Song data startup Session, co-founded by Max Martin, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, Niclas Molinder, strikes partnership with SoundCloud

Earlier this year, MBW told you about how superstar artist Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA had teamed up with fellow Swedish producer/songwriters Max Martin and Niclas Molinder to develop technology that aims to combat inadequate creator data collection via their startup, Session.

In March, the trio launched a free data tool called Session Studio, which at the time, had already secured over £1 million ($1.3m) in funding from two notable investors – Spotify and YouTube – while its other supporters include ProTools-maker Avid, Universal Music Group, and DDEX.

Session Studio is embedded within Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) to capture song information and data at the point of creation.

On Tuesday (October 4), Session announced a new partnership with SoundCloud, that will see the music streaming platform digitally receive both song audio and song metadata directly from the Session Studio app.

Martin, Molinder and Ulvaeus’ startup, Session, is an evolution of Auddly, which the trio launched a few years back to “fill the gap in the music industry’s data and money flow”.

The startup’s Session studio platform enables songwriters/producers to assign credit to multiple creators in the studio via its ‘Creator Credits’ system – and to set the splits of royalties each of these creators will receive in future.

After creating a free Session Studio account, SoundCloud artists can now go into their Session Studio profile and ‘connect’ it securely to their SoundCloud account by entering their normal credentials.

To upload music to SoundCloud, artists will need to create a ‘release’ of one or more tracks inside Session Studio. Session says that once created, they will appear in their SoundCloud account “almost instantly”.

Each year, royalties worth an estimated $655 million (£500m) globally are not paid to the correct rightsholders due to bad data.

Session and SoundCloud are supporters of Credits Due, a global initiative launched by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus to ensure complete and accurate song metadata is attached to all recordings at the point of creation.

BMG became one of the first international music companies to commit to the initiative, and, in addition to SoundCloud, the likes of Hipgnosis and Kobalt Music Publishing are also listed amongst the campaign’s supporters. 

“This partnership is a major milestone in our effort to equip creators with the tools to earn.”

Eliah Seton, SoundCloud

Eliah Seton, President of SoundCloud said:  “At SoundCloud, we are passionately devoted to getting creators paid with fairness and transparency.

“Max Martin, Bjorn, Niclas and the whole Session team are changing the game to get songwriters the credit they deserve. This partnership is a major milestone in our effort to equip creators with the tools to earn.”

“Session’s partnership with SoundCloud showcases the best of the music industry and technology working together for the benefit of music creators today and the future generations to come.”

Björn Ulvaeus

Björn Ulvaeus, Co-Founder of Session, added: “Technology has made it incredibly easy in recent years to upload and share music, but until now the power of technology hasn’t been embraced by the music industry to ensure music creators are adequately credited and rewarded.

“Session’s partnership with SoundCloud showcases the best of the music industry and technology working together for the benefit of music creators today and the future generations to come.”Music Business Worldwide