www.musicweek.com REPORT ROYALTY COLLECTION AMONGST ROYALTIES
The number of different revenue streams for rights-holders has exploded in the digital age. That might mean more royalty payments for master owners, performers, publishers and authors – but only if those tasked with collecting them are able to deal with the added scale
20.09.13 MusicWeek 27
ROYALTIES BY TOM PAKINKIS
W
hile the physical pillars of the music industry have been left shaken by the digital revolution, it’s arguable that
there’s never been a more exciting time for rights- holders in terms of diversity of income. Whether you’re a performer, a master owner or
(perhaps even more so) a publisher or the author of a song, there are more potential revenue streams for a properly exploited copyright than ever before. But, with more royalty-earning opportunities
comes a much bigger administration task. A range of revenue streams flow from a number of different platforms, controlled by a myriad of different companies across all over the world. While a publisher, author, label or performer once had to worry about remuneration from plays across a limited number of TV channels and radio stations, now royalty payments can come from downloads, streams and a huge range of television and radio stations - on a number of digital and traditional platforms. This diversification of revenue streams shows no signs of slowing down, according to those tasked with identifying and collecting royalties for their clients.
ABOVE
“We have seen many companies thinking that it would be a simple task to start collecting royalties so they can get some easy money. It is not” GINO OLIVIERI, PREMIER MUZIK INTERNATIONAL
“The avenues that have opened up such as
streaming, satellite, YouTube, mobile phones and neighbouring rights are over and above the previous income streams with more to come in the near future,” says Gino Olivieri, president of Premier Muzic International, which collects and administers performance royalty income for artists including Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Avicii and David Guetta among many others. “In North America, satellite radio and satellite
TV has increased in the last five years and is only gaining momentum. One must understand that, wherever a song is being played, there has to be a payable royalty to a writer, a composer, a label or all of the above. These are the new [revenue streams] that rights holders will benefit from - not to mention the many more, mostly digital, mediums to come.” Although Olivieri talks specifically about operating out of the US, the challenges he mentions
Going global: Lady Gaga and Avicii are signed to Premier Muzik for neighbouring rights
administration while BMI handles Gaga’s author rights
are similar across most territories - including the UK, where leading recorded music royalty collection group PPL is based.
‘HUNDREDS OF NEW DIGITAL STATIONS’ “The challenge for licensing in the UK is the proliferation of recordings and the popularity of what’s being used by more and more services,” says PPL CEO Peter Leathem. “In the broadcast sector, we used to have the BBC, ITV and then Channel 4. But, if you look at digital platforms now, there are hundreds of stations that are using recorded music and having to report that through. “It also means the diversity of the types of
recording has increased. We used to have the BBC, then commercial radio came along 40 years ago and now we’ve got 300 commercial radio stations and internet radio as well. “The diversity of recordings and the number of
people we have to license has increased, which means we have to increase our licensing teams to manage those relationships. We also need to have the recording details so that we can match what’s played with who to pay.” Tracking income has become a real challenge for
those representing songwriters, too. UK-based PRS for Music collects royalties for songwriters, composers and music publishers, but faces the same
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