Aslice aims to close the gap between DJ and producer incomes

A new service called Aslice is aiming to create a fairer music ecosystem by asking DJs to report their setlists to its app, and pay a percentage of their fee to the artists whose music they play. The new platform, the brainchild of DJ and producer DVS1, says it has “the potential to pay producers up to $55m annually” by asking DJs to assign 5% of their fee to be split among the producers they played in that particular set. The figure comes from the calculation that total DJ fee revenue reached $1.1 billion in 2019, according to the IMS Business Report. 

Aslice works by using history data from DJ software like rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, etc that is uploaded to the app directly from your USB stick or SD card. It then matches the tracks with their database. The DJ can decide how much of a percentage to share – Aslice recommends 5% – and Aslice distributes the money to artists whose music was played. If the artist or track cannot be identified, the money is donated to a charity, voted on by the users. For vinyl DJs or for those who don’t use rekordbox, you can input your setlists manually. Aslice takes 15% of the total amount paid to producers as their fee. 

For unreleased tracks or promos, Aslice has this solution: “Every user has a unique ‘Aslice ID’ that can be added to the tracks’ metadata, so Aslice can automatically identify them if DJs are playing tracks before they are officially released – or, in some cases, never released.” 

While global Performance Royalty Organisations (PROs) are tasked with collecting setlist information and assigning royalties to the producers, musicians and songwriters whose music is played in a public space, often in electronic music, setlist data is inaccurate, or producers aren’t correctly registered with their national PRO. As we reported in our ‘Producers are Losing Millions in Royalties Every Year’ article in 2019, AFEM estimate “£100m” is incorrectly allocated due to missing data or inaccurate reporting. Combined with a drop in revenue from streaming and income for producers has dried up significantly, while the world’s biggest DJs routinely playing for five- to six-figure sums. Aslice is aiming to close the gap between the two incomes. 

DVS1 – aka Zak Khutoretsky – conceived the idea in 2020 and recruited former Global Head of Red Bull Radio and Vice President at Yadastar Ethan Holben to serve as CEO. “When our industry came to a complete stop,” the Berghain resident said in a statement, “I took the opportunity to address this problem and develop a simple solution that could work for our entire community. Aslice gives artists a way to take control of their future and support each other while putting pressure on the broken system of collection societies. If we can get our community behind a culture of sharing, Aslice can truly change peoples’ lives.”

To find out more about how you can sign up as a producer, DJ or electronic music fan (available later this year), and to read more details on how it works, visit the Aslice website here.

Read our full Q&A with DVS1 to learn more about Aslice.