Good news for users of Apple Music, it now offers support for single-track unofficial remixes that have been uploaded by users. The support for the feature on the streaming service comes thanks to a partnership with Dubset, a music rights management firm.
Usually, unofficial remixes are those done by DJs on tracks that have been uploaded by the artist themselves. However, major record labels opt not to upload these unofficial remixes on paid music streaming services owing to licensing issues and restrictions. Basically, since the original content has been altered, a record label cannot claim any royalty and, therefore, this practice is often considered a type of piracy.
SoundCloud is among the handful of services that offer support for unofficial remixes, and now, Apple Music joins the club.
On Oct. 6, Apple Music gave permission to its subscriber to access user-uploaded, unofficial remixes according a report from TechCrunch.
Apple struck a deal with Dubset in March, and now it has put things into action by supporting single-track remixes on Apple Music.
Basically, what Dubset is able to do is that it deploys proprietary algorithms — MixSCAN audio fingerprinting tech — to identify the original recording. It scans and matches the parts of a track with its database or Mixbank where music snippets are stored. Once the matching process is done, the royalties are distributed by Dubset to the artists. Dubset of course, takes a cut for the services rendered.
The process is pretty effective, which is why Apple Music and Spotify have teamed up with Dubset for the distribution of music through their respective streaming services.
"Content owners have been very supportive. The publishing and label deals we have under license provides a large catalog to work with. [This] allows some of the content that until now has only been on YouTube and SoundCloud to come to these great paid services where content owners will get paid!" said Stephen White, Dubset's CEO.
The first single-track remix that has hit Apple Music is DJ Jazzy Jeff's remixed version of Anderson .Paak's "Room in Here." While multi-song mixes are not currently available on Apple Music, they are set to be "coming next" to the music service.
Thanks to the Dubset and Apple partnership, not only artists, but also listeners benefit all the way through. It is a win-win for everyone: DJs get to share their work, rights holders get royalty and subscribers of Apple Music can hear everything on the platform.
