8Sided Blog

thoughts about music’s place in the 21st century

  • About Me
  • Newsletter
  • Media
  • 8DSync
  • 8D Industries
  • Q-BAM

A DJ’s Spin on Music Recognition Tech

September 24, 2019 · Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that a popular topic on this blog is audio recognition technology as a means to determine royalty payments from public establishments. I wrote about it yesterday. And I wrote about it previously. And previously.

PRS is testing music recognition technology in bars and nightclubs in the United Kingdom. According to Synchtank’s blog, there’s been an unexpected roadblock:

[AEFM’s Greg Marshall] adds that they are speaking to DJ agents to ensure they are getting on board with the moves by clubs and bodies like PRS, specifically addressing the non-record clause some DJs have in their contracts (to ensure their sets are not bootlegged or what they are playing is listed online). […] “We are just starting the process of talking with the bigger agents to see if they can amend their clause so it has an exception for music recognition technology,” explains Marshall.

I could see privacy (eavesdropping) concerns as a complaint against constant monitoring. But we are now allowing smart speakers/listeners in our homes so ¯_(ツ)_/¯. And I imagine the venue’s sound system is directly fed into the monitors, and not a literal microphone hanging out in the club.

I doubt DJs are worried about PRS recordings their sets or that monitoring reveals all their super-secret hottie tracks. The problem is a clause traditionally appearing in most DJs’ contracts that prevents recordings from happening for those reasons. The venues, understandably, want to adhere to the artist contract.

Is audio monitoring technically a recording? Regardless, this is a wild hiccup in the effort to use music recognition tech to determine accurate venue performance royalty distribution. DJs — add an exception in your contracts!

🔗→ Electronic Money: Dance Music and the Protracted Pursuit of Payment

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: Audio Recognition, DJ, Music Tech, Performance Royalty, PRS, Synchtank

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *



Related Posts

Songwriters Getting Paid as the Robots Listen Destroying the Perfect The Road is Seductive Foretelling a Future of Artist Autonomy

Connect

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Twitter

about

Howdy. I'm Michael Donaldson.

I think and write about music’s place in the 21st century. And I’m fascinated by how technology affects culture, especially in the ways we make and listen to music. I’m the founder of 8DSync, 8D Industries, and 8DPromo. Sometimes I'm a Q-Burns Abstract Message. But mostly I'm just trying to keep these damn cats out of my office.

Michael Donaldson

I like to send postcards to my friends, and if you'd like I'll send one to you.

Oh, and here's what I'm working on now.

listen

(or listen on Spotify)

follow

follow us in feedly

Follow

locate

latest posts

  • Foreign Dissent: International Punk Rock in a Digital Age
  • Don’t Reveal Your Magic
  • The Seven Book Challenge
  • Albums, Singles, and Setting Fan Expectations
  • Taking Back Our Fuel
  • #Worktones: Middle Eastern Experimentation, Kalbata ft. Tigris, Jason Lytle
  • A DJ’s Spin on Music Recognition Tech
  • Foretelling a Future of Artist Autonomy
  • Energy Fools the Magician
  • When Small Podcasts Want Big Music

hot topics

8DPromo Ambient Music Apple Apple Music Audio Audio Production Bandcamp Book Recommendations Brian Eno Copyright Creativity Crystal Ball Gazing Curation DJs Esoterica Film Krautrock Legal Matters Movie Recommendations Music Break Music History Music Licensing Music Publishing Music Recommendations Music Tech now Pandora Podcast Productivity PROs Record Labels Rights Management Royalties Sampling Social Media Songwriting SoundCloud Spotify Streaming Synthesizers Technology The State Of The Music Industry Video Vinyl YouTube

Copyright © 2019 · 8D Industries, LLC · Log in