Somerville, Mass. – Major record label Universal Music
Group’s Island Def Jam group on Thursday announced a partnership with music
application developer The Echo Nest, to allow developers to access the Island
Def Jam (IDJ) catalog in their applications. Announced during Digital Media Wire’s Digital Music Forum East event in New York, the deal will give music
application developers access to IDJ songs, without the need to negotiate licenses with Universal.
In return, IDJ becomes the publisher of any resulting
apps, handling any payments to music publishers, and will split any revenues
with the developer, and the Echo Nest.
"This is a bold move on the part of
Island Def Jam, which has become the first major label business department to
embrace an open development ecosystem to attract the best and brightest
developers," said Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese.
The Application Programming
Interface (API) for IDJ songs is expected to be released by the Echo Nest soon,
IDJ senior VP of digital and business development Jon Vanhala told Billboard,
which reports the deal took a year to be approved by top executives at
Universal.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4jvqecq
http://tinyurl.com/4jb8pt4
(Billboard)
