The current European market for audio branding services is lopsided, both in economic terms as well as in aspects of cultural identity. In the slipstream of big U.S. companies like McDonald's, North American providers have captured the European (and worldwide) market for instore music and have held a strong position ever since. Today the worldwide market is effectively monopolised by two 'big players' from the USA. At the same time European creative industries active in this area are pushed into a corner of the European as well as the worldwide market and for the most part serve only niche businesses. The ABC DJ project seeks to provide European creative agencies in the field of audio branding with sophisticated ICT supporting tools. As a result they will be able to offer branding services and products of such high quality that they can successfully compete with the current big players, independently of their respective size – be it a big agency, an SME or a one-man business. Secondly, European creators of music, (independent) labels as well as respective multipliers will be actively included into the audio branding value chains and enjoy support and novel schemes from the monetisation of their works as instore music. The pool of music effectively exploitable for branding agencies and brand clients will thus grow significantly. The high number of creative micro-businesses and SMEs is tailor-made for an approach where many audio branding agencies serve the (diverse) needs of many brands, as opposed to the current 'one-sound-fits-all' situation.

OpenMusE brings together music industry stakeholders and researchers from 11 EU countries and Ukraine. Our consortium recognises that placing European music ecosystems on a more competitive, fair, and sustainable footing requires evidence-based policymaking, business planning, and accuracy. We provide the data needed for these actions. Using transparent methods and tools, OpenMusE maps the policy and data landscape; bridges data gaps; and empowers stakeholders and policymakers to take data-driven actions. Our project is grounded on principles of open policy analysis, open science, and open-source software development. We work with stakeholders to identify data gaps on the EU, national, and regional levels; co-create indicators and methods for bridging them; develop free software tools for data collection and analysis; and report not just our findings, but every step taken to reach them. This is the logic behind our Open Music Observatory (OMO), an open-source platform that provides 360-degree intelligence on the music industry by integrating numerous data sources. The OMO is highly automated, providing “living policy documents” that refresh when the backend datasets are updated: these datasets include official statistics on music goods and services; data on musical participation via pan-European surveys, rights-holder data voluntarily shared by industry partners, and streaming service data sampled using novel algorithms developed by our consortium. Using the OMO and our open-source software, music MSMEs without technical departments or expertise will be able to access and analyse open data; model volume and value, including of zero-price uses; create better business models; and generate corporate social responsibility and sustainability reports; all at a fraction of current costs. We validate these tools in four pilot studies that will bring concrete benefits to stakeholders within the project lifespan.