Apple Music to host streaming for unlicensed mixes and remixes

by: Patrick Hooks Mar 15, 2016

Apple Music has struck a partnership with Dubset, a digital content distributor, that has the potential to revolutionize the streaming platform. The deal will allow for unlicensed mixes, remixes, and mashups to be hosted on Apple Music. More significantly, the new partnership will provide an apparatus for paying royalties to labels and rights holders as well as the DJs/producers themselves.

Unlicensed content is no stranger to the internet, and platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp have become vibrant communities for producers and DJs to share and distribute unlicensed music. But, as electronic music and remix culture have become more relevant in mainstream circles, the music industry has started campaigning against what it sees as copyright infringement and lost revenue.

This new deal, however, gives DJs, producers, songwriters, labels, and rights holders a platform to distribute legally and profit equally for derivative content. DJs and producers submit their work to Dubset, which runs it through a series of software filters that analyze what licensed material is used, who owns the rights, and what restrictions may be placed on the material. If a song is cleared, it can be hosted for streaming on Apple and royalties are divided up accordingly between creators and rights holders.

Dubset hopes to extend its services to all streaming platforms in the future, and open up the industry to a huge stream of revenue that was previously untapped.

Via: Bilboard