The Mechanical Licensing Collective prepares for its launch on January 1, 2021

By Emmanuel Legrand

Starting on January 1, 2021, the provision in the Music Modernisation Act of 2018 (MMA) establishing a new blanket mechanical license covering the use of musical works in the US by eligible digital audio services will come into force. It will replace the previous system which required digital services to obtain licenses from all rights holders to operate.

  From Jan.1 too, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) will start operating officially to administer the blanket license. It will work alongside the Digital Licensee Coordinator (DLC), which regroups the digital audio services that will be operating under the new blanket license.

  The MLC said that the arrival of this new blanket licensing system "will mark the beginning of a new era of greater efficiency and transparency in mechanical licensing for musical works in the United States." The organisation has been building up throughout 2020, and operating mostly virtually due to the pandemic. 

Reaching out to DSPs

  Based in Nashville, it will start issuing licenses to digital service providers and start collecting royalties from the use of musical works by audio services. The MLC has been engaged two main initiatives: reaching out to the music publishing community and self-administered songwriters, to ensure that their works were entered in the society's database; and reaching out to DSPs to ensure that they understand the new framework and make the necessary changes from Jan. 1, 2021.

  The MLC’s DSP outreach efforts have been led by Richard Thompson (Chief Information Officer), Abel Sayago (DSP Onboarding Consultant), Joya Carmichael (Head of Operations) and consultant Vickie Nauman. Among the benefits for DSPs that opt in for the blanket license is the protection from liability that would arise from using works that were not properly licensed. DSPs that wish to operate under the blanket license must submit their Notice of License to The MLC using the form provided by The MLC no later than February 15, 2021.

  A service that elected not to secure the blanket would still have to abide by a number of reporting obligations. By US law, DSPs that provide more than 5,000 unique works to US consumers via interactive streaming or downloads on any given day in a given month or earn more than $50,000 a month (or $500,000 over 12 months) from such activities "must report their usage data to The MLC, whether or not they choose to obtain the new blanket license."

Outlining reporting specifications

  “The MLC has engaged with more than 50 DSPs so far, both to make sure they aware of their new legal responsibilities and to preview the resources we’ve created for them, including reporting specifications and the templates for notices to The MLC,” said The MLC CEO Kris Ahrend (pictured, below), who added that these efforts "should ensure that currently-operating DSPs are in a position to begin operating under the new blanket license starting on January 1, 2021.”

  Garrett Levin, representative for DLC, and CEO of DiMA, which represents digital services, said the DLC has also conducted its own outreach activities. “As we approach this watershed moment in digital music licensing, DLC has spent countless hours working with DSPs to ensure they understand and are able to successfully navigate this new licensing regime. Through individual outreach sessions, educational programming and collaborative outreach coordinated with The MLC and Copyright Office, we have laid the groundwork for The MLC to efficiently and effectively fulfill its mandate."

  On the data side, The MLC has been building from the database of HFA, which has been picked a the main data provider. In parallel, The MLC has invited music publishers and self-administered songwriters to enter and check their data in the database. The database will also include public domain works.

A new DDEX standard

  The MLC recently conducted a webminar to explain how large owners of compositions can access bulk data, as required by the MMA, which specifies that The MLC has to make available its database in "bulk, machine-readable format through a widely available software."

  The MLC CIO Richard Thompson said the files would include data on musical works, data on parties (creators of musical works) and representatives (publishers, administrators or domestic and international CMOs), data on sound recording (and their link to musical works), data of products/releases (and their links to sound recordings). Not included in the package is payment information, such as bank details and payments made. "We are talking about data on catalogue rather than confidential information," said Thompson.

  The MLC has started to work in November 2019 with global music data agency DDEX, and went through a collaborative process to elaborate a standard applicable to The MLC data. "About 30 organisations have participated to develop the best standard," said Thompson. The process was finalised in November and DDEX has issued a new standard named BWARM (Bulk Communication of Works And Recording Metadata), that sits alongside other DDEX standards as well as borrowing from them "quite heavily."

  The bulk database is available to vendors and DSPs free of charge, and will be available to other parties at a fee "that does not exceed the marginal cost of providing the database," said Thompson. A one-time set-up fee of $100 allows to download the database for one month, and if users want continuous access, it will cost $25 a month, and the subscription can be canceled any time. "It is not a money making exercise," said Thompson. "It is designed to cover marginal costs and we will agree that it is pretty low, at $300 a year if want to access that data." He added that for the moment, the pricing model for accessing the data through the API, which will happen in 2021, will be different but has not been set yet.

Some 112 data points

  How it works to access the file? The MLC will take a "snapshot" of the data once a week and make available for download, via a log in on MLC site. "The first snapshot will be available early in January," said Thompson, who indicated that the size of the file (25G) would require other software than Excel. Each snapshot contains all the data, including data pertaining to unclaimed works, and it cannot be tailored to specific needs.

  The webminar gave a sense of the complexity of the data collected. Datasets contain all rights holders and their percentage of ownership and multiple links between datasets. Musical works listed in the database come from MLC members (publishers, administrators, songwriters or international CMOs) as well as from DSPs, which will provide The MLC with monthly reports of all the works used on the services during the period. "That's a lot of sound recordings and the vast majority will come from that," said Thompson.

  Raphael Amselli, MLC technical consultant for data, outlined the various datasets that will be part of the database. The data is split in 12 tables, with each table communicated in separate data files. "All the data is separated in tables and everything is interlinked," said Amselli. "We have 112 data fields, so that's a lot of data points." 

A wide range of fields

  The data will feature the following fields:

  > Data on Parties:

  This relates to songwriters, who are an "essential component," publishers, administrators, CMOs that participate in collecting and representing the musical works. Parties are interlinked to all parts of the scheme, every core component. Fields include: Party name(s), Party identifiers, Party contact information.

  > Data on musical works:

  Fields include: Work title, various identifiers (MLC song code, ISWC, proprietary identifiers), Work shares and roles in the works (if they are composer, lyricist, pub, administrator, etc).



  > Data on sound recordings:

Fields include: Recording title, Display artists, Recording identifiers (ISRC, proprietary identifiers), Links between musical works and song record (the "key component that links everything together" said Amselli).

  > Data on products:

  Products are linked to a recording. Fields include: Product titles, Display artists and Product identifiers (ICPN, such as bar codes).

  > Data on unmatched and unclaimed works:

  This segment will include works for which partial or full data is not available.

