In December 2021, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) will conduct a trial for Audoo Audio Meter, a device which utilizes fingerprint technology to automatically identify the music being played. The device will be placed in venues to verify its accuracy in identifying music and to understand its operational issues. It will be the first time for JASRAC to collect the log of music played in the category of performing rights using fingerprint technology.

The Audio Meter is a device developed and provided by Audoo Limited (CEO: Ryan Edwards), a startup company based in London, UK. It continuously captures the fingerprints of music played in venues, matches them against a database, and automatically produces a list of identified titles. Audoo Limited was named the winner in the Music Marketing & Data/Analytics category of Midemlab 2020, a competition of music tech startups hosted by Midem.

Upon the trial, the devices will be placed in DJ bars "Shibuya CLUB BALL" and "THE ROOM" located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, with cooperation from Japan Dance Music & DJ Association (Representative Director: TSUNODA Atsushi). The association's online live DJ program "Japan DJ.net -ONLINE-" will also be an occasion for the trial, verifying music at the location of the DJ play.

JASRAC will continue to promote its initiatives in distributing royalties received from music users to right-owners more accurately and at a lower cost through utilization of technologies.

◆Comments on the trial roll-out

TSUNODA Atsushi (Watusi)
- Representative Director of Japan Dance Music & DJ Association, COLDFEET

Back then, in that club, the DJ played my song. Feeling of joy, but there aren't many musicians who imagine that the rights of that song will work for the benefit of themselves. The reason for that - the mystery behind blanket licensing, how usage reports are in fact collected - and its issues have been discussed, but concrete future didn't come into our sights. Now, JASRAC is trying to break new ground, opening the way for such a future by utilizing a new device. While thanking the historic clubs which launched bids to this trial, I'd like to see a future that's clear and concrete as soon as possible. And that's because sampling methods just don't fit in the era of blockchains.

SUZUKI Takayuki

- EnterTech Accelerator, Japanese Ambassador for Midem, Midemlab jury member

The world's music technologies have resolved the music industry's issues and are liberating creators' expressions and possibilities. From the global music tech startup event Midemlab, which I am a jury member of, young and promising music tech companies have come up one after another. It is wonderful for JASRAC to form a partnership with one of these companies, Audoo, and to work towards solving the issues of Japanese creators and right-owners by utilizing data.

Ryan Edwards
- Founder and CEO, Audoo Limited）

We are delighted to be announcing our partnership with JASRAC and are committed to delivering the most accurate data possible to both them and performing rights organizations across the world. By working in close partnership and offering the newest technology solutions, we can ensure artists are paid more accurately both now and for years to come. This mission is everything to us.

◆Japan Dance Music & DJ Association
Established in March 2019 to heighten the social and cultural value of DJs and to aim for the promotion and development of dance music, the organization hosts an online DJ play program "Japan DJ.net -ONLINE-" every weekend (Fridays and Saturdays) from July 17, 2021. The program realizes legitimate online DJ play in the Covid-19 pandemic by obtaining prior approval not only from JASRAC and other copyright management organizations but also from major domestic neighboring rights owners.

JAPAN DJ.NET (in Japanese)　 https://japandjnet.com/
Japan DJ.net-ONLINE- (in Japanese)　https://spinear.com/webcast/

◆Midem
The world's largest international music industry trade show, held in Cannes, France. Midemlab is a music tech startup competition taking place during Midem.

Midem official website https://www.midem.com/en-gb.html


◆Audoo Audio Meter
Device with high-performance sound-collecting microphone and mobile internet communication function which neither records nor sends audio data itself but captures a song's fingerprint (wave data of sounds) and matches it against a database. Details such as song titles, identified through the matching process, are automatically complied into a list.

Audoo Limited official website https://audoo.com/


◆Participating venues

Shibuya CLUB BALL
4th floor, Kuretake Building, 4-9 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0042

THE ROOM
B1 floor, Dai 8 Touto Building, 15-19 Sakuragaoka-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031