Roger Fingas
Apple has reportedly forged a deal with a distributor, Dubset Media Holdings, that will allow Apple Music to host more remixes, mashups, and full-length DJ mixes.
Much of this content has been unavailable because of the complex copyright and royalty situations created by mixing, Billboard said on Tuesday. A DJ mix with 25 to 30 songs might require paying not just the same number of record labels, but two to 10 publishers per track.
Partnering with Dubset should help circumvent this problem in two ways: the firm's licensing deals with over 14,000 labels and publishers, and proprietary apps known as MixBank and MixScan. Together, the tools can analyze a music file and determine where royalties are owed — files submitted to Dubset must pass through this screening, which is also used to enforce any limits demanded by rights holders.
Apple will have to pay Dubset for access to content, from which point the latter will use some of the money to handle royalties.
The deal could help Apple better compete in the world of streaming electronic dance music, where it faces competition not just from Spotify but genre-specific services like Beatport, which introduced an iOS app roughly a year ago.
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5 Comments
Are mashups still a thing?
This is great news! Very nice to see Apple taking EDM seriously. Particularly with the recent addition of deadmau5* to Beats 1. I don't think must people understand how popular EDM is, because it's mostly consumed in mixes, bars/clubs, and live DJ sets/festivals. EDM is also a very versatile genre, can be anything from mellow (chill Drum and Bass producer Etherwood, highly recommended) to uptempo party music (Deorro - check out Five Hours and Perdoname) and can pretty seamlessly mix with almost any other genre (Avivii's country-inspired song Wake Me Up). It's a lot easier to appreciate if you've experienced the energy of a live dj set. I'm going to see Marcus Schulz** this weekend which should be amazing. I'm also hoping that Apple does some more collaboration with tropical house (genre) producer Kygo (his remix of Mervin Gaye's Sexual Healing is terrific).
*His most famous songs are Strobe, The Veldt (referencing a Ray Bradbury short story), and Ghosts n' Stuff.
**A long-time popular trance music dj/producer.
Of course, I hope that this will coincide with improvements to Apple Music (which I use regularly and enjoy):
-There desperately needs to be sub-genres, at least for the genre I'm most familiar with: "Dance": at least to include things like Big Room, Deep House, Trance, Dubstep, and Trap (for the kids).
-The playlists (supposed to be the main draw for Apple Music, 'what comes next' and all that) are a confusing mess, and way too limiting. There's Summer back yard pary mix, summer back yard pool mix, electronic bbq, on and on....... what's the difference between bbq and pool music?? No doubt there are fantastic songs in these playlists, but once you find an arbitrary one that you like, there's only 15 tracks in it, so then you have to go searching again.
-One of the things I was hoping for the most with Apple Music was the ability to create a public profile where I can post playlists. Where if people like my style of music I can point them to one place, instead of having to send links to individual playlists. This is a way a lot of people discover and share music. For instance, fitness/yoga instructors play music during their class, then have spotify playlists that people can follow if they like the music.
I think the biggest mistake Apple has made so far with Apple Music is not hyping it enough. Eddie Cue mentioned on Gruber's podcast that they have a problem with educating people on the value of Apple music. I HIGHLY doubt that is the problem. Hype and social connection are a MAJOR part of music for a lot of people (particularly for the largest consumers: youth). I think the lack of expected hype has caused a lot of people to be skeptical of it, when of course Apple Music offers a no-brainier value.
With both fashion items (eg watch/wearables) and music an ESSENTIAL element of the product is social/emotive, and thus hype driven. I'm not sure if Apple fully appreciates that.
Apple finally giving full support to EDM by adding more content to Apple Music is awesome. I can now give Spotify the boot
This is amazing news. I'm glad Apple is getting more involve in EDM. Eric Prydz had an amazing 1st season on Beats 1 and now Deadmau5 will have his own show. This deal is great because I use soundcloud a lot to listen to mixes and live sets. I already pay $10 for Apple Music and soon soundcloud will also start charging a monthly fee (which I am not willing to pay) If Apple can add live sets and more mixes into their service a lot of people that use soundclound will leave for Apple Music.