Lack Of A Centralized Song Database Stymies Digital Licensing.

A year after the Copyright Royalty Board set rates for subscription downloads and interactive streaming, digital licensing and payment accounting is still proving to be a trying task in the U.S. marketplace.

Not surprisingly, the lack of a common database containing metadata for all songs is still a big obstacle, even though it should be easier to create one in the United States than in Europe, where there are more than two dozen performance and reproduction rights societies.

It’s a topic that weighed heavily on the minds of panelists at a National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers’ Salon Series event held Feb. 22 in New York. The gathering was the second in a planned series of industry get-togethers that NARM is holding to address issues of concern to member companies.

The discussion “validated the urgent need for the industry to work collaboratively on streamlining business practices and adopting operational standards that will take costs out of the system and help advance the digital marketplace,” NARM president Jim Donio said in a statement.

Digital service providers have to license music and pay royalties directly to publishers for music consumed through subscription services and ad-supported Web sites. As a result, the lack of a central database continues to stymie the marketplace, NARM panelists said. Read the rest of this entry »

RightsFlow will provide global society reporting services for Beatport, the international dance music digital retailer.

Music services that operate internationally are often required to report territorial uses to local performance, mechanical and neighboring rights societies. RightsFlow will facilitate this service for Beatport by reporting to rights societies worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

New York, NY – March 8, 2010:  RightsFlow, a leading provider of bulk mechanical licensing and royalty services, today announced a deal to provide global society reporting services for Beatport, the leading international dance music digital retailer.

Music services that operate internationally are often required to report territorial uses to local performance, mechanical and neighboring rights societies. RightsFlow will facilitate this service for Beatport by reporting to rights societies worldwide.

“Over the last six years Beatport has helped change how DJ’s get their music globally,” said Matthew Adell, Beatport’s Chief Operating Officer, “With our continued global growth, RightsFlow offers us a comprehensive solution for reporting to rights societies around the world so that we can continue to be a leader in making sure that musicians and songwriters are properly paid and accounted to for their work.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Royalty Network, an independent music publisher and administrator has granted a bulk license for its entire catalog to RightsFlow, a provider of bulk mechanical licensing and royalty services. The deal allows RightsFlow to more accurately identify, account, and remit royalties on behalf of their over 9,500 label, distributor, music service and artist clients. In other moves this year, RightsFlow joined the Digital Data Exchange (DDEX), which was formed in 2006 by major record labels, online music distributors and music rights societies to create standards to facilitate the exchange of metadata.

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New York – The Royalty Network, a provider of publishing and administration services for independent music producers, has partnered with RightsFlow, a provider of mechanical licensing services and royalty payment technology for online music services, labels and artists. The deal grants RightsFlow a blanket license of The Royalty Network’s entire catalog, which will help RightsFlow account for royalties on behalf of its 9,500 clients. Read the rest of this entry »

The Royalty Network, an independent music publisher and administrator and RightsFlow, a provider of bulk mechanical licensing and royalty services, announced a new partnership granting RightsFlow a blanket license for The Royalty Network’s entire catalog.

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NARM held its second Salon Series event before a packed room at the Soho House NY on February 22. A panel of experts that represented BMI, CBS Interactive, HFA, RightsFlow, Roadrunner Records, The Songwriters Guild of America, and SoundExchange discussed the topic of streamlining digital licensing. Standardization of digital licensing was a key point during the discussion and NARM will be planning future events to advance this topic forward.

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The Royalty Network, a leading independent music publisher and administrator, and RightsFlow, a leading provider of bulk mechanical licensing and royalty services, announced a new partnership granting RightsFlow a blanket license for The Royalty Network’s entire catalogue. This blanket access will allow RightsFlow to more accurately identify, account, and remit royalties on behalf of their over 9,500 label, distributor, music service and artist clients. The agreement marks a growing trend of independent music publishers engaging in new procedures to reduce administrative workload and improve efficiency.

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RightsFlow, a leading provider of bulk mechanical licensing and royalty services, announced a deal to handle Canadian royalty reporting for Amie Street, the fast growing online digital music retailer with a one-of-a-kind demand based pricing system.

RightsFlow will assist Amie Street by providing licensing and reporting services to CMRRA/SODRAC, Inc. (collectively known as “CSI”) on Amie Street’s behalf for downloads in Canada, as outlined in accordance with CSI’s Online Music Services Tariff, 2005-2007.

“RightsFlow’s technology and service solution fills a key need for Amie Street’s effort to automate the royalty administration process for Canadian sales,” said Peter Asbill, Chief Content Officer of Amie Street. “We’ve had strong customer growth because of our unique community driven pricing model and are excited to utilize a cost-effective system that will save us significant time and money as we continue to grow.”

“We are delighted to work with a forward-thinking company like Amie Street,” said Patrick Sullivan, CEO of RightsFlow. “We look forward to demonstrating how RightsFlow’s proven, simple service can provide a cost-effective solution for mechanical licensing compliance and royalty accounting for Amie Street.”

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Former Saturday Looks Good to Me keyboard player Scott Sellwood and his wife, Laurie, now live in New York City. But they return to Ann Arbor frequently — it’s where Laurie works for the University of Michigan’s School of Education, and where Scott’s veritable supergroup Drunken Barn Dance is based. They own a condo a couple of miles from U-M — too bad they can’t stay there. When Scott (a lawyer by day) took a job last year with New York-based music licensing company Rightsflow, they decided to rent their condo to brothers (and Quite Scientific label heads) Brian and Jeremy Peters, as well as Drunken Barn Dance/City Center drummer Ryan Howard. Because of Laurie’s frequent trips to Ann Arbor, and the accompanying hotel stays, the couple decided to rent an apartment in the heart of Ann Arbor’s student ghetto that’d be small even by New York City standards. Conveniently, it’s only a couple of blocks from U-M’s School of Education and, like any good touring musician, all the lawyerly keysman really needs is a floor and a bathroom to get ready for his next gig.

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