Apple’s Shazam solves a big problem for musicians and DJs

Lady Gaga even appears in GarageBand to explain the inspiration of her hit track, Free Woman.

Apple has leveraged its audio-recognition technology Shazam to build a solution that can identify artists played during DJ mixes. That’s a big deal as it should liberate DJ mix sales and also means artists who deserve to get paid will get paid. It’s a problem the industry has grappled with for years.

Pay them. And play them

To achieve this, Apple Music is working with the industry to fgure out a fair way to split streaming royalties between DJs, labels, and artists. The idea is to make sure everyone get paid, and to unleash artistic iteration, which is a good thing (I think).

“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 provided to Variety.

[Also read: How to share Apple Music lyrics in iMessage, Instagram]

DJs have faced real difficulties streaming mixes online as some streaming platforms may flag use of some tracks as copyright infringements. That’s because artists are entitled to royalties when their songs are played, even snippets snuck into dance mixes. Thousands of mixes are already available on Apple Music on a dedicated DJ mix category page.

Good for the whole business

“Apple Music is the first platform that offers continuous mixes where there’s a fair fee involved for the artists whose tracks are included in the mixes and for the artist making those mixes. It’s a step in the right direction where everyone gets treated fairly,” DJ Charlotte de Witte said in a statement that’s going around.

Billboard made note of Apple’s technology in June, but it’s only now that it is being widened across the Music ecosystem.

It is also enabling rare mises from StudioK7 to be made available on the service, which they are as of today. During Black Music month, Apple Music commissioned DJ Mixes from Honey Dijon, Amorphous, DBN Gogo, DJ Clue, Dam Funk, Funk Flex and more. There are also mixes from Boiler Room, Tomorrowland, Mixmag and Cercle.

Apple news

Apple acquired Shazam for $400 million in 2018. Apple Music now has tens of millions of users and last month the company acquired classical music service, Primephonic.

Apple has officially upgraded all Apple Music subscribers to a much-improved service with Dolby Atmos and high-res Lossless Audio for no charge.

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