During a recent music industry event, SoundCloud announced a strategic partnership with Imogen Heap to create a unique and verified data management system in the music world.
The goal is to solve one of the industry’s most entrenched problems: the lack of a single source of truth for musical works and the associated rights.
The Problem: Fragmented Data and Lack of Standards
After more than thirty years in the industry, SoundCloud highlights that there is still no universal reference point for finding complete and consistent information on artists, songs, and music productions.
Today, databases are often fragmented, duplicated, or incomplete, generating inefficiencies, costs, and time loss for artists, publishers, and streaming platforms.
“There are hundreds of thousands of incomplete data sets in the world. We are building a unique, verified, and transparent space. Not behind a paywall, but as a collective asset of the music industry,”
stated the CEO of SoundCloud.
A Transparent and Shared Music Database
The project aims to create a public archive that gathers all verified details related to a musical track: involved artists, recording location, instruments used, and permissions for data usage in the training of artificial intelligence models.
The principle is clear: promoting transparency of musical metadata. In a digital era dominated by content generated by AI, knowing the origin and authorship of works becomes essential to protect intellectual property.
Collaboration with Imogen Heap for Ethical AI
The collaboration with Imogen Heap represents a decisive step towards a more ethical and controlled use of artificial intelligence in music.
Together, the two entities are developing a granular permissions system that will allow artists to decide how, when, and by whom their works can be used for AI model training.
“We are building a model based on preferences and clear usage rules,”
explain the representatives of SoundCloud.
An approach that could become a global benchmark for rights management in the digital context.
From the Mecelia platform to the Oracles system: the evolution of SoundCloud
SoundCloud’s journey began with Mycelia, a platform dedicated to transparency and integrity of creative data.
From there, the Creative Platform was born, and subsequently Auracles, launched in 2024 and already adopted by thousands of members including educators, producers, and industry professionals.
All these initiatives share a common goal: to build an ecosystem based on verified data, a fundamental prerequisite for a solid integration between music, technology, and artificial intelligence.
Towards a Global Standard for Intellectual Property
The ultimate goal of the SoundCloud-Auracles project is ambitious: to establish a new global standard for the management of intellectual property (IP) rights.
According to the promoters, this initiative could represent a turning point for the entire music industry, and perhaps even for other creative industries:
“This could be the beginning of something bigger. If we manage to create a model of transparency and sustainable cooperation, we can finally give artists the control and recognition they deserve.”
A Future of Trust, Verification, and Collaboration
The partnership between SoundCloud and Auracles marks a decisive step towards a more transparent, fair, and technologically advanced musical future.
In a historical moment where artificial intelligence redefines the very concept of creativity, the creation of a common and verified database is not just a technical choice: it is an act of justice for the entire music community.
With this project, SoundCloud not only addresses the issue of data misinformation but also lays the foundation for a new paradigm of trust, verification, and respect for digital rights.
A crucial step towards the long-awaited harmonization between the music industry and artificial intelligence.