Exploration Weekly - DiMA and SONA Push “Credits Due” Initiative / APRA AMCOS Uses Audio Recognition Tech / YT Creators Can Now Edit VODs Into a Short

Aaron Davis -



Trade bodies Digital Media Association (DiMA) and Songwriters of North America (SONA) pushed the “Credits Due” initiative together during a songwriting camp in July. Credits Due was launched in 2021 in hopes of establishing a standard for accurate song metadata.

APRA AMCOS recently partnered with British music tech startup Audoo in order to utilize their Audio Meters tech devices that plug into the wall, recognize what music is playing, and provide data. The move is intended to give a more accurate insight onto which songs are being heard in business premises.

YouTube announced that creators can now convert up to 60 seconds of content from their long-form videos into new Shorts. The tool will pop up as “Edit into a Short” if you’re watching a VOD on mobile, and the published Short will then link back to the source content.

In this newsletter:

Now, the details...
Compiled by Heidi Seo


Exploration Weekly - Aug 5, 2022

“Make Better Data Sexy” Again: Streaming and Songwriter Groups Team Up for “Credits Due” Initiative

The Digital Media Association (DiMA) and Songwriters of North America (SONA) have partnered together to push a new initiative called Credits Due during a songwriting camp in July where 24 songwriters, producers, and artists worked in groups of three to compose new songs together for a day. Established by the Ivors Academy of Music Creators and the Music Rights Awareness Foundation in 2021, Credits Due is a global initiative that tries to bring the entire music business together to establish a standard for accurate song metadata. Getting accurate songwriter names, percentages of copyright ownership, and other key data points from the inception of a song can be the difference between collecting thousands or millions of dollars in royalty payments from sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and more or — in severe cases — getting nothing, simply because platform does not know or is mistaken about where to send the royalties for a song.

Audoo Strikes Deal with APRA AMCOS for Use of Audio Recognition Tech

British music tech startup Audoo’s Audio Meters are small devices that plug into the wall, recognize what music is playing, and provide data that aims to give a more accurate insight onto which songs are being heard in business premises. The Australasian Performing Right Association and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA AMCOS) has now announced a partnership with Audoo, which will see these meters deployed in venues across Australia. Audio Meters will be used in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, in commercial venues like bars, gyms, cafes and shops; and data on the music being played will be shared with APRA AMCOS, which will use the data in its calculations when paying members for use of their work.

YouTube Creators Can Now Turn Old VODs Into New Shorts

YouTube says its newest Shorts feature will “bring fresh life” to creators’ “classic content.” How? By letting creators convert up to 60 seconds of content from their long-form videos into new Shorts. The tool—which simply pops up as “Edit into a Short” if you’re watching a VOD on mobile—lets creators use YouTube Shorts’ suite of editing tools to turn the selected clip into a full-fledged short-form video. The published Short then links back to the source content “so that people watching your Short can see the original video too,” Team YouTube said in a Community post about the feature. Lifestyle creator Hannah Warling (444K subscribers) tells Tubefilter she sees the new tool as a way for long-form creators to break into making short-form content. YouTube says this feature is now rolling out to all creators on iOS and Android devices.

Live Nation Reports $4.4B in Revenue as Fan Attendance Hits Quarterly High

Live Nation posted $4.4 billion in revenue during the second quarter as fan attendance soared to 33.4 million across 12,500 events, the company reported on Thursday. Total tickets sold for the year has hit 100 million, which already exceeds Live Nation’s pre-pandemic fan count in 2019. The company also reported $318.7 million in operating income during the quarter, a comeback from the $127.3 million loss reported last year. Concerts accounted for $3.6 billion in revenue, followed by $575.3 million from tickets, according to the company’s Q2 earnings report. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said that fans attending shows in Live Nation’s owned and operated venues reached 14 million during Q2, and the company expects that figure to hit 50 million for the full year.

Spotify to Roll Out Separate “Shuffle” and “Play” Buttons for Paying Users

Spotify is rolling out separate buttons for “Shuffle” and “Play,” allowing users to choose whether or not they want to listen to an album, playlist or an artist in order on the Spotify app. “This new change will allow you to choose the mode you prefer at the top of playlists and albums and listen the way you want to,” the company said Monday (August 1). “Whether you love the joy of the unexpected with Shuffle mode, or prefer listening to tunes in order by simply pressing Play, Spotify has you covered.” The feature is expected to be available in the coming weeks through updates on iOS and Android mobile devices. Spotify also announced that it will only offer the new feature to Premium subscribers.

India-Based Telco Airtel Poised to Buy Loss-Making Spotify Challenger Gaana

Indian telecommunication services firm Bharti Airtel is said to be in ‘serious talks’ to buy India-based Spotify rival Gaana. The potential deal would see Airtel expand its music streaming offerings as it already runs a similar platform called Wynk Music. Founded in 2011, Gaana hosts popular Bollywood, Hindi, regional, and international music on its platform. The potential acquisition was reported on Tuesday (August 2) by Billboard, citing people familiar with the matter. If confirmed, the merger of these two platforms would allow Airtel to grab a bigger share of India’s audio streaming market that is expected to reach $870 million in scale by 2025, according to Inc42.

Random Ramblings

  • The strange history and confusing present of the VMAs’ best longform video category.
  • Is old music really exploding on TikTok, or has our definition of ‘catalog’ become outdated?
  • Pop stars, private jets, and the bigger picture.
  • How the art of Greek dancing builds musical muscle memory.
  • The meaning and legacy of Aqua’s pop anthem.



Who is Exploration?

Exploration is proud to be the company of choice to administer much of the world’s most important media. We rely on advanced technology and a competent, full-time staff of 50+ people to help our clients and partners better control their data and collect their money.

We wrote a free book on how the music business works.

Download our catalog metadata template, which offers the minimum viable data needed to collect publishing royalties.

To see who is collecting your royalties, request a free copyright audit.