Pex acquires Dubset Media

By Emmanuel Legrand

 

Los Angeles-based video and music data tracking and analytics company Pex has acquired San Francisco-based rights management platform Dubset Media Holdings, which has pioneered online content licensing agreements for DJ mixes. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dubset chief executive Stephen White is not part of the deal but Bob Barbiere, VP of Global Licensing at Dubset, has joined Pex as SVP Digital Rights. 

 

  Pex provides content-owners with an exhaustive account of what, where, and how much of their copyrighted works are being distributed and consumed across all of the world’s leading digital platforms.
  Pex said that the combination of its copyright search and content management tools, combined with Dubset's systems will allow rights holders using Dubset’s platform to "have access to their catalogue’s use and performance in any audio and video content across social media and user-generated content platforms."

 

  “Dubset is a company we’ve been interested in for some time,” said Rasty Turek, founder and CEO of Pex. “There are very few companies in the music business that have successfully licensed as much catalogue as Dubset, and the music rights database they’ve built is massive and rare. Our technology’s scale and speed enables broad market access by all rights holders to our rights management and analytics services, built on top of the 20 billion video and audio files in our indexed database. We feel this will prove to be a game-changing combination."

 

Monetise catalogues

 

  “The distribution of digital media via social media has outpaced rights holders’ abilities to track, license, and manage their audio and video assets,” said Barbiere. “Dubset was timely and successful in filling an industry need around identification and licensing of music in mixes and remixes. This acquisition will immediately expand rights holders’ abilities to locate, protect, and monetise use of their catalogue within any form of music or video currently being shared on any of the world’s largest UGC and social media sites.” 

 

 In addition, Pex has rolled out its copyright compliance solution, Attribution Engine, which identifies, licenses, and administers royalties for the use content. For digital platforms, Pex's Attribution Engine "mitigates significant copyright liability, meeting or exceeding all requirements contained within Article 17 of the new EU Copyright Directive, which promises to close the value gap between content creators and platforms."