As electronic music continues to grow across platforms, territories, and formats, the infrastructure behind how creators get paid needs to keep pace. Rights management sits at the centre of that challenge — and the companies working to modernise it are helping shape a fairer, more transparent industry for everyone involved.

In this Member Feature, we speak with David Serras Pereira, Licensing and International Manager at Unison about how they’ve built an independent, multi-territorial publishing rights management platform designed for the realities of a digital-first music landscape. They share how they’re tackling metadata accuracy, streamlining royalty flows, and securing direct licensing deals with leading DSPs — all while working to reduce friction and raise standards across the rights ecosystem. They also highlight collaborations with CMOs, MRT partners like BMAT and Vollou, and AI-driven initiatives with companies such as Copyright Delta, and preview their involvement in shaping next-generation licensing models — including for AI-related use cases and gaming — through AFEM’s AI & Gaming think tank.

1. Share a milestone or achievement for which your company is particularly proud.

At Unison, we’re particularly proud of how we’ve re-imagined rights management to be more transparent and artist-centric. Over the past years we’ve scaled our platform to support thousands of creators and rightsholders with clearer metadata, more accurate royalty splits, and streamlined claim workflows — helping reduce disputes and accelerate payouts. Our technology and operational improvements are shifting expectations around how music rights should be administered in the digital age.Unison is particularly proud of building a truly independent, multi-territorial publishing rights management infrastructure capable of securing global direct licensing deals with leading DSPs on competitive commercial terms. Beyond deal-making, we’ve invested heavily in transparent reporting, metadata accuracy and streamlined royalty flows — raising expectations around how publishing administration should operate in a digital-first, creator-driven market.

2. Name one trend in electronic music that is shaping your current business strategy.

The increasing fragmentation of rights across collaborators, territories and digital formats — particularly within electronic music where remixes, sampling, edits and cross-border releases are constant — is shaping our strategy.

This complexity requires enhanced metadata governance, faster conflict resolution mechanisms and stronger interoperability between platforms, CMOs and publishers. Our focus is on making rights infrastructure work at the speed of the culture — ensuring accurate attribution and fair remuneration from the first stream to final distribution.

3. Does your company collaborate with other industry stakeholders to drive growth and opportunities within the electronic music community? If so, how and who?

Absolutely. Unison actively collaborates with publishers, CMOs, DSPs, digital distribution partners, and industry organizations to improve rights clarity and revenue flows for creators. We work directly with collective management organizations to pilot data exchange integrations, sit on metadata working groups to elevate standards, and partner with tech platforms to build tooling that reduces friction across the rights ecosystem. These collaborations are essential to unblocking outdated processes and creating meaningful impact for electronic music artists worldwide. Collaboration is core to Unison’s model. We also work with MRT (Music Recognition Technology) partners such as BMAT and Vollou to improve identification, setlist reporting and digital usage accuracy across live, streaming and UGC environments. In parallel, we are developing AI-driven rights and metadata initiatives with companies such as Copyright Delta, contributing to smarter rights resolution frameworks.We also actively participate in industry working groups and AFEM initiatives to help shape next-generation licensing models and data standards. Meaningful change in electronic music rights management only happens when the ecosystem moves together, and we always try hard to push for it.

4. What does it mean for you to be a member of AFEM?

Membership in AFEM means contributing to — and learning from — a community of forward-thinking professionals who care deeply about the future of electronic music. For Unison, AFEM provides a unique forum to exchange insights, understand regional and global trends, and work collectively on solutions that benefit creators everywhere. Being part of this network helps us align with peers who are equally committed to transparency, fairness, and industry innovation.

5. One project, collaboration, or initiative you’re currently working on that you’re particularly excited about.

Unison is continuously improving its platform through AI-powered tools that enhance repertoire validation, conflict detection and metadata optimisation — reducing friction and preventing revenue leakage.

We are also actively engaged in discussions around next-generation licensing structures, including AI-related use cases and interactive formats such as gaming. Through AFEM’s AI & Gaming think tank, we are contributing to the development of licensing models that reflect how electronic music is consumed in immersive and real-time environments. Our priority remains clear: simplify complexity, strengthen transparency, and unlock sustainable revenue growth for rightsholders in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.

Unison’s work illustrates what becomes possible when rights infrastructure is built with both technical rigour and a genuine commitment to creator fairness. By investing in metadata governance, transparent reporting, and cross-ecosystem collaboration, they’re helping move the conversation forward on how publishing administration should operate in a landscape defined by speed, complexity, and constant evolution. We’re glad to have Unison as part of the AFEM community, and we value the expertise and drive they bring to the collective effort around rights clarity, industry innovation, and sustainable growth for electronic music creators worldwide.