Apple Music has announced the platform will ID tracks and pay out artists accordingly within DJ mixes.
Using the widely popular Shazam technology, acquired by Apple in 2018 for $400 million, Apple Music has developed a method that will properly identify and compensate all of the individual creators involved in making a particular DJ mix — including the artists behind the music.
There are already thousands of DJ mixes available on Apple Music from Studio !K7, Boiler Room, Mixmag, Cercle and more. Over Black Music month, the platform commissioned DJ mixes from Honey Dijon, Amorphous, DBN Gogo, DJ Clue, Dām Funk, Funk Flex and others. In addition, Charlotte de Witte recently launched an exclusive residency mix series via Apple Music.
This type of payout model has been a long time coming, and will undoubtedly set the bar for other platforms that stream DJ mixes regularly. At this time, Apple Music does not allow user generated content and will only publish mixes from artists that have identified 70% of the combined tracks.
Major players in the dance music industry are raving about the new feature…
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. I’m beyond excited to have the chance to provide online mixes again. There’s a different approach to it compared to playing a peak time set in a club or at a festival. It enables me to, without any limits, offer an insight in my music collection. – Charlotte De Witte
This is a big moment for !K7. Through the partnership with Apple we finally have a place to celebrate DJ-Kicks with additional 14 editions which haven‘t been in the market for over 15 years. – Horst Weidenmueller, Founder, Studio !K7
Tomorrowland is delighted that Apple Music subscribers around the world can now go down memory lane and immerse themselves in more than 100 iconic full Tomorrowland DJ sets from the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 festival editions, as well as the digital editions of Tomorrowland – Around the World and Tomorrowland 31.12.2020. Previously unavailable on streaming, legendary performances from the likes of Alesso, Amelie Lens, Carl Cox, Charlotte de Witte, David Guetta, Diplo, Hardwell, Major Lazer, Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers, Tiësto and many more are now available to stream and relive – united in one magical place. – Filip Teerlinck, Head of Media, Tomorrowland
In 1992 Mixmag invented the world’s first mix CD ‘Mixmag Live’ with Carl Cox and Dave Seaman. It changed mix-tape culture, ensuring for the first time that the music heard at raves and clubs could be bought and heard whilst the royalties were paid fairly to the featured artists and DJs. Now almost 30 years later Mixmag fully backs Apple Music’s new DJ Mix technology. Mixmag’s always recognised, showcased and empowered dance music producers – working with Apple Music continues our commitment to those artists. Ensuring DJs, producers, rights holders and suppliers are given long term financial pay outs from mixes containing their work is vital in our industry and Apple Music have just made that accessible to everyone. – Nick Stevenson, Managing Director, Mixmag