EU's Piracy Watch List exposes online services as 'the main source of copyright infringement'

By Emmanuel Legrand

The European Commission​'s ​second ​Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, ​which is the EU's counterpart to the US Special 301 list published by the US Trade Representative, has identified online marketplaces ​as ​"​the main source of copyright infringements.​" The report ​expos​es online service providers established outside of the European Union (EU) that engage in or facilitate intellectual property rights infringement affecting European rights​ ​holders.

  The Watch List reflects the results of stakeholder consultations​ and lists ​"​examples of reported marketplaces or service providers whose operators or owners are allegedly resident outside the EU and which reportedly engage in, facilitate or benefit from counterfeiting and piracy.​"

  "Infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR), in particular commercial-scale counterfeiting and piracy, pose a serious problem for the European Union (EU). IPR infringements not only cause high financial losses for European right holders and sustainable IP-based business models​," reads the report, which covers all aspects of IP-driven businesses' infringement, from fashion and pharmaceutical to music and films, physical and online. 

An increase of infringements during the pandemic

  ​Creative industries from the music, audiovisual, publishing, TV broadcasting or software sectors submitted most of the contributions on piracy. The report notes that most respondents from the creative industries that contributed to the public consultation have reported "an increase of copyright and related rights infringements online during the Covid-19 pandemic," as the lockdown measures taken worldwide "have increased users’ demand for access to creative content, often from illegal sources."

  "The impact caused by copyright infringements during the pandemic is reported as particularly harmful because a number of other revenue streams for industries, authors and performers, such as theatrical release of films and music concerts, have been interrupted.," reads the report.

  The Watch List is described as a Commission Staff Working Document, which are factual and informative documents that "do not have any legal effect and that do not commit the European Commission."

Streaming piracy on the rise

  According to the report, various types of online service providers provide access to copyright-protected content, such as music, films, books and video games, without authorisation of the right holders. "These service providers rely on other online service providers such as reverse proxy services, caching services, hosting providers or payment services to carry out their activities," notes the report.

  "Certain online service providers also contribute directly or indirectly to copyright infringements by facilitating access to unauthorised content made available by third parties or providing devices and products or services to circumvent technological protection measures used by right holders to prevent or restrict unauthorised acts."

  The report adds that several respondents to the public consultation "emphasised the increasing importance of streaming piracy," including of films and live sports events, as opposed to piracy offering the download of content.

Stream-ripping hits music and films

  The report lists cyberlockers as key sources of infringement (cyberlockers are cloud storage and cloud sharing service that enables users to upload, store and share content in centralised online servers). Cyberlockers usually offers subscriptions, which constitute the bulk of their income. Cyberlockers named in the list include: Uptobox, Rapidgator, Uploaded, Dbree, 4shared, Wi.to and Ddl.to.

  Stream ripping services are also identified as sources of IP infringement. "According to the music and film industries, stream-ripping is currently the most prominent form of piracy globally," notes the report. Services listed include: Y2mate and YouTubeconverter, Savefrom, Flvto and 2conv.

  Linking or referring websites that aggregate, categorise, organise and index links to, are also viewed as sources disseminating infringing content. The report says music and film industries "are particularly concerned" with the development of such sites, since they are allegedly linking sites that often make available pre-release content.

Sites do not remove infringing content

  "The music and film industries have reported that the listed service providers received notices to take down content or cease and desist letters, but they have reportedly not reacted and have not removed the content upon request," reads the report. Linking sites listed in the report include: Fullhdfilmizlesene, Seasonvar, Swatchseries, Rlsbb, and Rezka.ag.

  Peer-to-peer and BitTorrent indexing websites, that use the peer-to-peer file distribution technology to allow users to share content, are also singled out in the report. They include The Pirate Bay, Rarbg, Rutracker, and 1337x.

  Last but not least, the report highlights some sites that offer downloads of unlicensed content, such as Music Bazaar, Sci-hub, and Library Genesis. These sites offer direct downloads of content for free or against the payment of a fee.

  The reports also lists social media such as V Kontakte or Telegram that are increasingly used to share copyright-protected content without authorisation. 

Sites discontinued 

  The report also highlights a series of sites that have either been discontinued or that have changed their IP policies, among them:

  > Openload, which used to be one of the most popular streaming cyberlockers worldwide that offered unauthorised copies of films, books and music, shut down in October 201946. 

  > Torrentz2 was a BitTorrent indexing website that allegedly emerged in 2017 following the closure of Torrentz.eu. It provided access to a range of content, including allegedly unauthorised copies of films, TV programmes, software, videogames and music. It was shut down by Belgian Customs and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Brussels on 29 June 2020. 

  > Mp3va, which was a popular website engaged in the unlicensed sale of music content, was removed from this year’s Watch List, because it lost popularity over the past two years after United States credit and payment providers at the request of right holders voluntarily decided to stop providing services to this website.

 
  > 1channel.ch, which was one of the most visited linking or referrer sites globally at the time of publication of the 2018 Watch List, is reportedly offline now. 

  > Rnbxclusive.review, which was a popular linking site in 2018, is reportedly offline now. A domain name using the word “rnbxclusive” has been active since May 2020, but the link with the site listed in the 2018 Watch List is not confirmed.

The absence of Cloudflare

  Interestingly, although it was reported by several stakeholders for not being responsive to infringement notices, US-based platform Cloudflare is not on this Watch List. The document explains that Cloudflare "has reported that making generally available certain sensitive information about host IP addresses would jeopardise the protection of their clients’ websites from threats or cyberattacks," but that it was taking "appropriate steps, through robust abuse reporting system and a Trusted Reporter programme, to ensure that right holders have the necessary information to pursue complaints of alleged infringements with the hosting providers and website operators able to act on those complaints."

  Frances Moore, Chief Executive of the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, welcomed the publication of the report. “This year, in addition to identifying several music stream ripping sites, we are encouraged to see that the report recognises social media platforms as a new category, and that it highlights that companies in this category, such as Telegram, simply must do more to put in place effective measures to prevent large scale copyright infringements on their services," said Moore. 



  She added: “We hope that the Watch List will raise awareness of these problematic activities and practices and encourage enforcement action and action by intermediaries to prevent misuse of their services. Such steps are vital to protect content for the benefit of our members, artists and their fans.”   

KEA report recommends increasing public policies in Europe to support the cultural sectors post-Covid

By Emmanuel Legrand

A new report for the Council of Europe recommends that European Union member states and the Commission set up robust mechanisms to support the arts and cultural sectors in a post-pandemic world. The report, titled 'The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Cultural and Creative Sector' is an update from an original June 2020 document penned by Brussels-based consultancy firm KEA.

