Imagine if the money paid for music in a cafe was split based on what people actually heard, rather than just what the top 20 radio stations play. This project uses digital fingerprinting—like a sonic barcode—to track exactly which songs are played in shops and bars. It then shares this data so artists get paid fairly and business owners know if their music actually helps them make more money.
Music royalties for background play are currently distributed using outdated data from a few top radio stations, leading to unfair payments. Venues also lack data to prove if music actually increases their revenue.
A digital platform using audio fingerprinting to track music played in venues and a dashboard to share this data with creators, venues, and policy makers.
If you are a restaurant chain dealing with unknown returns on atmosphere investments — this project developed a digital platform that lets you assess the value of music for your revenue. You can finally see if specific playlists actually increase customer well-being and spending.
If you are a CMO dealing with unfair royalty distributions based on limited radio data — this project developed a fingerprinting-based data system that tracks actual music use in venues. This ensures payments to right holders are based on real-world play counts rather than estimates.
If you are a creator dealing with a winner-takes-all economy where you barely make a living — this project developed a transparency dashboard that shows exactly where your music is played. This allows you to identify new business opportunities based on actual usage data.
Based on available project data, specific pricing or implementation costs are not provided, though a business model for further use is being designed.
Yes, the consortium includes 5 CMOs across 6 countries, indicating the system is designed for wide-scale deployment within the EU music ecosystem.
The project focuses on improving the distribution of author and neighboring rights; a governance structure for the dashboard's use after the project is a key objective.
The project specifically addresses fees mandated by national intellectual property laws and involves a European lobby company for artists to ensure alignment.
The project runs from 2023-03-01 to 2026-02-28, with development split into two 18-month iterations.
The consortium is heavily industry-weighted with a 40% industry ratio, comprising 10 partners across 6 countries. The presence of 5 Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) and 3 SMEs ensures that the technical development is directly tied to the entities that collect and distribute royalties, significantly reducing the gap between research and market application.
Contact Stichting VU in the Netherlands
Contact us to connect with the Music360 consortium for early access to the royalty dashboard.
