In early 2023, we published a report on the state of modified audio across user-generated content (UGC) platforms. We found hundreds of millions of pieces of modified audio on these sites, representing millions in potential missed royalties for music rightsholders. After quantifying this issue, we dove even deeper, launching a weekly modified audio newsletter and looking at modified audio across DSPs like Spotify. Almost one full year later, we’ve rerun the data to see how the amount of sped up, slowed down, or otherwise modified songs has changed online. Keep reading for the updated report and to learn which platform now has the most modified audio.
Why does modified audio matter?
Rising in popularity, modified audio remixes often divert royalty payments away from rightsholders and into the hands of other creators. Many of these songs aren’t licensed, and as such the ownership information for them directs to the creator of the modified track, not to any of the original rightsholders. Without a license or proper attribution, rightsholders won’t see any credit or payment from the use of their songs.
Methodology
Pex indexes publicly available content from digital platforms and does not use any platform APIs or tools to report data. We tracked a sample of known songs from over 20 platforms to identify modified audio. We defined modified audio as any audio where the speed and/or pitch was changed by at least 1 percent and 1 cent respectively. The data in this report reflects content identified from January 2023 through January 2024. In our previous report, we covered a 19-month period from July 2021 – March 2023.
Hundreds of millions of modified audio tracks (an estimated 19% of all identified content) were distributed in 2023
Over a 13-month period, Pex identified hundreds of millions of modified audio tracks amongst the content we’ve indexed from platforms, which accounted for an estimated 19% of all identified content. This is on par with what we found in our last report. Here’s the breakdown of modifications:
- 18.9% of identified content had modified speed or pitch
- 18.0% of identified content had modified speed
- 11.4% of identified content had modified pitch
- 10.5% of identified content had modified speed and pitch
Mixtape and DJ-centric platforms still lead for modified audio, but SoundCloud dethrones Audiomack
The top three platforms from our last report still have the most modified audio, and the amount of modified audio has stayed relatively the same from 2022 to 2023. However, in our last analysis, Audiomack took the number one spot with 68.30% in Q1 2023, followed by SoundCloud and Mixcloud. Now looking at the entirety of 2023, SoundCloud takes the lead with 55.47%, followed by MixCloud at 52.46%, and Audiomack at 50.63%.
Nearly half of identified content on Likee and Audius is modified
We make adjustments to our list of tracked platforms based on customer feedback and platform growth. We began tracking Audius at the end of 2022 and Likee at the beginning of 2023, so this is the first time we’ve reported on these emerging platforms. It looks like their users are well versed in modified audio, with nearly half of the audio we identified being modified (48.50% for Audius and 47.93% for Likee). The addition of these two platforms knocks TikTok out of the top five and into the number six spot.
Modified audio grew more on TikTok than any other platform
Compared to other major platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, TikTok has the most modified audio, and was one of the few platforms to see an increase from 2022, with 38.03% of songs found on TikTok being speed or pitch modified in 2023, compared to 24.55% in 2022.
Less than 1% of identified content used modified keywords in the title
If we were trying to find modified audio by searching for keywords, we’d miss millions of songs or have to listen to every track to hear its speed and pitch. Just 0.16% of identified content contained “sped up” or “nightcore” in the title, and 0.11% had “slowed”, “reverb”, or “slowed+reverb” in the title. This is where content identification technology comes into play: only ACR or MRT technology like we use at Pex can match content by analyzing the audio itself, as opposed to just keywords.
See what you’ve been missing with Pex
We’ve sounded the alarm on how modified audio is diverting royalties across both UGC platforms and DSPs, and we’re ready to work with rightsholders, platforms, and anyone who needs to tackle this issue. Our latest solution, Pex Search, allows anyone to plug into our advanced identification technology and identify music, including modified audio and cover versions.
We’d love to show you the magic in action. Schedule a demo with our team to learn more, or sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share modified audio we’ve identified.
