Artists and rights holders looking to track and manage their works on the web will be familiar with Pex, which helps identify uses of their works and manage copyright licensing to get them paid for that usage. And DJs and dance music insiders will be well acquainted with Dubset Media, which has worked to license DJ mixes and get creators paid for the past several years.
Now, Pex has announced it is acquiring Dubset Media Holdings, in a deal that Techcrunch has ballparked between $25 million and $50 million. The acquisition opens up Dubset's licensed catalog to Pex's database, which should help more rights holders be able to know where and how their works are being used in audio and video files across the internet and on social media apps.
"There are very few companies in the music business that have successfully licensed as much catalog as Dubset and the music rights database they've built is massive and rare," Pex founder/CEO Rasty Turek said in a statement announcing the deal. "Our technology's scale and speed enables broad market access by all rights holders to our rights management and analytics services, built on top of the 20 billion video and audio files in our indexed database. We feel this will prove to be a game-changing combination."
Over the past few years, Dubset has partnered with Apple Music, Tidal, Soundcloud, Rumblefish, Pioneer, Merlin and Sony Music, among others, in efforts to clear, license and distribute DJ mixes, and get both DJs and the artists they sample paid for their efforts. Meanwhile, Pex has developed its service to be able to scan audio and video usages across the internet to allow creators to be able to track and manage the uses of their works, an effort which could become more significant as the European Union begins to implement the digital copyright changes ushered in by the passage of Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive last year.
"The distribution of digital media via social media has outpaced rights holders' abilities to track, license and manage their audio and video assets," Pex senior vp digital rights Bob Barbiere, who previously worked at Dubset, said in a statement. "Dubset was timely and successful in filling an industry need around identification and licensing of music in mixes and remixes. This acquisition will immediately expand rights holders' abilities to locate, protect and monetize use of their catalog within any form of music or video currently being shared on any of the world's largest UGC and social media sites."