Do you ever think “I wish I could get a great remix of this song,” but end up in despair because online streaming services have limited variety at best? No longer will this be the case, as Apple Music and Dubset Media Holdings announced their new partnership that will allow thousands of DJ remixes and mashups to be streamed by any user.
Initially, the problem with online streaming services adding these DJ remixes and mashups to their music collections was based on copyright law. It was simply too complicated, as each remix could have more than 600 different rights holders. This is where Dubset Media Holdings steps in. The company is a digital distributor to digital music services, and has begun using proprietary technologies, “MixBank,” and “Mix Scan” to analyze remixes and mashups, identify the various components, and their corresponding artists and publishing companies, and ensure that everyone is paid fairly. According to Dubset Media Holdings CEO Stephen White, a typical mix is comprised of 25-30 songs, which requires payments to 25-30 record labels, and above that there are two to ten publishers for each of those tracks. Dubset has acquired licensing contracts with more than 14 000 labels and publishers, and now has the technology to navigate the convoluted process to find and give credit to those involved in each remix.
As a relatively new endeavor on this scale of remix-publishing, the time in which the technology can analyze each track is impressive. It can get through a sixty-minute track in fifteen minutes, and as most remixes are nowhere near this length, the process is considerably faster. All artists, labels and publishing companies with rights to the track also get a final say on the addition of a song to Apple Music.
This is an extremely exciting development in online music streaming. As technology plays an increasingly large role in music creation, and those talented enough to produce remixes and mashups to a sellable level try to share their music with the world, it is important that their music is put on legitimate sites that summon a larger audience than the illegitimate ones that are at times their only option. DJ Steve Aoki said:
“Remixes are a huge part of our culture – they allow DJs and fans to put our own creative spin on music… Apple working with Dubset now is a really simple solution to something traditionally complex and allows everyone to make money on this content for the first time.”
White says that his ambition does not end with the partnership, but that he hopes to roll out these tracks to all online streaming sites, so keep your eye out for new music hitting your favorite one in the not-too-distant future.
