For about eight years, Music 1 and PlayoutOne, now Aiir, have had a somewhat unusual shared billing arrangement.
We each have customers who use both products. Rather than making those customers maintain two separate subscriptions, Music 1 has collected the PlayoutOne subscription from some customers while PlayoutOne/Aiir has collected the Music 1 and/or TrafficOne subscription from others. Each quarter, the two companies settle up with one another.
At the end of this year, we're going to bring that arrangement to a close. From then on, Music 1 will bill directly for Music 1 and TrafficOne subscriptions, and Aiir will bill directly for PlayoutOne.
What changes for M1/T1 customers?
Very little. This is a change in our business and billing arrangement, not a change in the way our software works with PlayoutOne.
Music 1 Pro, TrafficOne and PlayoutOne will continue to work together just as they do today. Our integration and the data and playlist exchange between the systems remain in place. If you're using Music 1 Pro with PlayoutOne and you're happy with that combination, you can keep right on using it. There should be no interruption in your Music 1 service as a result of this change. The primary difference is simply which company sends you the bill.
A relationship that goes back to 2013
Here's the back-story: Dave Brierley-Jones first approached me in December 2013 about making Music 1 work closely with his company's DARP/NG radio automation system. That relationship grew, DARP/NG eventually became PlayoutOne, and by 2018 our companies were actively co-marketing our products and discussing merging the two companies together. Sadly, my former M1 business partner screwed the deal. I finally had to file a lawsuit against my now former-partner. The case was resolved in my favor, but it took several years to conclude. Meanwhile, Dave's company became Aiir.com and that team began work on what is now their Aiir scheduler.
After parting with my long-time developer partner, I began looking for a new, smart, talented, experienced, software engineering, code-writing genius to create a new cloud-based MusicOne. No small order there. But my stars aligned, serendipidy nodded in my direction and I found TWO of them; Edi Duluman and Robbert Scholten. We began re-imagining and re-engineering my music-scheduling concepts, architecture and algorithms for the cloud. That work became MusicOne Cloud, which we beta-released in April 2026. Our first users begain signing-on in June. It's online on four continents already!
I've always had huge respect for Dave, his people and the technology they created. One of my favorite memories from those years was walking around the NAB Radio Shows introducing Dave and his partner Phil Johnson to people I knew in the industry and telling them how impressed I was with what these guys were doing.
Here we are today now and Dave and the Aiir team have developed their own new cloud music scheduler. So we've reached a pretty natural point and there is no longer much reason for us to continue the unusual cross-billing arrangement we've maintained for all these years.
There is also no reason to undo something that has worked very well technically.
PlayoutOne integration remains.
If PlayoutOne is the automation system you want and Music 1 is the scheduler you want, they will continue working together. And you have a choice now, as MusicOne Cloud has the same tight hand-shake with P1 that Music 1 Pro does.
And if you're curious about where each company is headed next, you can see both of the new cloud schedulers: the Aiir scheduler at Aiir.com and MusicOne Cloud at MusicOne.io.
It's been a long and rewarding relationship with Dave and his team. I wish everyone at Aiir continued success as we both move into our next chapters.
If you have questions an concerns about this, you can contact me directly at the musicscheduling@gmail.com address.