Crunch Digital launches beta version of TempoTM, an online tool for instantly identifying tracks available under existing music licenses

03 August 2022 - Press release

Crunch Digital, a leading independent provider of music rights management, royalty reporting and licensing services, has launched its beta version of Tempo^TM, a revolutionary, multi-dimensional sound recording curation and music publishing clearance platform that instantly confirms what music can be used under existing licenses with record labels and publishers. Tempo beta version is now available for free in advance of Crunch Digital’s roll out of its commercial subscription-based service this fall.  

The patent-pending online platform is an industry game-changer, providing the first one-stop solution to a litany of problems that plague companies and services who have catalogue licensing deals in place, yet have trouble determining which tracks they can or cannot use.   

As the industry crackdown on the use of unlicensed music intensifies, the arrival of Tempo is perfect timing for app developers, subscription music services, fitness companies, VR platforms, music supervisors, and other users of music who have never had a simple, fast, and efficient smart tool to support their business operations where music is used.   

While confirming rights ownership can often take weeks, with Tempo it only takes a few minutes to cross-check the tracks wanted for use with what titles have actually been licensed. The system is powered by Crunch Digital’s trusted and continuously updated music rights database of millions of titles compiled from information the company receives directly from rights holders and administrators.   

With Tempo, users can select the labels and publishers they have licenses with, curate and import playlists from streaming music services like Spotify, search for single titles or conduct a batch search, and then view which tracks are 100% available for use in one click. An integrated feature of Tempo enables playlists of available tracks to be seamlessly added back to a music service account. For tracks that the system identifies as unavailable, a report provides detailed information on the unlicensed labels and publishers, helping to pinpoint where to go to license additional music.  

Tempo is music to the ears of curators, who can curate directly on the platform while at the same time search for what’s available under their existing licenses using custom criteria including artist, title, ISRC, genre, decade, duration, and beats per minute (“BPM”). It also features pre-curated playlists that a user can validate to see which tracks may be available.  For fitness instructors who create fresh daily playlists for on-demand classes, Tempo makes it easy for them to import playlists and immediately see if their chosen tracks are OK to use based on their company’s licenses with music rights holders. 

Tempo is the brainchild of Crunch Digital founder Keith Bernstein, an industry veteran who conceived the groundbreaking platform using a novel approach that blends rights management, clearance, and curation together in a straightforward way that has never been done before.  

“What the MLC has been doing and building is fantastic, and other searchable databases with information from authoritative and non-authoritative sources exist. But the missing link has been a tool that enables companies of all sizes to instantly identify the tracks they can use under their existing licensing deals. Music services, apps, fitness companies and karaoke companies, and other services which have licensed music are majorly frustrated because they are not well-equipped to assess what music they can actually use, nor have the ability to maximize the number of tracks available to them. After listening to their needs, we innovated Tempo which directly solves these problems. It can also help facilitate more revenue for all parties and, if used properly, prevent the use of unlicensed music. Tempo is built for today and tomorrow, and this platform is the first-of its kind and uniquely adaptable to the evolving marketplace to use music in ways we haven’t even heard of yet,” said Bernstein.  

After testing the platform and receiving phenomenal feedback from fitness companies, instructional apps, major sports leagues, live concert operators, dance companies, advertising agencies, attorneys, record labels, music publishers, artists, and more, the Crunch Digital team is proud to now open up the Tempo platform in beta for free, so that interested users can get a feel for what the commercial service will offer when it goes live this fall. The Tempo beta version provides single-user accounts with up to 100 validations per month and the opportunity to test up to six licensed record labels and/or music publishers. This fall, Crunch Digital will debut the commercial subscription-based service in Basic, Premium, and Premium+ tiers, which offer multiple users per account, more track validations per month, expanded database access, weekly and monthly e-mail reports, content delivery integration with approved vendors, label and publisher reporting, and many additional features.  

For more information or to register and try out Crunch Digital’s free beta version of Tempo, go to crunchdigital.com.