In the ever-evolving music industry, ensuring accurate attribution and compensation for songwriters and musicians has become a pressing concern. As major players like Apple and Spotify demand better information from labels about the songs they’re pushing to streaming services, companies are scrambling to clean up their data and provide proper attribution.
Enter Exactuals, a software service offering payments management specifically tailored to the music industry. Their new tool, R.AI, is being touted as the ‘Palantir for music’ – a service that can track songwriting information and rights across different platforms to ensure accurate attribution for music distributors.
The Problem: Disparate Data Sources
With over 700,000 disparate places where data could be stored, publishing technology companies are struggling to identify and track all the relevant information. This is where R.AI comes in – an open API-based on machine learning that matches disparate data sources to clean and enhance it so rights holders can get paid and attribution happens.
How R.AI Works
The R.AI service is tracking 59 million songs for their ‘Interested Party Identifiers’ (IPIs), International Standard Work Codes (ISWCs), and International Standard Recording Codes (ISRCs). These identifiers are vital to ensuring that songwriters and musicians are properly paid for their work every time a song is streamed, downloaded, covered, or viewed on a distribution platform.
According to Chris McMurtry, the head of music product at Exactuals:
"In the music business, songwriters have the equivalent of a social security number, which is attached to any song they write so they can receive credit and payment. That’s the IPI. Performers of songs have their own identifier, which is the ISWC. Then the song itself gets its own code, called the ISRC, which is used to track a song as it’s performed by other artists through various covers, samples, and remixes."
The Benefits of R.AI
Publishing technology companies can use R.AI to track rights across their huge catalog of music. For labels, it’s an easy way to provide services like Apple and Spotify with the information they’re now demanding. Mike Hurst, Exactuals’ chief executive, explained:
"R.AI is the best way for publishers to track rights across a huge catalog of music, and for labels, it’s an easy way to provide services like Apple and Spotify with the information they’re now demanding."
The Impact on the Music Industry
The introduction of R.AI has significant implications for the music industry. With accurate attribution and compensation, songwriters and musicians will be able to benefit from their work more directly. This is a major step forward in ensuring that creators are fairly compensated for their contributions.
As the demand for better information from labels continues to grow, companies like Exactuals are leading the way with innovative solutions like R.AI. By leveraging machine learning and open API-based technology, they’re making it easier for rights holders to get paid and attribution happens.
Conclusion
The music industry is facing a major challenge in ensuring accurate attribution and compensation for songwriters and musicians. With the introduction of R.AI by Exactuals, there’s a new hope for a more transparent and fair system. This innovative tool has the potential to revolutionize the way rights holders are paid and attributed, making it easier for creators to benefit from their work.
As the demand for better information continues to grow, companies like Exactuals will be at the forefront of providing solutions that meet the needs of the music industry. With R.AI leading the way, there’s a brighter future ahead for songwriters, musicians, and rights holders alike.
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