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Auddly announces alliances with PRS and ASCAP
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 1 September 2017
Auddly, the project management platform for artists and songwriters which, among other things, aims to ensure that good copyright data enters the music industry each time new songs and tracks are created, has announced new alliances with collecting societies ASCAP and PRS For Music. The Swedish start-up – backed by Max Martin and Björn Ulvaeus – already had an alliance with Sweden’s performing rights organisation STIM.
There has been much debate in recent years, of course, about the need for better music rights data, with accurate information about who wrote and published each and every song all the more important in the streaming age, where the royalties paid to copyright owners are very small but very frequent.
There are various data challenges for the music community to meet, including ensuring that songwriters are better at agreeing and logging how new song copyrights are being split between collaborators. It’s that challenge that Auddly is seeking to address, simplifying the process of agreeing song splits and then logging that information with relevant collecting societies, which – on the songs side at least – have traditionally been the gate-keepers to copyright ownership data. Hence Auddly’s alliances with the societies.
Confirming its support for the Auddly project, Karen Buse at UK collecting society PRS For Music said yesterday: “PRS For Music has been working with partners to develop new models that establish gold standard authoritative copyright data in a world of multi-territory licensing and high volume transaction processing, and we were delighted to support Auddly in this endeavour”.
She went on: “Auddly has real potential in the revolution that is taking place in the industry, offering a new tool to address the data challenges that processing in the online era brings. It will ultimately enable the release of greater value for rightsholders, negating some of the effort involved in correcting errors and resolving disputes”.
Meanwhile the boss of US collecting society ASCAP, Elizabeth Matthews, added: “ASCAP is working hard with several partners to help address the complex set of data challenges in the music industry. Auddly’s focus on offering songwriters a tool to empower them to collect and authenticate song metadata is an important component in capturing composition ownership information as early as possible in the creative process”.
Speaking for Auddly, its CEO Niclas Molinder told reporters: “The industry must work together to shape a transparent future with a functional data flow. We’re excited to continue our mission in collaboration with these leading organisations in an ever-expanding network of the most prominent players, now well on our way to unlocking the future of a sustainable music industry to the benefit of all music creators”.
