Tidal Introduces Royalty Tracking Capabilities for Musicians

Tidal, the music streaming platform, has unveiled innovative functionalities designed to empower artists with the ability to monitor their royalties and oversee their contributions as songwriters on the service.

Navigating the realm of music royalties is notoriously intricate. In the United States, every collaborator on a track, encompassing songwriters and performers, must enlist with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) to receive an Interested Party Information (IPI) code, marking them as the rightful owners of the music. PROs across various territories are tasked with tracking the usage of songs and ensuring artists are compensated accordingly.

A significant hurdle artists face involves the meticulous tracking of royalties and identifying the usage locations of their creations. Royalty rights distinguish between mechanical reproduction (like CDs, MP3s, vinyl records, film soundtracks, and uploads on streaming platforms) and performance rights (covers public performances, broadcasts, or streams).

For those artists already associated with a PRO and possessing an IPI number, Tidal facilitates profile claiming post verification of documents, thereby enabling royalty tracking. Tidal has augmented its interface with a dashboard that provides details on the artist’s IPI, PRO, and publisher details, in addition to showcasing which recordings have comprehensive artist and royalty registrations, unlisted tracks on Tidal, and any content that might belong to the artist but lacks proper accreditation.

Emerging artists have the opportunity to register with AllTrack, a digital PRO that monitors data on streaming services, and entertainment avenues among others. There is also the choice to join the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), a nonprofit organization tasked with the collection and distribution of royalties for streams and downloads within the U.S.

Moreover, Tidal has introduced a toolkit allowing artists to scrutinize the metadata of tracks or albums to verify if royalty divisions are accurately recorded, with provisions to suggest modifications if necessary.

These tools are accessible to artists at no cost. Tidal leverages its expansive catalog alongside third-party data to maintain accurate royalty information.

Agustina Sacerdote, the global head of product at Tidal, shared with TechCrunch the initiative behind this dashboard development, citing the necessity for modernized and straightforward tools for artists owing to the obsolescence and complexity of existing solutions.

Acknowledging the pivotal role of songwriters within the collaborative web that defines music production, Tidal aims to address the need for refined and accessible tools tailored for them. Alongside, venture-backed startups like Mogul and Mozaic are also venturing into solutions addressing the unclaimed royalties tracking and simplification of royalty sharing among collaborators, respectively.

Under Block’s ownership, Tidal reveals a pronounced focus on crafting products that cater to artists’ needs over consumer-facing features. This approach contrasts with platforms like Spotify, which broadens its reach with social features and educational services while also accommodating artist merchandising and ticket sales.

In its continuous endeavor to enhance artist connection and engagement, last year, Tidal introduced Collabs for facilitating collaborative ventures among artists for tracks or live performances. Plans are underway to test new features for artist-to-fan engagement through Square, coupled with potential expedited payment solutions via Cash App, as revealed to TechCrunch by the company.