Published
Tue, Mar 21, 2023, 12:20
- The collaboration aims to improve standards in metadata collection and ensure a fairer music ecosystem.
Aslice—a software designed to pay producers when their tracks are played by DJs—is teaming up with promotion platform FATdrop to get producers paid before their music is released.
The FATdrop interface allows producers to share their releases' metadata with Aslice. This metadata can then be matched to tracklists registered by DJs, who use Aslice to donate a portion of their fees to the producers whose music they play. To share their metadata, producers would tick a box in the FATdrop preferences.
According to Aslice—which was launched last year by techno artist DVS1—the lack of standards for collecting and displaying metadata has led to a crisis that has left billions of dollars unpaid to musicians.
"These are tough times for artists and labels, and providing new ways for artists to be paid when their music is played is a worthy cause," said FATdrop owner Alex Stacey. "As a fellow independent company, we admire [Aslice's] innovative grass-roots approach to improving the ecosystem for artists and labels. Thousands of A-list DJs check FATdrop every week to get their promos, and it makes sense for Aslice to have the data to match those releases with their owners. That way, when any of those DJs take part and donate a part of their DJ fees, the right people get paid."
Aslice works by identifying tracks using a machine-learning algorithm, matching them with producers registered on its system. It's compatible with rekordbox, Traktor and Serato, and as a standalone USB media to read playlists auto-generated on Pioneer DJ products.
Launched in 2007, FATdrop is used by industry professionals such as record labels and PR agencies to distribute watermarked promos to DJs, journalists and radio hosts, among others.
