POSITIVE PROSPECTS
CC Young & Co director Colin Young looks into indie publishing's future...
“Confidence in the sector trickles down and is a positive force for good”
Sweet melody: Nils Frahm is at home with Manners McDade
Nick Drake’s back catalogue in conjunction with Blue Raincoat.
“We are a nimble and creative-thinking company, and, as we have grown, the roster has grown with us as a result of our creative service and offerings. We continue to move the goal posts for each of them to succeed in the ways they want individually. For example, Jamie Hartman won an Ivor Novello for Most Performed Work in 2020. Mr Franks has had three songs in the Top 10 in the US for several weeks now with Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. With each of these successes, we find ways to retain our existing writers and attract top talent, as creators see the value in being on the Reservoir roster.”
Sentric Music Group CEO, Chris Meehan, concurs that the indies’ speed and ease of manoeuvre reaps rewards for publisher and songwriter alike. It has helped to break clients including Ms Banks, while the likes of Prolifica, Air Management and Erased Tapes have partnerships with the publisher. “To put it simply, it is our ability
to be as powerful in infrastructure, but with flexibility across the board,” Meehan says. “We have a best-in-class collection network but it’s what we do on top of that which sets us apart – how we can be agile with clients to service their needs.”
“At Sentric, no deals nor clients are the same and we base our partnerships on the client’s specific needs but nevertheless ensure an industry-leading, standardised service,” he continues. “The rapid expansion of the group over the last few years has meant we are well equipped and resourced with a team of executives who have expertise in different fields. In particular, our client management team at Sentric has quadrupled within the last 18 months. This has given us the capacity to increase and uphold client management operations, reporting and relationships. The
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Harriet Moss MANNERS McDADE
growth in operations and resources has also seen expansion across our sync and creative divisions where our full-service offering has resulted in maximum value return for our writers’ and clients’ catalogues. Sentric’s sync division saw year-on-year revenue growth of 95% in 2020. It all contributes to our aim to exceed the expectations of modern-day music publishing and set us above the ‘nothing but administered’ deals seen so frequently elsewhere on the market.” With every songwriter’s catalogue possessing a unique character – no matter the breadth of artists they have written for – the independent sector’s diversity, more often than not, can find them a uniquely suitable publishing home. “We have always looked to move against the flow and tried to offer a unique proposition, explains Tileyard’s Harwood of how the indies distinguish themselves. “Tileyard is home to over 100 recording studios and that means we are able to provide studios for all of our writers and producers. We regularly hold writing camps for names such as Ava Max, David Guetta and more.”
bespoke touch”
Rell Lafargue RESERVOIR
“One size does not fit all. Our songwriters value our
“We continue to look for ways to strategically grow our business and add value for our songwriters, in addition to just catalogue acquisition,” notes Reservoir’s Lafargue, indicating that indie increasingly means international. “Expanding geographically to include an outpost in Abu Dhabi and focusing on emerging markets was part of this strategy and we’re excited about all of the potential there. We’re already seeing collaboration across these new territories and successes with exporting this music to the rest of the world.” This represents one other factor that drives the independent sector. All publishers have one eye on the future, but “nimble” indie outfits are helping to form it themselves.
“We were very proud to put together a mentorship programme for composers – on our roster and beyond in the composer community – during
“What are the financial prospects for publishing and songwriting? Largely, publishing shadows recording. It is evident that streaming now dominates recorded music and it is growing. Historically, we
undertook valuations of publishing catalogues
based on historic annual earnings. Take the average for the last three years’ net publisher’s share and apply a multiple. The multiple was limited to a range between eight to 12 of net publisher’s share depending on the breadth and depth of the catalogue. Now, there are new partners in town who buy out the writer’s share. “So what is the value? The indices for acquisitions, the internal rate of return for discounted cash flows, are now determined by the London and New York Stock Exchanges. The Hipgnosis Interim Report, released in December 2020, used a ‘blended acquisition multiple of 14.76 times historic annual income of the assets acquired.’ So the value was up, but is there more to go? At the DCMS committee hearing, the relationship between artist and label and the division of the recording spoils is being scrutinised.
“Consideration is being given to whether equitable remuneration should be applied. If so, the same principles as apply to publishing would have to apply. Namely, each stream would be split in two: part exclusive record sale and part public performance. Equitable remuneration would work on the premise that a stream is at once an exclusive right and a public performance. “The Music Publishers’ Association is requesting a bigger share of streaming income for the songwriter, but are there alternative models to consider? Rather than the dual character of a stream under equitable remuneration, perhaps a model might differentiate between streams according to user consumption. “The distinction is essentially between active selections and passive listening. Which streams were actively chosen by the user, and which were determined passively by an algorithm, so are akin to radio? For active choices, DSPs would continue to account to the labels under the exclusive arrangement. For passive plays, the recorded element could be administered by PPL and the publishing element by PRS. Extending the convention already practised for public performance in the UK, the split would be equal between PPL and PRS, instead of the current weighting of 55/15 in the record label’s favour. Adopting this model would result in both artists and songwriters participating more.
“So how will all this unravel? The DCMS Inquiry is an important part of the journey. For the independent publisher effectively supporting and promoting songwriters, the prospects are positive.”
musicweek.com
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