David Aronchick

Hark CEO David Aronchick recently disclosed that the company — essentially a YouTube of audio clips — topped 50 million monthly visitors. It was a significant milestone, but Aronchick isn’t stopping there.

The Seattle entrepreneur announced today that the company has formed a new partnership with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, giving Hark access to audio clips from movies such as 300The MatrixCasablanca and more than 100 other titles.

“Our agreement with Warner Bros. enables Hark to help transform the way people engage with and share their favorite content,” said Aronchick, who plans to announce additional content-related partnerships later this year.

As part of the new deal, Hark will gain access to what Aronchick called ‘derivative content.’ He explained that concept on a recent visit to the GeekWire podcast, noting that Hollywood studios derive just 25 percent of their revenue from film releases in the theater. He added:

“Fully three quarters of it comes after the releases to theatric, and those could be things like DVD or Blu-Ray, they could be streaming … or they could be things like paid TV or free TV or even things like selling TVs and posters and things. There are just a lot of things down the line…. And the studios are looking at more ways to make money, and to do that is to take the hard work that they have already done — this incredibly large movie theatrical release — and letting people make more money off it in other ways.”

Here’s the full interview from the GeekWire podcast and radio show earlier this year.


GeekWire Radio featuring Hark’s David Aronchick

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