Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

New music licensing platform seeks to legitimise music usage in sport

By | Published on Monday 12 March 2018

Clickamix

A London-based start-up seeking to unlock new revenues for labels and publishers when music is used in sports competitions has officially launched. Having been in beta since last summer, Clickamix seeks to be a connection between music rights owners and those creating music for use in cheerleading or sports like gymnastics, figure skating and synchronised swimming.

The company reckons that many event organisers in these industries are currently using unlicensed or incorrectly licensed music. Cheerleading and sports of this kind usually edit and mix tracks to suit their needs, which is why bespoke licences are often required.

Clickamix says it plans to educate relevant sports of their obligations under copyright law, while helping music companies capitalise on the opportunities in this space by making it easier to license their music for such use.

The company’s founder, Chantal Epp, says: “We are fast building a growing catalogue of pre-cleared music available to producers who wish to quickly and easily license music for use in sports competitions”.

Noting that she is already working with “some of the most prominent rightsholders in the industry”, Epp adds that she hopes the music business will help her educate governing bodies in relevant sports – “which is a huge challenge considering the misinformation and lack of awareness” – while Clickamix rolls out its “micro-licensing solution to more and more sports that use music in a similar way”.

Some in the music industry, especially in the US, have already taken some action over uncleared music being used this domain. Back in 2014, Sony Music filed litigation against four companies Stateside over special mix albums being sold to the organisers of cheerleading competitions. Recordings owned or repped by the major in the US, including tracks from Christina Aguilera, Beyonce and Adele, had all appeared without permission on the special cheerleading releases. The compilations were being sold for up to $1000 per mix.



READ MORE ABOUT: