US indie rightsholders to profit from DJ mixes with new NMPA deal

Image: Tiesto

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)in the US has inked a deal with digital distributor Dubset Media which has been touted a big step for creative democratisation in the digital space.

Specifically, the deal is expected to greatly benefit independent songwriters and publishers, who will profit from the use of their music which are used for derivative works, or pieces of music which contribute to other creations, like DJ mixes and remixes.

The deal will spearhead a brand new revenue stream, or “sub-economy” for artists ands publishers in the post-sampling era. It centers around Dubset’s MixBANK platform, which identifies music used in DJ remixes and mixes, and clears and distributes them to its clients (one of which is Apple Music).

MixBANKlaunched last March to resolve a longstanding issue of identifying underlying rightsholders and allowing them to manage their rights and provide them with monetisation opportunities.

Prior to MixBANK, there were no reliable audio-recognition and pattern-recognition algorithms that allowed these kinds of mixes to exist legally.

Bob Barbiere, Chief Operating Officer of Dubset, said in a statement: “Due to complexities associated with identification, and cross-clearance of copyright protected works used within mixes, music services were not able to offer it to consumers.

“Dubset’s technology solves that problem and enables us to clear and deliver this enormous high-demand category of content to music services globally generating new royalties to publishers and other rights holders.”

Dubset’s clients include David Guetta, Tiesto and “over 900 of the top 1,000 DJs”; along with Rhapsody and Spinnin’ Records. With its latest deal with NMPA, NMPA members who opt-in will have access to MixBANK where they can set terms and rules around how and where their catalogue may be used. Only cleared mix and remix content is made available to legal music services under an approved royalty structure.

Other digital services moving forward in this digital sub-economy are SoundCloud’s subscription service GO, which identifies derivative works, and the 2012-launched Berlin-based service Geo Track ID, which uses track fingerprinting technology.

Frank Rodi,Innovation & Electronic Music Specialist at APRA AMCOS,explained how rightsholders are recognised locally for derivative works.

“In Australia any DJ mix or remixed song offered via a legitimate download or streaming service must be reported to APRA AMCOS by the digital music service itself,” he told TMN.

“APRA AMCOS is encouraged by the Dubset/NMPA deal and any other initiative that helps songwriters and artists get paid when their music is steamed online, downloaded or played in public,” he added.