  "Some countries are progressively adapting support measures to enable the recovery of the CCS," reads the report. "It will be important to sustain investment in culture to avoid the collapse of the creative ecosystem. Countries with strong public funding for the arts are better placed to envisage the future of their local CCS ecosystem. They also run the risk of freezing or delaying required evolution. In any event, it is appropriate to coordinate a cross-border response, decongesting the entire value chain."

  It adds: "The cultural and creative sectors (CCS) will be facing challenges in terms of their competitive ability after the Covid-19 crisis. Most of these challenges are well-known and not new: underfunding, lack of scale in the face of international competition, too limited a capacity to produce for a global market as well as distribute and market internationally. The crisis has accelerated the impact of increased international market concentration, new consumption trends and business paradigms."

Covid-19 affected the whole value chain

  The report notes that cultural and creative sector (CCS) is "crucial for the European economy and the well-being of its citizens," but has been "profoundly wounded by the measures taken to fight the spread of Covid-19 pandemic," which affected the whole value chain: bookshops, cinemas, concert halls, clubs, museum, theatres, heritage sites or art galleries have been closed down.

  While as from June 2020, CCS re-started production (in audio-visual), and places dispensing cultural goods and services were back in business with life venues (to the exception of clubs and concert venues), the pandemic second wave in October led to the adoption of public health measures throughout the continent "with dire consequences for the cultural sector."

  Reads the report: "The sector lobbied without success to be exempted from curfew or lockdown measures on the evidence of the ability to implement efficient social distancing rules. However together with bars, restaurants and discothèques, the CCS became the primary victim of new health measures aimed at restricting mobility and social contacts." The crisis has also been "a formidable accelerator of existing trends notably the growth of digital networks, the market dominance of large media players, the emergence of new collective and individual behaviours."

A damaging impact

  As a result, relief policies put in place at national and pan-European level have been crucial, notes the report, but more needs to be done. The report lists a series of fields that would require coordinated policies. The report states: "The public health crisis is having a very damaging impact on the CCS. A majority of governments in Europe have taken measures to support CCS with a view to preserve jobs. However, some States have been obliged to reduce State budgets. As a result, several Ministries of Culture have been affected with reductions ranging from 5 to 20%; as a minimum CCS is benefiting from general measures taken to support the economy. CCS measures have often been amplified at regional and city levels with significant contributions from the private sector."

  KEA outlines the following proposals that would be transform the CCS landscape:

  > Mobilise cultural workers as agents of transformation and global co-operation

  The coronavirus crisis will usher in "an age of global co-operation," reads the report, but "conditions for global co-operation and the implementation of sustainable development goals require the implementation of a convivial, generous and civilized future, respectful of diverse cultures with a view to build a renewed planetary identity that is generous and tolerant."

  "It is important for policy makers to mobilise the skills of artists, creative and cultural workers to 'imagine' a world that makes sense and to fuel social changes required to address global challenges," says the report.

  > Social inclusion through Culture to address inequality

  Cultural activities "contribute to social inclusion, engagement and address inequality" so "it is important to include culture in social and education policies for cultural workers and institutions to be able to deliver on community engagement and inter-cultural dialogue. The fight against inequality is intrinsic part of solving sanitary and climate crisis if we which to create conditions for behavioural changes."

  > Acknowledge the acceleration of behavioural changes

  The future generation "lives in the virtual world, a world that makes everything accessible and which does not require the traditional interactions" and the Covid-19 is "accelerating a mutation that is familiar to the younger generation."

  Adds the report: "This is a threat to established cultural institutions or business structures unable to adapt to new sociological patterns. The pandemic will affect collective behaviours and cultures to the same extent as scripture or printing at the time. It is important to reflect on these fundamental changes and adapt cultural policies for cultural institutions to remain relevant and contribute to social empowerment."

  > Big will get bigger

  Big companies in the entertainment, culture and art sector "will get bigger" and more activity "will flow into e-commerce and digital content platforms with large catalogue and marketing muscles (Disney, Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, Tencent, and Apple)." As a result, cultural content "will increasingly be bundled in special deals relying on users’ data connecting retail, exhibition and digital distribution in well managed release patterns to maximize revenue streams."

  For KEA, the risk is that "cultural content, artists will primarily used as ‘a promotional product' to sell other services and goods." It recommends to "consider these market developments in the context of policy regulations (copyright, competition and AV/ media law) to safeguard the economic rights of authors, artists and industries investing in cultural productions."

  > Build local capacities and taste for home grown productions

  For KEA, Covid 19 led to "the absence of new Hollywood movies on European screens" and calls it an "opportunity for local and European productions to find a new audience and increase their market share in distribution." 

 Support culture-led project

  In terms of future policies for CCS, the reports is recommending the following policies to help European CCS:

  > Integrating artistic intervention in policy making, with future support measures giving "pre-eminence to qualitative production, mindful of the environment and people";

  > Incorporating the cultural dimension in social policy, to "facilitate future support of culture-led projects with a social inclusion dimension (ESF+, Horizon Europe, Invest EU programmes)";

  > Adapting policies to take the digital shift better into account and create scale outside traditional linguistic or territorial lines;

  > Reflect on the social status of artists and cultural workers and incorporate the cultural dimension in social policy, to better understand the social status of artists and cultural workers in Europe as well as their entitlement to social protection.

  > Adapt cultural and industrial policies, to "accelerate its transformation notably in areas of digital programming if it wishes to respond to new cultural and consumption behaviours." The CCS will require assistance to adapt to this shift, said KEA.

French Parliament extends tax breaks for recordings and live music but denies it for publishers; Italy boosts tax credit scheme

By Emmanuel Legrand

Tax credit schemes have been seen as one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to boost investment in creative projects in Europe. Countries like France have perfected the system, with tax credit schemes for record labels and live music promoters. The purpose of the system is to allow companies that invest in creative projects to offset some of their expenses through tax deductions.

  In France, the Parliament has voted in December to extend the tax credit on phonographic production (CIPP) until December 31, 2024, and has raised the rates applicable to the sector. Record labels can now offset 30 to 40% of their investment in creative projects, up from 15% to 20%, and the investment ceiling has been raised from €350,000 to €700,000, with a maximum tax credit per company raised to €1.5m. In addition, the Parliament voted to include record labels' video investments as eligible for tax credit.

  The live performance tax credit (CISV), applicable to concert production companies, has also been extended until the end of 2024. The Parliament has voted to include into the scheme investments in the recording of the shows to take into account the development of livestreaming events.

Publishers express bitterness

  However, the request from music publishers, through their trade body CSDEM, to introduce a specific tax credit scheme for music publishing has been denied a second time by the National Assembly, even thought it was voted favourably earlier this month by the Senate. "We all agree on the need to help this sector and no one is indifferent to its economic problems," said Laurent Saint-Martin, general rapporteur of the Finance Committee, but he added that giving additional tax breaks when public finances are challenged is not appropriate.

