PRS for Music signs landmark long-term licensing deal with song data hub Auddly

26 June 2018 - Press release

- New tool powered by Auddly will help future of PRS distributions
- Deal follows previous collaborations with Auddly to raise awareness of the importance of metadata
 

Leading performing rights organisation, PRS for Music, has signed a long-term licensing agreement with song data hub Auddly.

The deal will enable PRS for Music songwriter, composer and publisher members, to capture their song and composition data, including agreement of shares, and register their works with PRS at the point of creation, using a new tool powered by the tech start-up.

Whether working from a bedroom laptop, recording studio or publisher’s office, the Auddly platform will enable earlier registration of more accurate and authoritative data, and in turn help PRS to improve the speed and accuracy of royalty distributions made to its members.

Auddly’s partnership with PRS for Music will also inspire collaboration between music creators. Described as a ”digital handshake”, it will enable creators to communicate directly among themselves to propose and agree share splits via the tool, cutting down burdensome and time-consuming admin for music publishers, while capturing data in a consistent, standardised, and transparent way for all interested parties. This will also help to prevent inaccuracies occurring as data travels along the value chain.

The new tool will also make it possible for industry identifiers such as ISWC and ISRC to be assigned at the same time, allowing both sets of data to travel along the value chain together, resolving one of the biggest chasms in music industry workflow today.

Founded by Swedish world-renowned songwriter and composer Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA), Grammy award-winning songwriter Max Martin (Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake) and Niclas Molinder (songwriting and production duo TWIN), who also leads the company, Auddly’s tool will be made available for free to PRS for Music members once launched next year.

Robert Ashcroft, Chief Executive, PRS for Music, said: “Björn Ulvaeus is one of the industry’s leading visionaries. With today’s trillions of individual streams on the internet, early and authoritative song registration are vital if songwriters and composers are to be properly paid for their creative works. In founding and developing Auddly together with Niclas Molinder, Björn has made a massive contribution to all other songwriters, to add to his own legendary career as a creator himself. I would like to thank him, on behalf of all PRS members, for his vision and for his determination in developing Auddly.”

PRS member and Auddly co-founder, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus added: “When I joined PRS for Music a few years ago, long before Auddly, I did so because I had the feeling that PRS were at the forefront of collecting societies. They seemed flexible and willing to adapt to future technologies and as I am a bit of a tech geek I like that. Well, I was right! I’m immensely grateful to PRS for sharing Niclas’ and my vision and I’m proud to be his partner in this great collaboration. We share the goal to help songwriters get quick and fair payments and, not least important, get credits whenever and wherever their songs are played. Now’s the time for the world to realise that no one in the music industry is more important than us songwriters! It all starts with a song!”

Niclas Molinder, CEO and founder of Auddly, commented: “We are delighted to be working closely together with PRS to help songwriters and their music publishers manage their metadata efficiently, as we launch PRO integration in Auddly. Capturing this data accurately from the start enables PROs to attribute ownership shares to songwriters, so this is a significant step towards securing correct compensation. Early data identifiers are key to forming a sustainable music industry and this partnership is an important part of making Auddly the global reference point for all song metadata.”

In the digital era, more music consumption data is being generated than ever before. PRS for Music processed 6.6 trillion uses of music – including downloads, streams, live performances and online, radio and television broadcasts – in 2017, up 53% year-on-year. PRS for Music continues to invest in new technologies to help manage the increasing volumes of data, including partnerships with other performance rights organisations on blockchain and linking the data of song recordings to musical works, as well as work with music recognition technology. 

Work has already begun on the new Auddly tool, which is set to go live in 2019.