AudioShake said it will launch its Copyright Compliance System, an end-to-end workflow for detecting, identifying, removing and documenting copyrighted music in mixed media files.
The Copyright Compliance System is already in use across broadcast, sports, postproduction and rights administration, with early customers including ESPN, NFL Films, Jaywalker Music, CrunchLabs, Music Reports and amp, the company said.
The technology combines several manual processes into one automated system, helping studios, broadcasters, sports teams and other distributors use enormous volumes of library content that can’t be redistributed because copyrighted music is baked into the original sound mix, according to AudioShake.
Music copyright compliance is a meaningful bottleneck in monetizing and distributing such content on FAST channels and streaming platforms, AudioShake said.
The AudioShake modular system allows customers to use the full pipeline or adopt individual components (detection, identification, removal) inside their existing workflow. Extending upon AudioShake’s Music Removal model, the Copyright Compliance System combines:
- Music detection, flagging whether music is present in a piece of content, including noisy, fully-mixed audio where music is buried under dialogue, crowd noise and effects. This helps downstream cue sheet teams know where music is present and where to fill out the relevant information.
- Music identification, isolating the music in any media file and identifing the artist, song title, album, label, release date and ISRC for each segment. Teams can quickly QC the identified music, combine repeated segments and correct start and end times to accelerate cue sheet creation and approval.
- Music removal, removing music from a clip while preserving dialogue, ambient sound and effects. In scenarios such as social distribution, archival relicensing, or platforms where rights would otherwise create friction, AudioShake opens the downstream path for rightsholders to license replacement tracks, swap in their own catalog or recoup royalties for music that previously went unreported.
One early user is ESPN, which manages a vast library of live, archival, and digital content, AudioShake said. Constraints such as copyrighted arena and walkout music, expired licenses on archival programming and dialogue embedded into crowd noise have historically limited what content ESPN could distribute and how quickly it could do so, AudioShake said.
ESPN uses AudioShake to remove or isolate copyrighted music from sports highlights, preserving original commentary and crowd noise, and to accelerate the turnaround of rights-cleared assets across television, streaming, digital and social platforms. Similarly, NFL Films and the NHL’s Calgary Flames use AudioShake to clear sports clips and game footage for broadcast and social distribution, where music rights would otherwise create friction.
AudioShake said its solution addresses music-licensing problems that have restricted distribution of digital properties like ESPN’s “The Ocho.” Previously unusable content can be distributed across new platforms and to new audiences, extending its lifespan and the reach of ESPN’s archives, AudioShake said.
ESPN used this capability in a 2026 Super Bowl ad. AudioShake isolated the voice of Phil Simms, the Super Bowl MVP quarterback of the 1986 New York Giants, saying “I’m gonna go to Disney World” in the famous 1986 postgame commercial for Walt Disney World. Because of ambient in-stadium music, licensing the full clip would have been cost-prohibitive for just a few seconds of a 60-second commercial. AudioShake removed the ambient music and extracted Simms’ vocal, making the clip usable.
“As ESPN continues to expand the ways we reach and serve sports fans in an age of content abundance, it’s important to lean into groundbreaking technology solutions that can help us bring the right content to the fans that want it as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Kevin Lopes, vice president, business development and innovation, ESPN. “Working with AudioShake to leverage their innovative audio separation lets us unlock more content for fans by accelerating and modernizing workflows and ensuring we can deliver more high-quality sports content to fans wherever they are.”
