Aslice, an experimental community-based model for sharing DJ revenue with producers, announced today it is closing its doors after paying over $400,000 to producers. The announcement is accompanied by an independent report on Aslice’s data – with some sobering revelations.
Importantly, you need to register before December 31, 2024, to receive payments if you haven’t already done so and your music has been played on Aslice. (Now is a good time to check.)
Led by Zak Khutoretsky, aka DVS1, Aslice had a bold model for resolving the pay gap between producers and DJs. The idea was, DJs would import playlists, use Aslice’s track-matching tech, and then donate a percentage of their gig fee to be distributed to the producers. In theory, Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) already exist for this purpose, but an absence of consistent reporting, collection, and dispersal means that most producers see no income from those sources across different localities. (You can read DVS1 talking to Inverted Audio back at the 2022 launch, or see the video below.)
For someone making a couple hundred bucks to DJ, this might not be a big deal. But a lot of DJs make up to 5- and 6-figure fees (or more), playing tracks by producers who see just cents in revenue from download stores and streaming services. A lot of those same DJs play tracks out of promo tools, meaning the artist earns nothing.
It was clear from the start that Aslice was a gamble. For the model to really work, it needed the top-tier DJs to participate. And it seems that’s not what happened. Anecdotally, it was the “middle class” of DJs – the people earning a few hundred bucks or less – who in my experience were the most vocal advocates and avid users. For me personally, this was almost bittersweet; Aslice is how I learned my friend Radical Softness played a track of mine (with Florian Meindl) at their last gig before they died earlier this year. I opened up the reporting page and started to cry.
But maybe that’s a feature, not a bug. When I’ve seen artists like Radical Softness or Noncompliant or Sam Barker joining DVS1 to talk about Aslice, I see that the people who do feel the cash crunch in the current music scene are willing to collectivize and even make sacrifices for a shared good. The fact that people at the top of this system aren’t willing to do the same is as unsurprising as it is indicative of the fundamental problem.
Aslice is leaving us with a lot. It’s impressive that they’ve had the run they did, given the entire model was built on people voluntarily giving up some of their revenue. What they delivered is not just one proof of concept, but several:
Beyond the innovative technology we created from scratch, we fostered something much more meaningful: we strengthened connections between DJs and music producers worldwide. We made strides toward a fairer music ecosystem that prioritized the core values of respect and mutual support, making artists feel valued and acknowledged in a new way. Inspiring things can happen when we all work together.
We take immense pride in what we’ve achieved. Our proprietary machine-learning software allowed us to reach an unparalleled 99.8% track matching accuracy, setting an industry benchmark, and proving that the right producers can receive their royalties when the right technology is implemented. The impact of the thousands of users who shared our vision helped everyone earn their fair share. 29% of producers received their first-ever payment for their music through Aslice, while 60% earned more from Aslice than all their other music income combined.
Audience Strategies has gone through Aslice’s vast data trove to analyze the state of the industry. See the full report:
A Slice of Fairness: Aslice’s Successful Model For Rebalancing DJ And Producer Income Inequity [PDF]
“Aslice did not fail; the famous, most followed DJs of our scene failed us all.”
Richie Hawtin
Some takeaways:
The producer/DJ disparity is a serious one. 76% of artists surveyed see their careers as financially unsustainable. DJs see the problem, too: 87% believe that purchasing music is failing to adequately compensate the producers.
PROs aren’t working to fix the problem. Remember when Richie Hawtin hooked up playlists to Twitter years ago? Even though DJing has been digital for a long time, PROs are acting as if it isn’t. They’re also failing to track unreleased music, pay off unmatched royalties to top-tier artists rather than distributing them as they should (and incidentally, as they do in other music forms like concert music), don’t pay retrospectively, mismatch tracks, make it hard to register (cough GEMA), and the list goes on…
Producers aren’t earning. 82% earned less than $500 from releasing music. (Ha, I’ll bet that’s a lot less than $500 for many!) Venues are paying, but the money isn’t getting to producers. (The report gives the example that “a renowned London nightclub pays an estimated £35,000 annually” but only 9 pounds a night gets to artist after deductions. Another way to put that – the estimate of per-track royalties was five cents. You might as well try your luck with Spotify; you’d earn more if it were a silent disco with everyone logged in.
DJs did participate in Aslice. 935 DJs actively participated, with an average per-DJ contribution of US$422. So that means DJs voluntarily gave up an order of magnitude more money to producers than PROs managed to pay out when it was, you know, their entire reason for existing.
Producers got paid. This is maybe the most depressing part of the report, given Aslice will shutter. Producers reported high satisfaction rates and 29% of producers got paid for their productions for the first time via Aslice. The highest earner got nearly $5000. If this model were extended, it really could work. Hell, if PROs did their job, it could work.
But there was also a community impact. I think PROs work best when they actually create a sense of community. I saw that in New York City with ASCAP’s Concert Music division, for instance. In a niche most people don’t think of as particularly profitable (contemporary music) was working really hard to engage the community, show up at concerts, and see that all composers – not just the superstars – got paid. I’m sure someone might have some criticisms for concert music, too, but I saw enough working effectively to really wonder what the hell is wrong with club music, especially given that intellectual property law itself evolved along with mechanical reproduction.
The problem was adoption. Well, this is the one we saw coming, at least. Just under 6% of working DJs shared earnings The key is the top tier – if 40 more top-tier DJs had participated, the report argues, the system would have been financially viable. The top 10 DJs on Aslice made up 65% of all earnings. This was a model that was always going to come from the top.
Sam Barker’s thoughts are worth a read:
Richie Hawtin also shared a recorded video statement – and reveals his numbers. He doesn’t mince words, either: “Aslice did not fail; the famous, most followed DJs of our scene failed us all.”
Maybe I’m naive, but this still says to me that the collection problem needs to be solved at the level of PROs. It’s not that PROs are perfect anywhere, but they are at least reasonably effective in certain genres and areas of the industry. The way they’re behaving in DJs is simply catastrophic.
I’ll say again, though, I think the real takeaway of Aslice may be that artists are willing to engage in collective units. Technology aside, that’s ultimately what gives labor power – and gives us the realization that we’re not alone.