APRA AMCOS signs world first deal for music played in nightclubs

In a world first, APRA AMCOS becomes the first Performing Right Organisation to use KUVO as a means to enhance royalty distribution for music played in nightclubs.

APRA AMCOS and Pioneer Corporation have signed a landmark agreement to use Pioneer’s new web service product (KUVO) in Australia to capture the music played by DJs in nightclubs, venues and at festivals.

The deal will grant APRA AMCOS the ability to accurately capture and distribute royalties based on the music metadata reported through KUVO. This will supplement the data already obtained through club charts, selected broadcast logs and music recognition technology, provided by Dutch company DJ Monitor.

Recently signed in Japan, the deal was announced at the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) and has been endorsed by the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM). The association has been campaigning for better use of monitoring technology to help with distribution payments to their members.

In regards to the precedent now set by the agreement between APRA AMCOS and Pioneer, Frank Rodi told TMN, “APRA AMCOS has worked incredibly hard to find the most credible sources of music play data from nightclubs. Kuvo has enormous potential to help us more effectively ensure artists get paid, when their music is played.

“While APRA AMCOS is leading on this front, first with Music Recognition Technology (MRT) and now with Kuvo, we are also keen to share our knowledge and experience with other performing right organisations around the world to ensure that when Australian artists get played via overseas dance floors, they too will have the opportunity to get paid!

“With declining revenues in music sales post Napster and now with the market shift to streaming services, ensuring proper remuneration for music being played in nightclubs has never been so important.”

Mark Lawrence, CEO of AFEM said, “This is a significant show of support for the AFEM ‘Get Played Get Paid’ campaign. It is testament to the forward thinking and dynamic team at APRA AMCOS that they have signed the first deal of its kind to use Pioneer’s KUVO data in Australia. It is amazing to see what the music industry can achieve when it pulls together to make sure that artists and writers get paid when their music is played. I am certain that, where APRA AMCOS has led, others will soon follow.”

APRA AMCOS will be launching KUVO with all participating nightclubs and venues in the coming months with reported metadata used as part of royalty distributions in early 2015.