In one swift move, Pioneer has answered two important questions in the club scene — what was that track that was playing while I was laying in a pool of my own vomit on the dance floor, and how can I be sure that the artist gets paid for providing the soundtrack for the best/worst night of my life? Pioneer’s KUVO is how. It’s a new system that lets the punter see what track their favourite DJs are playing and equally have played, which in turn ensures that the necessary money reaches the right people.
It’s obviously easier for Pioneer to explain this so here goes:
Get the club connection: Pioneer DJ launches KUVO,
the community that unites clubbers with the best dance music, DJs and venues15th October 2014: Pioneer is launching KUVO: a website and app (iOS/Android) that will transform the way clubbers, DJs and clubs connect with each other. Iconic clubs in locations including Ibiza, London, Los Angeles, Singapore , Dubai and Tokyo have already started to use KUVO, laying the foundations for a next generation club community.
KUVO brings dance music fans live information about which DJs are playing and where, with real-time set lists and the ability to preview, ‘like’ and buy tracks – all via the KUVO smartphone app and website. Clubbers will be able to see what’s trending and what’s happening in clubs near them – helping them to discover new music, DJs and venues.
KUVO will connect clubs to an audience eager to find the best dance music, DJs and events. By installing a KUVO gateway box, clubs will be able to provide real-time information about what’s playing in each of their rooms, with the potential to push promotions and communicate on the fly. Meanwhile DJs can market themselves and their music by updating their profiles, and embedding promotional messages and more in their track information.
“Pioneer pro-DJ equipment is an industry standard for dance clubs all over the world. Now KUVO is creating an ecosystem of networked DJ booths that can share all their track info, creating a rich, interactive experience for clubbers, DJs and clubs,” explains Mark Grotefeld, General Manager for Marketing, Pioneer Europe.
How it works: connecting clubbers in the cloud
Clubs can apply for a free KUVO network gateway,1 which they connect to Pioneer CDJs and mixers in their DJ booths via Pro DJ Link LAN.2 DJs then simply play their set, and live track information will be sent from the booth, via Pioneer’s cloud server, to clubbers using the KUVO website and app.
For the past year Pioneer has been working with clubs to populate KUVO. The network now receives live information from DJ booths in cities including London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo and Vegas – with sets from the dance floors of Ministry London, Mansion Miami and Space Ibiza. Pioneer will continue to work with the best venues around the world to build a rich store of content for the KUVO community.
KUVO and beyond
While KUVO will initially be exclusive to DJ booths using Pioneer equipment, Pioneer is in advanced conversations with third parties to extend it to non-Pioneer hardware and software.
Pioneer DJ is already collaborating with Richie Hawtin and his RADR.dj technology to create a plug-in that will allow Native Instruments’ Traktor and non-Pioneer users to feed into the KUVO system. This will create opportunities around data sharing and the fair distribution of royalties to dance music producers and labels.
“If we can allow people to know more about what DJs are playing we can actually spread the message of electronic music; then, our whole scene can grow creatively and financially,” Richie Hawtin, DJ, producer, label owner confirms.
Pioneer and RADR are working with the newly-formed Association for Electronic Music to ensure such payments end up in the right hands.
1 The KUVO network gateway is free of charge for a limited time only
2 Pioneer DJ products with Pro DJ Link: CDJ-2000NXS, CDJ-900NXS DJM-2000NXS and DJM-900NXS“We’re in a position to champion underground dance music producers, who are often overlooked by a system that can pay disproportionate amounts of money to other music genres,” says Grotefeld. “We will offer our data to performing rights societies to help them provide a more effective reporting solution for their members, enabling the accurate payment of royalties to dance music producers.”
Highlights of the KUVO website and app
- Live information about DJ sets and dance music trends around the world
- Now playing: provides live set information straight from the decks, with the ability to preview, ‘like’, ‘favourite’ and buy tracks via iTunes (iOS only) or JunoDownload. Plus DJs and clubs can embed messages in track information.
- Follow: users can follow clubs and DJs to get all the latest information.
- Discover: collates ‘likes’, ‘favourites’ and ‘follows’ to identify trends, and help users discover new tracks.
