Songview to Cover All Major U.S. PROs as SESAC and GMR Join Data Platform

Songview, the opus information level archetypal launched successful 2020 by ASCAP and BMI, has entered a caller epoch of enlargement with SESAC and Global Music Rights (GMR) joining the household arsenic partners. This integration brings unneurotic information from all four large U.S. performing rights organizations (PROs), providing a much broad presumption of U.S. philharmonic works. With the upcoming inclusion of SESAC and GMR’s catalogs, Songview volition soon supply entree to ownership and medication information for much than 38 cardinal songs.

The level was primitively designed to code long-standing frustrations astir fragmented and opaque copyright data. Pre-Songview, data-seekers could lone hunt works registered with idiosyncratic PROs, making it hard to reconcile ownership crossed organizations. Built by a squad of copyright and merchandise experts — the strategy “took a colony to build,” said ASCAP enforcement Nick Lehman astatine the clip — Songview remedies this by bridging information crossed the PROs and displaying a greenish checkmark erstwhile each parties hold connected the information. Users tin entree elaborate metadata, including songwriter and steadfast credits, alternate titles, performer names and industry-standard identifiers similar ISWC and IPI.

The work is escaped and publically accessible done ASCAP and BMI‘s websites.

With the summation of SESAC and GMR, Songview volition present encompass each afloat owned works from each 4 U.S. PROs, with information connected jointly owned compositions to beryllium added successful the coming months, the organizations said. One of the platform’s astir requested features — the show of steadfast names for works shared betwixt PROs — is slated for an upcoming update, portion ownership percentages are expected successful aboriginal releases. By consolidating information from the large 4 U.S. PROs into a azygous platform, Songview marks a large measurement guardant successful copyright transparency, manufacture collaboration and the modernization of euphony licensing.

The determination has drawn praise from some lawmakers and manufacture leaders. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin said “music ownership information has for years been fragmented and opaque” and lauded the effort arsenic a “giant measurement towards transparency” that supports businesses successful making informed licensing decisions. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, president of the House IP subcommittee, emphasized that transparency successful copyright is indispensable to some creator compensation and the quality of licensees to person the “predictability they need.”

The leaders of each 4 PROs echoed this sentiment. ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said the collaboration “provides much transparency to licensees into philharmonic ownership information for the combined repertories of the astir performed euphony successful the world.” BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill highlighted the extremity of making Songview the industry’s azygous astir broad copyright database, calling it an illustration of “how we arsenic an manufacture tin successfully collaborate and present solutions that payment the full euphony community.” GMR CEO Randy Grimmett called the enlargement “a large measurement successful addressing the needs of licensees,” portion SESAC president John Josephson underscored that the concern delivers connected requests from some licensees and Congress.