In 2014, the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) launched the Get Played Get Paid campaign to promote the use of music recognition technology around the world. Its aim was to help Performing Rights Organisations (PROs) distribute royalties to emerging and underground artists. The initiative led to the emergence of new tech such as KUVO™ from Pioneer DJ, which now feeds data to numerous international PROs as well as BMAT, a global music monitoring organisation.

Since its launch in 2014, KUVO has provided an online service enabling club DJs to share their playlists in real time when they’re playing at a KUVO-connected club, helping the distribution of royalties to electronic music artists all over the world. While this service remains at the heart of KUVO, it has subsequently evolved into an immersive web and mobile-based community platform.

Now, KUVO also helps clubbers connect and discover new music and parties, and it provides a platform for DJs and venues to promote their events to dance music fans.

Clubs that want to use KUVO can currently get the KUVO box connected to their Pioneer DJ players and mixers^*1 for free. This box, along with the club’s free KUVO profile, enables DJs to share their playlists with BMAT and the relevant PROs via their own free profile. This helps to ensure music copyright owners are paid their share of royalties.

KUVO also gives DJs the opportunity to share their playlists in real time with fans, helping them build their following and connect with people on the dancefloor and around the world.

APRA AMCOS leads the charge in using new technology to identify music played by DJs in nightclubs. It was the first PRO to sign with Pioneer DJ for KUVO reports and the first to use the data in its royalty distributions to songwriters, composers and publishers. Frank Rodi, Innovation & Electronic Music Specialist at APRA AMCOS, says, “With the dramatic shift in how people consume and pay for music, getting more accurate distributions from nightclub revenues is essential to maintain the nightclub ecosystem and encourage artists to continue writing and producing quality electronic and club tunes.”

Carine Libert, CEO of Sabam, the Belgian collecting society for authors of music, audio/visual works, performing and visual arts, says, “In Belgium we have a long history of dance music and clubbing, so gathering data about the music performed by DJs has always been one of our priorities. DJs are supposed to provide us with their playlists of 100 and more tracks, but this proves to be burdensome after a long set. By using KUVO, playlists are immediately available after their set. This playlist will allow collecting societies to pay out the collected licence fee to the authors of the music.”

Pioneer DJ partnered with BMAT to efficiently deliver KUVO data to as many PROs as possible. As of December 2018, 14 leading PROs in 11 territories across 3 continents are receiving KUVO data.

Mark Grotefeld, General Manager – Marketing, of Pioneer DJ Europe Ltd, says, “We’re delighted to be working with BMAT to help distribute our free KUVO data to PROs globally. This partnership is vital to ensure we achieve some degree of scale in the distribution of KUVO data and thus aid in the accuracy of distribution of royalties to underrepresented electronic music producers.”

BMAT monitors more than 7,000 sources of music in radio, TV, digital streams and venues worldwide, matching with a database of more than 50 million unique tracks received from hundreds of thousands of labels to serve over 100 PROs. Some 92 million identifications are delivered monthly and 2 trillion digital transactions are overseen every year.

Alex Loscos, CEO at BMAT, says, “The speed at which PROs have signed with BMAT for the KUVO electronic music service is unprecedented. There is a desire to implement new solutions to identify electronic music, and streaming usages provide an efficient, transparent and cost-effective way to do that, which is aligned with our values and will ensure that this genre receives the recognition it deserves.”

As of October 2018, 1.2 million clubbers and DJs have listened to 1.7 million tracks from 70,000 playlists generated by almost 500 KUVO boxes installed in clubs around the world. Club locations include Ibiza, London, New York, Sydney, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore, Dubai, Tokyo and Berlin.

With Pioneer DJ equipment installed in 80% of the club market and no cost for using KUVO, streaming data could be the solution for most electronic music clubs and festivals to report to PROs. In turn, royalty distribution would be significantly more accurate, with more copyright holders receiving royalties – especially the up-and-coming and more underground artists.

Markus Bos, CEO at Sena – the organisation that represents music makers in the Netherlands and ensures artists, session musicians and producers receive royalties – says: “It’s in the interest of the performers and record companies whom we represent that the applicable rightsholders receive their rightful remuneration. Processing reliable usage data from as many sources as possible in an efficient manner enables us to achieve that target. Today we still have to rely largely on the reference repertoires from mainstream radio stations, which don’t typically play the music played in clubs. We therefore welcome solutions like KUVO which can be added to our data sources, as implementing new technology in our processes is part of our DNA.”

Pioneer DJ supports the electronic music community in mobilising and reaping the benefits of this cultural shift. “We urge clubs and festivals to install KUVO; DJs to add the KUVO box in their riders; producers, labels and publishers to register themselves and their catalogues with PROs; and anyone creating or working with track information to follow the guidelines set out in AFEM’s Metadata Best Practice Guide”.

Greg Marshall, General Manager of AFEM, says, “KUVO provides a credible source of music reporting from DJ events. It is encouraging to see a growing number of Performing Rights and Neighbouring Rights Organisations now utilising this to improve the accuracy of their royalty distributions to creators and rightsholders. We hope to see this trend continue so that the royalties generated at DJ events worldwide can flow with ever-growing accuracy to the people whose music is actually played.”

*1 Requires Pro DJ Link in the set-up. For details, please check the System Configuration Guide.

Contact

If you run a club or festival and you’re interested in installing a KUVO box, click here

If you’re a PRO interested in receiving KUVO data, please email the BMAT Venues Team at venues@bmat.com and visit https://www.bmat.com/cmos/ for more information.

If you’d like further information on PRO membership, registering your music, metadata management, and/or you’d like to become a member of AFEM and become part of the voice advocating for change, please contact Tristan Hunt at membership@afemorg.net

For more information, contact Pioneer DJ European marketing department: pr.eu@pioneerdj.com