Sony inks deal with Dubset, becomes first major to monetize illegal remixes

Sony Records has finalized an agreement with start-up Dubset to become the first major label legalized for remixing. The move is a major step forward in effectively monetizing remixes (derivative content) for rights holders and labels.

Established as a platform to “unravel the complexities associated with licensing and distributing derivative content and changing how it is monetized”, Dubset raised $4 million (US) earlier in 2017 to assist in paying out royalty deals to Sony and the 35,000 other small publishers and labels its onboarding to its content identification service, MixSCAN.

MixSCAN, along with complimentary proprietary technology MixBANK, scans samples, identifies rights owners, and clears the track for distribution on Apple Music or Spotify. Using this technology, a 60-minute mix can be processed in just 15 minutes.

In combination with self-reporting, MixSCAN will fingerprint every three seconds of audio. Dubset CEO Stephen White offered more details on the technology (via The Verge): “We are using a combination of audio fingerprinting technologies and fairly advanced algorithmic approaches to identify the underlying masters that are being used in a mix or remix.”

White further revealing to The Verge that “the average mix is 62 minutes long and has 22 different songs in it, and those 22 different songs are represented by over 100 different rights holders.”

With this technology, Dubset looks to avoid some of the challenges experienced by SoundCloud during its ongoing growth phase.

According to a statement by Dubset’s content manager Alex Dias to The Verge, “Sony was open to the deal because it not only opens up another revenue stream for them, it also revitalizes their back catalog.”

While Sony can set rules to restrict some of its content, White asserts “the majority” of the catalog will be available.

Dubset has already tested out the service, recently clearing a DJ set by H.O.S.H. for Apple Music.

White and company are currently looking to finalize similar deals with Universal Music Group and Warner Music.

More details at Techcrunch and The Verge.