Apple Music Identifies Artists in DJ Mixes

Apple Music is working hard to identify and pay compensation to artists whose songs were used in DJ mixes. Their main tool is Shazam, and they confirmed that artists can find their compensation with its help. The company is going to pay not only DJs who created the mix, but individual artists in the track, its promoters, suppliers, and everyone involved in the work. The mixes that are uploaded on Apple Music go through the recognition procedure in the Shazam app.

According to the Vice President of Apple Music, Oliver Schusser, the company uses Shazam to find everyone involved in the music creation. Shazam is a well-known tool for the identification of music and movies. The app is widely used around the world. Apple bought this company for $400 million in 2018.

DJ mixes with different original tracks inside have become a problem for Apple Music. The company did not know how to find the owners of credit rights of the songs that had been mixed. Some of the tracks had been unrecognizably changed, and Apple Music had to spend hours trying to find the authors. The technology of Shazam that they are using now helps to find creators of original music and pay compensation. Apart from payment, authors are mentioned under the track.

Apple Music has built an impressive catalog of DJ mixes, including hip-hop, electronic, and dance genres. Not only DJs but authors whose music was used in the composition receive compensation for it. Apple offers the payment to DJs, songwriters, and mix suppliers, including clubs and festivals. Since they are not owners of rights, they are rarely paid. Depending on the number of streams, they all are going to receive royalties. Apple plans to significantly extend its library of DJ mixes. Meanwhile, amateurs can already add their mixes through SoundCloud to Apple Music.