  CSDEM said the news that the proposal was discarded by the Parliament was met with "bitterness" by its membership. The Paris-based organisation added: "Faced with this incomprehensible decision and convinced of the legitimacy of their request, music publishers will continue to explain, in particular to government representatives, the specificities of their business."

  CSDEM said it will continue to advocate for the scheme throughout 2021, noting that "other tax systems have been put in place or strengthened in the cultural and musical fields. In all consistency, the consideration of music publishers by the government should evolve."

Important benefits for Italian labels

  Meanwhile, in Italy, the Senate voted the approval of the Ristori Decree, which extended the tax credit for the recording industry from €200,000 to €800,000 over a three-year period starting in 2021. Italy's music tax credit, introduced in 2013, is based on the French model, explained Enzo Mazza (pictured, below), CEO of music trade organisation FIMI. It provides for a tax credit to the extent of 30% of the costs incurred for the development, production, digitalisation and promotion of phonographic or videographic music recordings.

  Mazza said the changes made in 2020, first by an August decree and now with the Ristori decree, have lifted the limits of three works and a cap of €200,000 per three-year period. These restrictions, he said, limited the scope of possible investments by record companies. In addition, the overall spending limit was raised from €4.5m to €5m.

  "It is a particularly important measure to ensure the continuity of Italian record production in the post-pandemic and I am sure that companies will receive important benefits from the revision of this tax measure, obtained thanks to the work of the majority and opposition in addition to the contribution from the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Finance," said Mazza.

BMI partners with ICE for pan-European representation

By Emmanuel Legrand

US rights society BMI has been partnering with pan-European licensing hub ICE to license portions of its repertoire to streaming services operating across Europe. ICE is a partnership between the UK's PRS for Music, Germany's GEMA and Sweden's STIM.

  BMI said the reason it is seeking representation in Europe for parts of its repertoire was that while much of its repertoire has been available on a multi-territorial basis to pan-European digital music services for many years, "some works have still been licensed and administered on a territory-by-territory basis by local collection societies."

  The new partnership with ICE makes the remaining musical works available to pan-European digital service providers in one central hub through the ICE Core. BMI said the deal will open up the repertoire to platforms including TikTok and Triller, both of which have recently signed with ICE. 

  “BMI continues to applaud the invaluable work that the local CMOs perform every day for our songwriters, composers and music publishers, and we also appreciate the challenge that digital music services face in securing rights for their services across Europe,” said Ann Sweeney (pictured, above), BMI's SVP, international & global policy. “This new collaboration with ICE helps to meet that challenge by providing an efficient one-stop-shop to the European DSPs and supports our continued effort to serve BMI’s music creators when their creative works are performed digitally in Europe.”

  Ben McEwen, ICE's VP commercial, added: “At this time, it’s more critical than ever that rights-holders have the best online licensing representation, with the expertise and shared resources to really address the market on their behalf, and we believe that ICE can provide that for BMI.”

Wixen Music Publishing sues Triller for wilfull infringement

By Emmanuel Legrand

Wixen Music Publishing has accused short video-sharing platform Trillerof infringing the copyright of over 1,000 songs represented by the Calabasas, California-based publisher.

  In a lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Central District of California, Wixen claims that Triller has been “willfully infringing” the musical works it represents by featuring the musical works in videos without licenses and compensation. Wixen is seeking up to $50 million in damages.

  "Triller has, without authorisation or compensation, reproduced and made the Works available the App to its App users, resulting in thousands of audiovisual works incorporating, without authorisation or compensation, the Works,” reads the lawsuit. Wixen's lawsuit is part of a growing frustration among music publishers that the platform is not doing enough to ensure that it is fully licensed.

Disregard copyright law

  In the lawsuit, Wixen insists on Triller's lack of reaction when notified about infringing content: “Triller told Wixen that it could locate fewer than five Videos containing the Works. In addition, Triller repeatedly advised Wixen that it would remove Works from the app, but repeatedly failed to do so.”

  It continues: “Triller could have reached out and negotiated with Wixen to obtain the necessary licenses, as its CEO promised. Instead, it chose to brazenly disregard copyright law and commit willful and ongoing copyright infringement. Among the evidence of Triller’s willfulness is that it continued to use, copy, and exploit [our] works even after Wixen notified Triller that it had not obtained the proper licences for the use of the works.”

  Triller CEO Mike Lu described the suit as "a baseless shakedown and it won't work." He added: "We look forward to our day in court where hopefully we can stop them from doing this to others who may not have the resources to fight them and give in to their extortionist demands."   

BMG's unveils results of historic catalogues contracts' review

By Emmanuel Legrand

Bertelsmann-owned music company BMG has completed the first stage of a review of its historic acquired recorded music catalogues to probe "for evidence of racial disadvantage" and establish whether it had inherited recordings subject to discriminatory contract terms for Black artists.

  The review has identified that four of the 33 labels among the catalogues it acquired show "statistically significant differences between the royalties paid to Black and non-Black artists." 

  These catalogues will now be "subject to a further deep dive study to establish definitively the reasons for those differences," said the company, explaining that regardless of the results of that study, BMG will "shortly bring forward measures which will benefit the lowest paid recording artists across all of its catalogues." 

  It added: "Given that BMG represents a relatively small share of Black music history, particularly in the US, BMG is inviting record labels with substantial catalogues of Black music to undertake similar reviews and/or assist in providing independent researchers and academics access to such information in order to establish the scale of racial disadvantage across the record business as a whole."

Racial disadvantage

  The BMG project – analysing thousands of artist royalty accounts and millions of lines of data – was led by COO Ben Katovsky. “This project has been a huge undertaking. Our focus was to establish if there were differences in royalty rates which could only be explained by skin color. While difference is not necessarily evidence of bias, there were instances of differences that are significant enough that they warrant closer attention. We will follow this through to its conclusion," said Katovsky.

  The study found that:  

  > BMG’s historic acquired recorded catalogues include recordings on 33 labels by 3,163 artists of whom 1,010 (32%) are Black; 

  > These recorded catalogues dating back to the 1960s were acquired by BMG between 2008 and 2019; BMG was not responsible for striking any of these original deals; 

  > The recorded catalogues feature 15 labels whose rosters include both Black and non-Black artists. Of those 15 labels, an examination of recorded royalty accounts showed that in the case of 11 of them, there was no evidence of racial disadvantage. Either 1) Black artists earned the same as non-Black artists or 2) there was no statistically significant difference between Black and non-Black artists or 3) Black artists earned slightly more than non-Black artists; 

  > In the case of four labels there was a statistically significant negative correlation between being Black and receiving lower recorded royalty rates, a difference ranging from 1.1 to 3.4 percentage points; 

  > To serve as a control for the review of historic recorded catalogues it has acquired, BMG applied the same methodology to the more than 800 recording agreements it has itself negotiated since it was established in October 2008; 

  > The inquiry established there was no negative correlation between lower recorded royalty rates and Black artists across those deals; As with the results for historic acquired recorded catalogs, the methodology and analysis was verified by external auditors.

