Universal Music Group (UMG) has entered into a multi-year, direct licensing agreement with digital audio streaming platform Mixcloud.
The global agreement, excluding China and Japan, includes payment for previous use of UMG’s music.
Under the agreement, UMG’s recording artists will be compensated for the use of their music on Mixcloud’s ad-supported and future subscription services.
Mixcloud hosts more than 15 million radio shows, DJ sets, and podcasts and attracts over 17m monthly users.
Programming is produced by over 1.25 million curators and tastemakers including artists such as David Guetta, Tiësto and David Byrne.
The platform also features independent radio stations like London’s NTS and New York’s The Lot Radio, as well as podcasts from The Guardian, Monocle, and more.
“Our platform ensures that all rights-holders are paid fairly for the use of their work.”
Nico Perez, Mixcloud
The service, which was founded in 2008, signed a direct licensing deal with Warner Music in October 2017.
The agreement with UMG means that the London-born platform is one step closer to launching a subscription service, but it still needs to close a deal with Sony.
“Our focus has always been on empowering artists and curators alike, and this deal with Universal Music will help us usher in a new era of collaboration in which everyone wins,” said Nico Perez, Co-Founder at Mixcloud.
“Our platform ensures that all rights-holders are paid fairly for the use of their work in long-form audio, and we are excited to work directly with the world’s largest record label Universal Music to continue to enhance what we can offer to our curators, their listeners, and to the artists that created the great tracks in the first place.”
James Healy, UMG’s Vice President of Digital Business added: “Mixcloud has developed an innovative platform where audiences can uniquely discover artists and experience music through curated stations, podcasts, DJ sets and other influencer-driven audio formats.
“Working together, we will expand the programming that’s available across Mixcloud and give their passionate fans more choice over how they consume music and interact with their favorite artists.”
Mixcloud’s Content ID system identifies music within radio shows and mixes and tracks usage to pay out royalties to local collecting societies such as SoundExchange and the performing rights societies in the US.
“We’ve worked hard to get licenses in place with appropriate collection agencies as we’ve built proprietary content ID technology that can determine individual tracks in mixes,” wrote Nikhil Shah, Co-Founder and Commercial Director of Mixcloud in a blog for MBW last year.
“In these ways, Mixcloud can ensure that all rightsholders get paid.”Music Business Worldwide
