Spotify and YouTube have provided a grant of £1 million to Session, a music collaboration tool that increases accuracy for royalty distribution.
Session’s apps provide a companion tool for music creators that enables them to collaborate, log who did what, where, and when, and distribute information to industry partners. The aim is to ensure that creators are always fairly credited and rewarded for their work, increasing accuracy for royalty distribution.
Session, formerly known as Auddly, works by capturing audio, lyrics and credits, and sends this data to music industry stakeholders using international data standards.
It was co-founded by ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus and Swedish songwriters and producers Max Martin and Niclas Molinder (pictured).
Bjorn Ulvaeus said: “Creators should be allowed to make music together without having to worry about the administration around metadata. But, millions of creators miss out on fair payment and credit for their work due to inaccurate song or recording information. The music industry deserves better and I’m convinced that Session’s apps can help it become fairer and more transparent. We’re delighted that two of the biggest DSPs are now supporting our mission, and look forward to other DSPs joining this collaboration.”
Millions of creators miss out on fair payment and credit for their work due to inaccurate song or recording information
Bjorn Ulvaeus
Ulvaeus recently launched the Credits Due campaign, following the Ivors Academy report on the £500m of unallocated black box royalties every year.
Jules Parker, head of songwriter and publishing relations for Spotify, said: “While the internet era has helped advance the music industry in so many ways, the sharing of crucial metadata and context around the creation of the song – who wrote what and in what proportion, among other things – has unfortunately lagged. Session’s much needed technology helps musicians seamlessly embed, share and receive credit for their work from the initial point of creation. What they’re doing for musicians is so important, because not only does it encourage deeper connections with fans and create more opportunities for future work, it can help facilitate more accurate and timely royalty payments.”
Carletta Higginson, director of music publishing for YouTube, said: “Solving the lack of ownership information in the music publishing industry remains an ongoing challenge and one which YouTube is committed to fixing. We're thrilled to be supporting Session's mission to invest and innovate with the ultimate goal of ensuring composers and songwriters are properly credited and paid for their work. Doing so will allow for continued creativity that music lovers around the world can enjoy.”
The Session Studio suite of mobile and desktop applications are available in beta and will launch fully on December 22, 2021.