- Playlist: allows clubbers to review sets played by their favourite DJs, search fortracks played at club nights they’ve been to in the past, and post comments for the DJ or club.
- Club Map helps clubbers discover club nights they’ll love
The Club Map shows users where tracks and DJs can be found, and guides them to clubs playing the music they want to hear, both on demand and live. Users can discover new clubs, preview tracks that are playing live, and use the map to get there.- Photo Album to share the experience
The KUVO app lets clubbers stamp photos taken in a club with information about the track playing, DJ and club. Photos can be shared with friends via social media, capturing a vivid picture of the best club nights.- An opportunity for clubs and DJs to raise their profiles
DJs and clubs can update their KUVO profiles with links to their websites and social media feeds, as well as push promotional messages to clubbers. Using Pioneer’s rekordbox software, DJs can even add messages to each track they’ve played – for example, links to their social media pages – opening up a whole new level of interactivity between clubs, DJs and their fans.To find out more, watch the KUVO video
How to get KUVO
Clubbers: Find out more and get the app at kuvo.com
Clubs: Get information about applying and installing KUVO network gateway at kuvo.com/about
DJs: Create a profile at kuvo.com/connect
KUVO — your friendly neighbourhood bobby*
* Or cop. But I’m English don’t you know.
Let’s break this down. KUVO is a network of clubs, with installed KUVO black boxes that feeds played track metadata back to the cloud. From there, it’s aggregated into a clubber and DJ friendly interface that allows you to discover the music that DJs play all over the world, and buy it instantly from iTunes or Junodownload. How very helpful — your friendly neighbourhood bobby just pointed you in the right direction and is telling you about everything going on where you live.
So from this perspective, via the medium of mobile technology, KUVO hooks DJs and clubbers together in one big hive mind/social network.
The other purpose is to make sure that the artists are getting paid when their music is getting played in the clubs. The Association for Electronic Music aims to be the central hub for all of this, and will ensure that the right people get the money that they are due. So this is the same friendly bobby enforcing the law.
The upside is amazing. DJs and clubbers are connecting like never before via the common medium of music, and the artists get paid. Result.
The Black Box of DJing
This all has to managed, and the KUVO hardware is the gateway that feeds the necessary metadata back to the KUVO servers. It only works with Pioneer networked equipment right now, but if successful, I imagine that Pioneer will work hard to see it working with all hardware. Well… I would like to think that they would. But knowing how proprietary the DJ world is, this could be a way for Pioneer gear to be more or less mandatory. Hell, it could even go as far as being a legal requirement should the system actually sort out the mess that is performing rights payments.
I’m trying to focus on the plusses but I cannot help but see some obvious concerns. KUVO has all the hallmarks of Pioneer quite literally controlling the club scene from hardware to music. Because of the social media aspect of KUVO, DJs will turn down gigs because they’re not KUVO clubs. Artists will have concerns because DJs are playing their music but not getting paid unless it’s in a KUVO club, and thus not making the inevitable KUVO charts.
There’s also the other aspect of DJs and secrecy. It is common for DJs to cover up record labels, and the new AM mode in Serato DJ hides track names. But suddenly via KUVO that’s all out the window, as full track listings will be published, and I suspect DJs won’t be able to opt out. I foresee a number of DJs using bogus metadata that only they understand, unless of course KUVO becomes a system where only KUVO approved tracks can be used.
Can Of Worms
In the KUVO equation, clubbers and artists absolutely win, but DJs less so. While they will have to give up some of their secrecy and almost feel obligated to be part of the KUVO ecosystem to survive, they do get to be part of a huge global Pioneer powered network of DJs, clubbers, promotors, labels, and just about everyone connected to the music industry, and everything that offers. For me, it’s a real mixture of pros and cons, and having only just really dug into the information, I have very conflicted feelings about just how much power a small group of companies are getting right now. I hope KUVO doesn’t become a way for Pioneer to have all the power, and is a genuine system for the greater good. The greater good.
Your thoughts on KUVO
Is KUVO the central hub that will sort out much that is wrong in the club scene? Will it enable artists to get paid and for DJs to raise their profiles on a global level? Did we just witness a historic change to the DJ scene?