Time to address the past

  BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch commented: “Since before the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, virtually all pop and rock music has its roots in Black music. Yet music’s history books are littered with tales of discriminatory treatment of Black musicians. It is time for the music industry to address its past. Making good on our commitment to search for racial disadvantage in our historic acquired recorded catalogs has been an enormous and highly complex task. We have learned a lot and there is still more to discover. We will act on this knowledge. We invite other labels to join us in this mission – to turn the promises and hopes of Blackout Tuesday into action.”

Spotify targets South Korea in the first half of 2021

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

Spotify will be launching in South Korea, the world's sixth largest music market, in the first half of 2021, according to the music streaming service's Chief Freemium Business Officer Alex Norström, who announced the news in a blogpost. The streaming service said it wants to "help accelerate the growth of Korea’s entire music streaming ecosystem, benefiting artists, labels, distributors and fans."

  “We are excited about our upcoming launch in South Korea, a market recognised as an epicenter for music, culture and tech innovation,” said Norström, who added that the service will give Korean artists another platform to reach their local fans as well as an international audience and capitalise on the success of K-Pop.

  K-Pop tracks are now featured on more than 120 million Spotify playlists. The platform said that since it debuted its first K-Pop playlist in 2014, listeners have streamed more than 180 billion minutes of the genre.

  Added Norström: “Spotify has been a partner to the Korean music industry for many years now. We are proud to have been a part of the K-pop global story, showcasing the genre on our platform and enabling its discovery all over the world, from Asia to the US, South America, Europe and the Middle East. We’re looking forward to working with our valued local partners to uncover more Korean artists, and to connect them with fans in South Korea and all over the world.” 

'Business as usual' for British CMOs as they prepare for life outside of the European Union

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

As the European Union and the UK are attempting to clinch a last minute agreement, businesses are preparing for life after Brexit. In the field of collective rights management, the British government has issued at the start of the year a series of guidelines that set a new framework for collective management organisations  (CMOs).

  As per UK government guidance, from January 1, 2021, CMOs in the EEA  "will not be required by the Collective Rights Management Directive to represent UK right holders or to represent the catalogues of UK CMOs for online licensing of musical rights." However, UK right holders and CMOs "will still be able to request representation, but EEA CMOs may be free to refuse those requests depending on the law in individual member states."

  The guidelines also stipulate that in the UK, existing obligations on UK CMOs "will be maintained following 1 January 2021. These include those specific to multi-territorial licensing of musical works for online services." More specifically, UK CMOs that offer multi-territorial licensing of online rights in musical works "will continue to be required to represent on request the catalogue of other CMOs (UK or EEA) for multi-territorial licensing purposes."

Little change expected

  In principle, it could turn the business of British CMOs upside down, but professionals forecast minimal changes in the way CMOs operate, in particular because, while no longer adhering to EU Directives, the UK is still signatory to many international treaties such as World Intellectual Property Organisation's Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorised Duplication of Their Phonograms, among others.

  "In this as in most copyright areas, there will be little change," explained Dominic McGonigal, Chair of London-based consultancy company C8 Associates. "As you know, copyright is territorial and international rules are mostly based on international treaties from WIPO."  

  McGonigal added that the government advice is "technically correct" and CMOs "will not be bound by the CRM Directive" in relation to multi-territorial licensing, but he added that the network of bilateral agreements was well established before 2012, before the Directive was adopted. "So it’s unlikely to change the exchange of rights for licensing much," he said.

  The view is shared by PRS for Music, the British music performance rights organisation. In a statement, PRS for Music said: "We do not believe the changes in application of the CRM Directive, as it relates to Title III – multi-territory licensing of online rights, will impact PRS for Music once the transition phase ends on January 1, 2021. PRS’ provider of multi-territory licensing and processing is ICE, the joint-venture between PRS, STIMand GEMA. As such, PRS does not expect to request an EEA CMO to represent its multi-territory rights."

  The society added: "ICE operates in a competitive market and competes for multi-territory online rights within the EEA and beyond. As the provider of services to PRS, any assignment by another CMO, whether on a voluntary basis or via the compulsory mechanism, would ultimately flow into ICE. Therefore, we do not see any new negative impact to the ongoing ‘must carry’ obligation to PRS in the UK."

  PRS for Music also noted that the UK Intellectual Property Office "is currently conducting its statutory review of the Regulations which implemented the CRM Directive. This will include consideration of the application of the Title III where its obligations are not reciprocated by CMOs in the EEA."

International agreements in place

  At PPL, the London-based neighbouring rights society, it is expected to be business as usual after January 1, 2021. The society said that the government provisions "relate to PRS only in the context of musical works." PPL added: "With regard to PPL’s international agreements, as these are based on individual contracts with each CMO, we do not anticipate our international arrangements being affected. Of course, we are keeping a close eye on all of this."

  For McGonigal, where new guidelines might have an impact is "in the emergence of licensing hubs," for example France's SACEM powering online licensing on behalf of IMPEL, the agency representing music publishers.

  "The UK CMOs are at a disadvantage in developing this business," said McGonigal. "It’s difficult to set up a multi-territory hub. In the publishing side there are numerous failures and a few partial successes. Post Brexit, the barriers to a UK CMO setting up a hub are greater. Whereas a CMO in the EU, on the publishing side, at least has the push legislation of the CRM Directive which is an incentive for other CMOs in the EU to join. And if they do join, they have the protections and the compliance certainty of the CRM Directive."

No practical impact of Brexit

  On the matter of IP protection and litigation, Matt Hervey, of law firm Gowling WLG, wrote in Lexology that from 1 January 2021, "our national interpretation of harmonised aspects of copyright can begin to drift from findings of the Court of Justice of the European Union" but for traditional forms of copyright protection, such as for literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts and typographical arrangements of published editions, "Brexit has no practical impact for the existing regime."

  For Hervey, disputes related to copyright in the UK "are, and will remain, matters for the courts of the UK, and there will be no change to the availability of remedies protecting copyright." In addition, as the UK is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, the UK courts "will continue to recognise and give effect to exclusive jurisdiction clauses, including those conferring jurisdiction on the courts in the UK in respect of licenses of copyright beyond the UK."

