Since the advent of streaming services, one of the major problems with DJ mixes has been ensuring that every musical element in those mixes is identified and paid for.
Well, Apple Music has unveiled a new process — in cooperation with major and independent labels — whereby it can properly identify and directly pay the rights holders whose music is used within a DJ mix, building on technology from Shazam, which it acquired several years ago.
The program ostensibly will go a long way toward properly compensating creators for the use of their music in DJ mixes, which had previously been a wild west of copyright. After all, most DJs use brief snippets of music, play multiple elements at the same time, or incorporate them so subtly that many people don’t even notice.
“We also are working with the DJs, and the suppliers of the DJ Mixes including festivals, clubs, promoters, curators and independent labels to ensure that they are compensated fairly,” the company said in a statement.
As part of the rollout, Apple Music is highlighting the thousands of mixes already on the site — including such popular ones as Honey Dijon, Funk Flex, Boiler Room, and from the Tomorrowland festival — as well as bringing in more: Studio K7!’s DJ Kicks archive of mixes will begin coming to the service on Friday (Sept. 10), and Mixmag is bringing its archive of mixes, along with new ones weekly.
“This is a big moment for K7,” said Horst Weidenmueller, founder of Studio K7! “Through the partnership with Apple we finally have a place to celebrate DJ-Kicks with additional 14 editions which haven’t been in the market for over 15 years.”