Songwriters are the creative force behind the music industry, yet they face an uphill battle when it comes to earning royalties from their works. Unlike recording artists who can supplement their income through tours, merchandise, and other revenue streams, songwriters rely heavily on composition royalties. However, tracking and monetizing those royalties across the digital landscape has been an enormous challenge – until Pex’s melody matching came along. Our melody matching technology is changing the game for songwriters and music publishers by identifying more uses of their copyrighted material online, allowing them to receive proper attribution and payment.
The royalty struggle is real for songwriters
To understand the importance of melody matching, it’s crucial to recognize the unique obstacles songwriters and music publishers encounter in the modern music era. Songwriters own the rights to the musical composition itself (melody, lyrics, chord progressions), while recording artists and record labels own the rights to the specific sound recording. When different artists release “cover” versions of a song, the original songwriters are owed royalties for each recorded use. Music publishers ensure songwriters receive payment when their works are used.
Composition identification challenges
Historically, compositions could only be reliably identified when directly attached to a known master recording. Technologies like audio fingerprinting match different versions of a sound recording, but fall short when it comes to identifying distinct recordings of the same underlying composition, like cover songs. Even when recordings are successfully matched, there are often problems with full attribution due to incomplete metadata and splits (percentages owed to each songwriter/publisher per composition). This results in unclaimed “black box” royalties that may be paid out to the wrong rightsholders if the true songwriters can’t be properly identified.
Enter melody matching
While audio fingerprinting excels at matching identical or lightly altered versions of a master recording, melody matching takes a revolutionary approach focused solely on the composition itself.
How melody matching works
- Distinctive “fingerprints” are created by analyzing the melody and other core musical components of a composition
- These fingerprints are matched against a database to find any version or recording containing that same melodic identity
- Every new match represents a previously unidentified use of the composition that can now be properly attributed and monetized
Benefits for songwriters and music publishers
- Uncovers cover songs, live performances, sampling, and other renditions that audio fingerprinting misses
- Increases market share on digital platforms by claiming more uses
- Allows songwriters to be paid from previously unclaimed “black box” royalties
- Provides data to negotiate better licensing deals
- Brings greater overall attribution, royalty payments, and fair compensation
The future of music royalties
While obstacles still exist, melody matching is a gamechanger for an industry historically challenged with properly identifying and paying songwriters and publishers. By focusing on the core composition itself rather than individual recordings, this technology ensures the true creators behind the music are recognized and compensated for their works across all versions and use cases.
Contact us to get a demo of melody matching and learn how Pex can help you find uses of your music.
