Music streaming service Tidal has introduced a new feature that allows artists to track royalties and control the music they write and create on the platform.
Music copyright royalties are very complicated. In the US, all collaborators on a particular track, including composers and performers, must register with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) and obtain an Interparty Information (IPI) number that identifies them as rights holders for the track. PROs in various territories then track where the track is being used and ensure royalties are paid to the artist.
The biggest challenge for artists here is keeping track of royalties and where their work has been used. There are different royalties for mechanical reproductions (CDs, MP3s, records, movie soundtracks, availability on streaming services) and performances (playing in public, airplay, streaming).
Artists who already have PRO and IPI numbers can claim their profile on Tidal and start tracking royalties after verifying their paperwork. Tidal has added a dashboard that shows an artist's IPI, PRO and publisher information, recordings that have all their artist and royalty information registered, tracks that Tidal doesn't have a matching listing for, and tracks that Tidal believes may be the artist's work but haven't been properly credited.
Image credit: Tidal
For artists just getting started, Tidal offers the option to sign up with AllTrack, a digital PRO that tracks data on streaming services, TV and radio stations, entertainment venues, and local businesses, as well as the option to join the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), a non-profit organization that collects and pays royalties to artists for streams and downloads in the U.S.
Additionally, Tidal's new toolkit allows artists to check the metadata of their tracks or albums to see if their royalty distribution is accurately stated and suggest changes if necessary.
Image credit: Tidal
Artists can use these tools for free, and Tidal uses its own catalog and third-party data to track royalty information.
Agustina Sacerdote, global head of product at Tidal, told TechCrunch that the company decided to develop the dashboard because the current toolset available to artists is outdated or too complicated.
“If we really want to be an artist-first company, we need to recognize that the lead artist is often the public persona associated with the song, but it's an entire ecosystem of collaborators and contributors that make the project happen. We believe songwriters are a critical part of the ecosystem, and the tools built for them are outdated and complicated, so we decided to tackle that problem,” she said.
Not surprisingly, several venture-backed startups are trying to solve this problem: Wonder Ventures and United Talent Agency-backed Mogul offers tools to help artists track unclaimed royalties, while Mozaic, which just raised $20 million in a Series A round from Volition Capital, is building a solution to make it easier to split royalties among collaborators.
Tidal, under Block's ownership, appears to be more focused on developing products for artists than for consumers. Spotify, for example, has branched out into a wide range of areas, including podcasts, social music features and online learning services for consumers, in addition to allowing artists to sell merchandise and tickets.
Meanwhile, Tidal released Collabs last year to help artists find people to work with on tracks and live shows. The company told TechCrunch it's testing new features to connect artists and fans through Square, and Block is looking into using Cash App to speed up payments to artists.