More guidelines

> The UK government issued the following guidelines regarding copyright works: "Most UK copyright works (such as books, films and music) will still be protected in the EU and the UK. This is because of the UK’s continued participation in the international treaties on copyright.  For the same reason, EU copyright works will continue to be protected in the UK. This applies to works made before and after 1 January 2021."
  It added: "Current cross-border copyright arrangements unique to EU member states will stop at end of the transition period.  These include cross-border portability of online content services, copyright clearance for satellite broadcasts, reciprocal protection for database rights and the orphan works exception."

> On the subject of copyright duration, the UK government guidelines are the following: "Copyright duration in the UK for works from the UK, EEA, or other countries will not change from 1 January 2021. Currently, EEA works are given the same copyright duration in the UK as UK works. For works from outside the EEA, copyright lasts for the term granted in the country-of-origin or the term granted to UK works, whichever is less. References to the EEA will be removed from UK law in this area so that duration for EEA works is calculated in the same way as for non-EEA works. Because copyright duration is equal across the UK and the EEA, there will be no immediate impact on copyright duration in the UK."

CPCC launches grassroots campaign to support private copying levy in Canada

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), which regroups rights organisations and rights holders, has launched the grassroots campaign Stand on Guard for Music to support the private copying regime in Canada. 

  Songwriters, performers and stakeholders are invited to sign a petition that will be sent to their elected representatives, urging them "to amend the Copyright Act to ensure that the private copying regime is made technologically neutral, to protect the rights and livelihoods of our creators and all their partners in Canada’s recorded music industry."

  The petition targets Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains, and local MPs to promote "a flexible, technologically-neutral system that monetises private copying of music that cannot be controlled by rights-holders."

Time for a change

  On the petition's web site, a disclaimer reads: "Canada’s creators and music companies are missing out on payment for a massive use of their work." It explains that research shows that Canadians "still make billions of copies of their music collections, for listening offline," but what has not changed "is simply that those private copies aren’t on cassette tapes, they’re on phones and tablets. And guess what? Only half of those copies are paid for through licensed music services."

  The disclaimer adds: "The Copyright Act has not kept pace with technology, leaving rights-holders unpaid. Shouldn’t every copy count? The time for change is now. Right now, the Government is reviewing copyright reform legislation to be tabled imminently, acting on what they heard in the recent Parliamentary Review of copyright. We need your help to ensure that private copying reform is high on their agenda."

  The petition said the private copying regime, in place since 1997, has generated total royalties of over CA$300 million for over 100,000 recording artists, composers, songwriters, music publishers and labels," but royalties for unlicensed private copies "have plummeted from CA$38 million per year to just CA$1.1 million in 2019," because the private copying regime has been limited to copies on recordable CDs since 2008. The current Copyright Law has not been updated to include phones and tablets, through which most of the copies take place.

Fixing the system

  The letter to policy-makers concludes: "Will you commit to moving forward with this simple legislative change so that our music industry isn’t left behind every time technology changes? Marketplace solutions like a technologically-neutral private copying regime will be essential to our music industry’s recovery from the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and for as long as Canadians copy music."

  Among the organisations supporting the petition is mechanical agency CMRRA, which claimed that an updated private copying scheme "could result in more money for music publishers and self-published songwriters." In a message to stakeholders, CMRRA wrote: "The fix is simple – the Government needs to amend the Copyright Act to ensure that the private copying regime is made technologically neutral. Now is the time to raise your voice to make it happen!"

MusicBiz virtual conference assesses the impact of Article 17 on the music biz

By Emmanuel Legrand

Article 17 of the European Union's Directive on Copyright in the Single Digital Market has the potential to be a game changer and has become the symbol of a new era for the creative sector – one where online platforms can be regulated and content protected, licensed and monetised. 

  Although the Directive, adopted in 2018, has not been transposed yet into the legislation of EU member states, stakeholders in the creative sector put much into the potential changes ahead, once the Directive is fully implemented. Article 17, among other things, is an invitation for platforms, in particular those relying on user generated content (UGC), to license creative content. 

  The interest in Article 17 goes well beyond the borders of EU's 27 members (the UK has already announced that it won't transpose the Directive) and the whole world is waiting to see what will happen in Europe and what will be the impact of the legislation. Article 17 requires online platforms to make "best efforts" to identify the owners of unlicensed content and license the content. The European Commission still has to publish its guidelines on how Article has to be interpreted, and the guidelines are expected to be unveiled in the New Year.

Reforming copyright in a balanced way

  As a testimony of the interest in Article 17 outside of the EU, several hundred people had registered to a two-day virtual seminar organised by US trade body MusicBiz. "Article 17: Are We Ready?" explored the potential impact of the legislation not just in the EU but also outside the EU.

  For Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt, VP of Innovation and Education at theInternational Music Managers Forum, Article 17 is a "box-set," to use a music analogy, which contains a lot of provisions and layers, and the seminar aimed at covering as much ground as possible on the topic (and it did).

  Helen Smith, Executive Chair of indie labels' trade body IMPALA, recalled that the Copyright Directive was "one of the most debated piece of legislation to come from EU in past 20 years," and that the Commission and legislators were seeking to reform copyright "in very balanced way." Smith said the onus is now on member states to "box the Directive in their own national legislation." "Until that's done, it does not have any effect," she said.

Different approaches to implementation

  At the moment, no country has fully implemented the Directive but countries like the Netherlands, France and Portugal have made head ways. All EU countries need to have transposed the Directive by June 2021. Not all the countries are expected to transpose the Directive word for word. Some countries like Germany have taken an approach that could expand the exceptions to the scope of Article 17.

  For Martin Hapl, General Manager for Europe at content identification company Pex, France has decided to stay "close" to Article 17 while Germany tried "to be creative, and make Article 17 more acceptable for people in Germany, but at the risk of being non compliant with the Directive."

  Others like Poland have gone to the European Court of Justice, arguing that parts of Article 17 infringed the right of freedom of expression. "Poland is an interesting country to bring a question about fundamental rights," mused Ted Shapiro, a Partner at law firm Wiggin in Brussels.

A sausage factory!

  Shapiro warned US audiences that Europe does not have "safe harbours" provision as defined by section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the US, but European law provides for exceptions. What Article 17 does is to clarify these exceptions and introduces the notion that when platforms like YouTube allow UGC to be uploaded, they engage in a communication to public, which comes with its own requirements. "They need a license or if they don't have it, they need to take measures to take down content," said Shapiro.

