The streaming music arms race just got even more competitive. Spotify has announced that they will allow DJs to post and share mixes and radio shows featuring other artists music.
The arrangement comes through a partnership between Spotify and Dubset. The deal will allow DJs to upload and legally stream original long-format mixes as well as single remixes. Dubset will use their MixBANK distribution platform to properly identify and credit artists whose music is used in the mixes. The news was broke at the International Music Summit in Ibiza.
Per Music Week:
In addition, the new agreement is expected to enable Spotify listeners to stream radio shows and other user generated mixes that have not been previously legally available to music fans.
Stephen White, Dubset CEO, said: “This is a major milestone for DJs and music fans all over the world. Our technology platform makes it possible for us to identify and pay rights holders in DJ mixes, making this enormously popular music genre available on the world’s most popular streaming service for the very first time. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the team at Spotify to deliver this content to music fans all over the world.”
Stefan Blom, chief strategy Officer and chief content officer at Spotify, added: “Our number one job at Spotify is to deliver great music to fans whenever and wherever they want to listen to it. This deal with Dubset enables us to serve fans of dance music with the mixes they crave while ensuring that artists, labels and publishers get paid fairly. It’s a great day for music fans all over the world.”
Added Pat Shah, head of original content licensing at Spotify: “DJs have long been recognized as the greatest curators of music in the world. We look forward to working with Dubset and the biggest and best DJs in the world to continue to lead the industry by providing our consumers with the best content available in the market.”
Dubset confirmed the news with this tweet:
https://twitter.com/Dubset/status/735505966758776832
Soundcloud, a platform that has flourished off users posting such mixes have run into roadblocks as record labels representing artists and some artists themselves have demanded money or that mixes be removed if the DJ did not get clearance to use the track. Under pressure, Soundcloud began a sweep of their inventory and removed thousands of mixes and shows over the last two years. This upset many users who had built reputations and fanbases on the platform.
Soundcloud explained their policy on their website:
If you use parts of a track in a DJ set, please bear in mind that the original creator owns the copyright for that part in your track and, based on current copyright legislation, you will need their explicit permission to upload your DJ mix on SoundCloud.
Some producers and publishers are fine with others using their material in DJ sets, but some are not and do not want their works altered or distributed without their explicit consent.
If you are able to provide proof that you do have permission from the original rights holders to publish their material in your DJ mix on SoundCloud, our Copyright Team is happy to manually review these permissions and reinstate the track onto your profile. Please bear in mind that you should have permission to use all tracks that you have included in your DJ mix, and not just the one that has been detected by our content identification system. If you do not clearly specify and prove that all these permissions have been granted by their respective copyright holders (usually record labels and publishers), your dispute will be rejected.
The move is expected to give Spotify an advantage in the streaming music industry. While the company is still the largest streaming music platform, it’s competitors like Apple Music and TIDAL have been beating them to the punch with artist exclusives like Drake’s Views and Beyonce’s Lemonade albums. Allowing mixes on the platform will bring them thousands and eventually millions of new users and subscribers.
DJs can get started uploading at MIXBank.com before the Spotify option becomes available.
Photo: Instagram
