Always Writer First: Family in Music to launch new suite of digital tools to support the modern songwriter

22 February 2022 - Press release

With more new music being written and released worldwide than ever before – an estimated 60,000 songs and growing are uploaded to streaming services daily – there is a rapidly expanding generation of new independent creators who simply don’t fit the existing shape of the music industry. Their creative and commercial needs are often unmet.

Family in Music want to change that.

As a music creator network that is staunchly Writer First this Spring will see the launch of a new set of digital tools to aid all songwriters, with a particular focus on the DIY creator. The DIY creator economy is the fastest growing in the global music industry but at the same time is the least represented. With the ambition of solving many of the issues faced by songwriters The Family in Music Writer’s Toolkit will initially comprise of:

Song Title Checker
Simple but highly effective. A tool to check whether a song title idea has already been used or if there are titles that are very similar. This means the songwriter can ensure their title stands out when people search for it on streaming services – hugely increasing the chance of the song being discovered.

It also gives the songwriter the option to think again if they spot duplication and helps tackle one of the biggest issues for new creators.

Airplay Revenue
This monitors the radio play of radio stations across the UK and compares it to the tariffs that the royalty collection agencies have put in place. It shows the exact amount of money paid to the songwriter by the radio station for that song.

For a writer who is not a member of a PRO Airplay Revenue gives them all the facts about what radio play revenue they are missing out on. For an established writer it delivers essential revenue prediction for their cash flow. It also shows what they should have received compared that with what they have actually been paid so they can rectify with the PRO if the amount is wrong.

Rights Security 
Family in Music recently unveiled MgNTa, a new online music industry identifier to help protect the revenue of the next generation of songwriters. Because proof of creation is always a major issue for songwriters and the source of many costly disputes the MgNTa NFT blockchain based technology also provides proof of creation security. Audio, lyrics and data are captured and stored via blockchain along with a Timestamp and Audio fingerprint that provides categoric proof of creation and rights for the songwriter.

Cover Song Finder
Songwriters often find it incredibly difficult to track any cover versions that appear on streaming services meaning the songwriter will never get paid. There is no enforceable legal requirement to match a cover version to the original recording so using audio fingerprint technology Cover Song Finder searches over 100m recordings and creates a report of all likely cover versions along with the recording identifier (ISRC code). This report can be submitted to the artists collection society who will update their databases and claim the proper amounts from then on. For established songs this can often increase claimed revenues by over 30%.

Family in Music is a Finland-headquartered start-up founded by Finnish music industry entrepreneur and Executive Chairman Juka Hynynen. Award winning producer and entrepreneur Kevin Bacon is Chief innovation Officer. Kevin co-founded AWAL (Artists Without A Label) in 2004 which forever changed the music business landscape by offering deals to artists without them giving up their rights. AWAL enjoyed huge success and would eventually be acquired by Kobalt and most recently Sony.

Kevin Bacon, Chief Innovation Officer Family in Music said “As a songwriter you want to focus on the creative at all times which is how great songs come to be. Our view is that technology has long been part of making music and now we want to harness it to create modern tools for the modern songwriter to enhance their creative and commercial journey.”

Kevin is joined by MD Tim Delaney, a music industry veteran who as well as spending many years as a key part of U2’s management team has held senior roles at record labels including Island, Mercury, RCA, Arista and J Records in the US, UK, Australia and Asia. Over the last 15 years Tim has been involved with a variety of music tech start-ups.

Tim Delaney, MD Family in Music said “There are vast numbers of fantastically creative and talented songwriters who are just not part of the traditional music industry model for a variety of reasons. Family In Music wants to empower and support them so they can grow creatively and give them our tools to guide them and help them prosper.”

Juka Hynynen, Founder of Family in Music said “I started my music career as a songwriter and these tools are close to my heart. Securing the rights and proof of creation is the basis for everything. Finding the best song title is always an important part of the process and knowing what cover versions are out there is invaluable too. We are very excited to launch the Toolkit for the amazing song writing community.”