems from a shared commitment to empowering independent artists,” said Christian Ringstad Schultz, CEO & Co-Founder of Masterchannel. “As musicians ourselves, we at Masterchannel understand the dedication required to produce great work, and we’re proud to make high-quality sound accessible and affordable for all InterSpace’s artists.”
What we could not verify#
- Afrobeats Wire did not test the mastering tool. How it works is described here from the companies’ announcement and the screenshot InterSpace supplied.
- Masterchannel’s account of its technology, including that it was not trained on copyrighted recordings, is the company’s own.
- The companies did not publish pricing, usage figures or the commercial terms of the partnership.
- InterSpace’s artist count is the company’s own figure.
