Device Installed at Venues Pays Accurately to Electronic Music Producers

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, SOCAN, which is the Canadian performing rights organization, is partnering with Pioneer DJ’s KUVO technology to offer free devices at electronic music venues that will identify performances for real-time tracking. The device uses metadata extraction technology to collect and relay the music information to SOCAN. The information is tabulated and will distribute royalties more accurately to the copyright owners of the track. The device is easily installed by plugging it into a DJ’s mixing board.

SOCAN is offering the KUVO device for free to festival, nightclub, and other electronic music venues in Toronto “as an additional aspect of their SOCAN music license agreement,” said Kit Wheeler, vice-president of SOCAN’s distribution department. “DJs spin more music in one show than the vast majority of other live musical performances, but it’s nearly impossible for them to submit accurate set lists of music for shows that they perform. Pioneer-KUVO technology addresses this problem and enables SOCAN to capture even more musical performances in real time and more accurately. Our partnership with Pioneer and KUVO is a great step forward in getting our more than 150,000 members fairly paid for their work.”

CODA in downtown Toronto is the first club in North America to adopt the technology. “For years we’ve been dissatisfied with the system in place, knowing that not all licenses we pay are getting into the hands of artists behind the music played in our venues and at our events,” said CODA owner, Joel Smye. “Now, through technology, the use of a simple device will ensure that the music licenses that we pay and have always paid will go to the right people.”

AFEM, the Association For Electronic Music, represents more than 150 members in 20 countries and fully supports the installation of the devices as part of its global marketing campaign “Get Played, Get Paid.”

“Everyone wants to be paid fairly for their music, and I hope that clubs and festivals will be eager to use technology to help ensure that the right people get their fair share of the legal music licenses that they already pay,” said DJ/producer and SOCAN member, Richie Hawtin. Hawtin also recently collaborated with KUVO through his own music-recognition platform, RADR.DJ.

“We’re delighted that SOCAN will use metadata from KUVO and we hope that other PROs in North America will see how accurate the service is and come aboard,” said Pioneer DJ’s general manager, Mark Grotefeld. “It’s a huge territory and currently there’s a lot of the money paid by the venues in license fees that isn’t finding its way to the artists who deserve it. KUVO can help solve that problem and reward those who produce the music played by DJs.”

Source: Billboard