  With Article 17, some content that could benefit from an exception won't benefit from it in the first place, said Shapiro, which will require platforms to take down content or at least filter content. "The Commission came with a middle ground, and if it is an exception, we should let it up, but if it is infringing, we will take it down," he explained, joking that the legislative process in Europe is a "sausage factory where member states try to figure out what is in the sausage"...

  "The Commission has packed in so many different pieces [in Article 17] and hopefully will take into account all the points of views before it publishes its final guidelines," agreed Beaumont-Nesbitt. For several participants, the real challenge with Article 17 is to identify content that infringes copyright, in particular UGC. Abby North, a Principal at North Music Group and Co-Founder of Unchained Melody Publishing, rights holders "need a globally identifier for UGC."

Blind spots in music licensing

  Her view was echoed by other speakers like Ilie Ardelean, CPO at Exactuals, who noted that "UGC, that's all new" and that stakeholders have to work together to develop tech solutions to "make sure we all work out from the same format."

  Jeff Liebenson, President of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (IAEL), explained that with UGC, rights holders are dealing with an alteration of a song, a clip, a remix and all this means that labels or publishers have to check if they can grant the rights. He noted that "a lot of times people don't have the time or the staff to deal with licensing problems." For platforms, it is also sometimes difficult to identify the rights owners and there is no centralised database that could help them, he added.

  Then there's the issue of licensing, which will be at the heart of Article 17 implementation. Vickie Nauman, Principal & Owner at CrossBorderWorks, noted that "all companies of all sizes have blind spots in music licensing and music rights. There's so many facets that you can't possibly see them all at one time. And very few people can understand all of this."

A profound change in the landscape

  For Nauman, legally licensing music has its perks. "Done right, it brings huge value," she said. And for those who prefer to act first and ask forgiveness after, she had this message: "Asking for forgiveness rarely ends well. Some companies have done well, but the number of companies that get into trouble and that we never hear from again is staggering."

  Reflecting on the possible effects of Article 17, Nauman said she believed that Article 17 "will have a profound change in the landscape." For her, it is impossible to limit the impact of Article 17 to the EU, since the legislation will introduce changes "in UGC in general, in the system's architecture and in the relation and expectation between rights holders and platforms."

  For IMMF's Beaumont-Nesbitt, Article 17 will provide "a massive opportunity for creators and investors in music and platforms to come together and create a fantastic business model." 

Better monetise content

  Larry Mills, CEO and Co-Founder of We Are The Hits, picked up on the same topic. For him, Article 17 will introduce a dialogue between rights holders and platforms and he is convinced that both parties have already integrated the advent of Article 17 and "behaviours have already changed."

  For Mills, Article 17 has "created a scenario where places can get monetised" more than before, with rights holder and platforms working jointly on the monetisation of content "thanks to Article 17." He added: "It will be good for everyone and if it works in a couple of countries in Europe, there will be an explosion elsewhere too."

  Rasty Turek, Founder and CEO of Pex, explained that the benefit of the Directive is that it tries to bring a balance in market that had "disproportionately moved towards platforms." What the Commission did, he said, was to discuss with everyone involved, and try to figure out a balance. 

A new era for innovation

  "No legislation is perfect but we are heading in a nice direction and we will see significant changes," Turek said. He is convinced it will in particular open a new era for innovation, with more and more platforms like TikTok that "will be monetised."

  Turek added: "What is challenging for US-based companies is understanding how the process works in Europe. A lot of people are confused by that. And as things come closer, people start panicking. Right now most platforms are in the understand mode and a lot of small platforms look at it as a form of opportunity. If you comply first, do you get some sort of edge in the marketplace?"

  For Turek, the US will eventually follow suit, in the very same way the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) had an impact outside of Europe and platforms around the world had to adapt to the legislation. "The Directive talks about best efforts to license and the DMCA is at odds with that, so the US will have to make adjustments to that," said Turek. He said he was convinced that "once dust settles, everybody will be better off and benefit equally from it. This is a new form of legislation where people have to find a way to work together."

Grow the market

  IMPALA's Smith said Article 17 could transform the notice and takedown system, which she described as "a crazy whack-a-mole system" that smaller music companies had problems dealing with. "No one wants to be a takedown machine," she said. "It is not good for the music sector." She added: "Hopefully that tension will be replaced by something positive with licenses and also about how to generate more revenues for creators."

  For Smith the mindset of the platforms has already switched. For platforms, it is now "more a compliance issue for them and looking at how they are going to make it work. The question of adoption is more a commercial and a technical issue than a legal issue." 

  And for Smith, "the big question is how we, as a sector work with platforms to create amazing new opportunities. We have already seen changes with the short clips and it's big business. Not long ago, some in the legislative process thought it could be exempted. Look at how platforms came with ways to connect and there are many ways that we have not thought of yet."

  She continued: "A lot of members believe they can already see the impact, and platforms are already planning, they know what they have to do. For them it is fantastic that there are test efforts and that we can go to the next phase which is how we can grow the market. That's what makes it exciting and our members are motivated by that. It is now a question of growing the business."

EU's Creative Europe programme gets a €2.2 billion budget

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

Following a trilogue discussion between the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, the budget for the Creative Europe programme has been adopted for 2021-2027. The creative sector will benefit from a European budget of €2.2 billion, some €800m more than what was initially proposed by the Commission. The music sector is likely to be one of the beneficiaries of the increase in budget. The previous budget was of €1.4bn. 

  Sabine Verheyen (pictured, above), the Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education, said it was "a good agreement, a fair, balanced agreement." She added: "What was most important is that we got more money into the programme. It's not as much as the Parliament asked for. We wanted a doubling. [But] it's a raise of nearly 800 million euros and that's a lot of money for the cultural and creative sector." She said the Parliament want to "have the programme more adhesive to the cultural sector and the needs we have explicitly under the Covid-19 crisis."

  The pandemic, she added, has created "a big mess for the [creative] sector. And that's also the reason why the Parliament is, in addition, asking for a share of the recovery fund that has to go to the cultural sector, too. So in addition to the new Creative Europe programme, we also need support by the member states out of the of the recovery fund, which will be managed mainly by the member states in the end."

Boosting Europe's creators

  Themis Christophidou, Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport, Culture, reacted on Twitter to the news: "Just agreed! With a €2.4 billion budget, the new #CreativeEurope will boost Europe's artists, creators and cultural organisations, allowing them to cooperate and co-create across borders like never before."

  Brussels-based indie music company's organisation IMPALA welcomed the agreement on the next Creative Europe programme, with its biggest ever budget, and the fact that the programme will also include specific sectoral actions for music, on top of the traditional horizontal support for the cultural and creative sector. 

