After a flurry of hires and acquisitions, another building block has fallen into place for Utopia Music’s ambitious plans. The company has signed a deal with B2B firm 7digital to use its database of track metadata and recordings.

Use it for what though? “A system of audio recognition that will track where and when music is used and who should be paid,” according to the announcement.

This is all part of a wider drive to use music-ID systems – originally popularised with consumer apps like Shazam – in a business context to track plays and tie them back to the rightsholders due payment.

Another example launched last week in the UK called Recognise the Music, backed by several industry bodies and startup Audoo.