S!NG co-founders Geoff Osler and Jim Harmon. (S!NG Photos)

Copyright issues can make creative work complicated, especially when collaborating between two or more entities. Now a Seattle startup wants to help.

S!NG just raised a $265,000 debt round to fuel development of its blockchain-based software aimed at helping musicians and photographers engage in “hesitation free sharing.”

The company’s technology creates a virtual witness of sorts when people share creative song files and photos. The idea came from the team’s experience building Operem, another Seattle startup which helps companies protect and share their intellectual property.

The functionality for users is fairly straightforward. By CCing a S!NG email account when sending a file, the company automatically creates an audit trail on the blockchain that can be referenced over and over in the future.

“This is resonating strongly with creatives we talk to,” said S!NG co-founder and CEO Geoff Osler.

The company is betting that its tech will be more efficient than forcing people to sign long NDA contracts, or just simply trusting other parties.

“Neither of those are good for the collaboration process,” Osler said. “We want to create a middle ground.”

The startup did not reveal how it will make money, but it will be some form of a consumer-facing software-as-a-service model.

The COVID-19 crisis has not caused roadblocks for S!NG, Osler said. In fact, it could actually help the company in some ways.

“People will ask themselves: do I need to get on a plane and have lunch, or can I do this online?” he said of the copyright and collaboration process potentially evolving.

Osler previously worked at Apple and Adobe, and co-founded ClearSign Combustion in 2008. His co-founder Jim Harmon was a longtime exec at Sabey Corporation and also worked at ClearSign, which went public in 2012.

S!NG is targeting with photographers and musicians for now. It raised the cash from angel investors in Seattle, Canada, and elsewhere.

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