A renewed ambition

  "The combination of an increased budget and a new focus on music opens up many opportunities in terms of funding for music projects," said IMPALA’s Executive Chair Helen Smith. "Building on all the work done with Music Moves Europe, which was designed to lay the ground for larger-scale support for the sector under Creative Europe, the EU should be able to show renewed ambition for music and hit the ground running."

  Smith concluded: “We now look forward to hearing what the European Commission has in stock for the music sector. At a time when the music sector is severely impacted by the Covid crisis, but also by recent EU case-law which will have disastrous implications in terms of revenue and basic copyright principles unless addressed, the time is right for the EU to take a strategic and bold approach to its dynamic music sector.”

SACEM wants additional relief for songwriters, composers and publishers

By Emmanuel Legrand

French right society SACEM  organised on December 7 a Day of Solidarity to raise awareness on the situation of creators impacted by the pandemic. "Today, music needs everyone's help. This is the message we want to get across with this Day of Solidarity,” said SACEM CEO Jean-Noël Tronc (pictured, below).

 

 On this occasion, SACEM called upon public authorities "to extend measures designed to help the music sector." SACEM acknowledged that government measures "have already provided unprecedented support to the sector," in particular through the cultural recovery plan, with €432 million in direct aid for the performing arts, and €210 million for music via the National Music Center.

  However, the society believes that more should be done to support authors, composers and music publishers who have "so far benefited from hardly any of the programmes set up for the cultural sectors." SACEM estimates that to date, its collections have declined by €280 million for 2020-2021.  

A twofold penalty due to Covid

  "To date, state measures to support the music sector, while indispensable, have not gone far enough," explained Bruno Lion, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SACEM. "Everyone must bear in mind that authors, composers and publishers are only compensated when their works are disseminated or, in very rare cases, when they receive a commission. Since the beginning of the lockdown measures, opportunities to work have melted like snow in the sun."

  He continued: "From now on, the penalty is twofold: works that could not be created will not be paid for, and the authors' rights for those that have been less widely disseminated are in freefall. For the sake of our musical diversity, we must at all costs allow our creators to continue to create. We must spark a collective awareness so that together, we may preserve an essential part of our culture." 

Support local songwriters

  SACEM recommends the implementation of the following measures be implemented:   
  > A fund to compensate for the losses of music-industry professionals (€30 million), run by collective management bodies;
  > A raft of measures aimed at better compensating creation in the context of lockdowns and restrictions on gatherings such as contributions for online broadcasts, even free of charge; 
  > Co-financing of concerts in real-world venues, but without an audience; 
  > Financing of a local e-commerce solution for cultural actors; 
  > The creation of a tax credit for music publishers (voted by the Senate but waiting for the vote of the National Assembly).

  SACEM also invited broadcasters to play more French music. "As media outlets and platforms broadcast more tracks or playlists from the French music scene, and as French fans increase the number of French songs they listen to, royalty payments to creators will rise," said SACEM. "Playing as much French music as possible won't cost broadcasters any more. Indeed, whether you play tracks from the French or international repertoire, the amount paid for authors’ rights is the same, it is just the beneficiaries who change."

Blokur, Music Data Services, Exactuals and TuneRegistry have joined The MLC's DQI

By Emmanuel Legrand

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has enlisted four music data companies to its Data Quality Initiative (DQI): Blokur, Exactuals, Music Data Services, and TuneRegistry.

  The MLC was mandated by the Music Modernisation Act (MMA) of 2018 with administering the new blanket compulsory license for the use of musical works by digital music services covering mechanical rights. It will officially launch in the US on January 1, 2021.

  Dae Bogan (pictured, below), Head of Third Party Partnerships at The MLC, said the four new participants in the DQI offer "different tiers of service, from high-cost enterprise platforms to economical new  software targeting self-administered songwriters and smaller publishers.”



  The MLC said the participation of the four companies in the DQI project "will make it much easier for their users and customers to participate in the DQI and check the accuracy of their musical works data in The MLC's current database." 

  The DQI provides a streamlined way for music publishers, administrators, self-administered songwriters, composers and lyricists, and collective management organisations outside the USA, "to compare their musical works data with The MLC’s data to ensure The MLC’s data is consistent with theirs."

Different approaches

  In addition, participants to the DQI will receive reports highlighting discrepancies between the data they submit for comparison and The MLC’s data. The MLC noted that each company part of the programme "will take a different approach to helping their clients and customers participate in the DQI." 

  Some are integrating new functionality into the data-related products, services and software platforms they already offer; others will work with their clients “one-on-one” to help them prepare and submit their comparison files and then review the results.

  The MLC will launch its online portal in January 2021, which will include a public database of copyright information on all musical works. The database will be constantly updated and will seek to match compositions to sound recordings. With this regard, The MLC has picked the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) to manage data matches. Existing clients of HFA have the option to flip their catalogues to The MLC's database, while non-HFA clients have the possibility to upload their data directly.  

Efficiently check data

 “Our team is committed to making the process of checking data as efficient and effective as possible for  all of our members,” says The MLC CEO Kris Ahrend. “Enabling innovative companies like these to make it easier for their users and customers to participate in our Data Quality Initiative helps The MLC achieve that important goal. We appreciate their willingness to help support the DQI.”  

  Here are the comments from representatives of the four companies:

  >  "Blokur’s global copyright database, which covers the majority of commercial music, combined with our unique matching technology, makes us ideally placed to help publishers get the best possible results out of the DQI and – crucially – to resolve any issues that are identified in the process painlessly," said Phil Barry, founder and CEO of Blokur.

  >  Exactuals, which uses AI technology to help match works and rights holders, said it will collaborate with The MLC "to help songwriters, publishers, and other rights-holders of every size submit the highest-quality metadata for their tracks to this important new organisation,” said ChrisMc Murtry, Head of Music Product at Exactuals. “Our RAI API uses machine learning to quickly and accurately bring catalogues up to date and prepare them for distribution on every DSP. By joining forces with The MLC and their DQI initiative, we are taking a big step forward toward solving the metadata problem.”  

  >  For Abby North from Music Data Services, a music rights manager that works with self-published songwriters and small publishers, the DQI is "a tremendous asset" and that the ability to clearly identify disparities in the CMO’s data and compare it to its clients’ "takes us one step closer to accurate registrations and  accounting, and therefore, increased collections." North added that The MLC "is the first CMO I know of that has made tools for rights holders that provide clear, transparent reporting of internal data conflicts."

  >  William Gary, Manager of Operations at TuneRegistry, said the partnership will allow small- and medium-sized rights holders to be able "to register their works and metadata via the same streamlined  process they are used to, while seamlessly checking the accuracy of their work registrations at The MLC."