ASCAP teams up with BMI to launch licensing database
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc (BMI) have teamed up to create a database of musical works in a bid to “offer greater transparency to music users and the industry”.
The performing rights organisations announced the collaboration, which is due to launch in the last quarter of 2018, on Wednesday, July 26.
According to a statement, the database will “feature musical works from its combined repertories that will deliver an authoritative view of ownership shares in the vast majority of music licensed in the US”.
A team of copyright experts from the two companies began working on the project over a year ago in anticipation of demand from licensees and the industry for more clarity on ownership shares.
The database will initially be made publicly available on both the ASCAP and BMI websites and will indicate where other performing rights organisations may have an interest in a musical work.
“ASCAP and BMI are proactively and voluntarily moving the entire industry a step forward to more accurate, reliable and user-friendly data,” said Elizabeth Matthews, CEO of ASCAP.
She added: “We believe in a free market with more industry cooperation and alignment on data issues.”
The joint database will roll out in phases, with the first expected to launch by the end of 2018, and include the majority of ASCAP and BMI registered songs.
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