Bad news for SoundCloud.
Unofficial remixes have begun appearing on Spotify and Apple Music as part of deals made with digital music distributor Dubset earlier this year.
Dubset CEO Stephen White shared the news in a private Facebook post which included a new DJ Jazzy Jeff remix of Anderson .Paak’s track ‘Room in Here’, as TechCrunch reports.
He also confirmed that DJ mixes featuring multiple tracks would be next to appear on Spotify and Apple Music, allowing artists to get paid when their tracks are included in a mix.
According to Spotify, “short form mixes” are already appearing on the streaming service with “long-form mixed content” coming soon, although it’s not clear how short a “short form” mix would be.
The update marks a major change from the royalty-free mix culture artists that has developed on SoundCloud and Mixcloud over the years. It’s also interesting in light of Spotify’s rumoured acquisition of SoundCloud – if Spotify can now host the best of SoundCloud’s content, the idea of acquiring the struggling company may be much less appealing.
Dubset uses a software called MixBank to scan remixes and DJ mixes and analyse which tracks appear. The firm’s proprietary MixScan software can pinpoint the start and end point of a track in a mix before checking a database to see who should get paid. Royalty revenue is shared with rights holders and Dubset also gets a cut.
Read next: DJ mixes on Apple Music and Spotify: What it means for DJs and fans