Why Hayden Bower Launched a PRO for the ‘Significant Middle Class’ of Songwriters

Does America request different performing rights organization? Hayden Bower thinks so. 

Bower, who leads AllTrack, the industry’s newest PRO arsenic of 2017, says helium was inspired by the emergence of autarkic musicians making and releasing euphony from their bedrooms. “If you look astatine the marketplace successful the aboriginal 2000s, ASCAP and BMI [the 2 starring PROs successful the United States] combined had astir 350,000 oregon truthful members. Today, they person 2.5 million members. Meanwhile, the U.S. colonisation lone grew 18% successful that time,” Bower says. “Technology opened the floodgates.”

Bower defines this surge arsenic the enactment of a “significant mediate people of nonrecreational oregon aspiring nonrecreational songwriters,” and helium says helium saw an accidental to service those creators’ circumstantial needs with a PRO that manages not lone show rights but besides mechanical and neighboring rights. And by founding a caller organization, helium says helium has avoided taking connected the baggage of astir a period of aged catalog and metadata that plagues the incumbents. “The [others] were fundamentally competing for the aforesaid constrictive sliver of top-tier talent,” Bower says, pointing to the opaque ways that PROs tribunal that endowment by, for instance, offering what are called bonuses. 

Bower pledges to support AllTrack simple. Royalty calculations are transparent, and vigor bonuses are not paid to big-name artists. The PRO’s searchable repertory of songs and writers is unfastened to anyone’s use. AllTrack tin assistance with aggregate types of royalty collections for an further medication fee, including liaising with the Mechanical Licensing Collective and neighboring rights sources. Bower says operations for royalty postulation and organisation are streamlined utilizing proprietary technology. “Some of our writers are present collecting much wealth than they were previously,” helium claims. 

Early adopters of AllTrack see writers/producers of songs performed by No Doubt, Future, Sublime, Elle King, Ty Dolla $ign, NOFX, Whethan and Gucci Mane. The enactment has besides made important headway successful gaining the support of the manufacture establishment. In 2024, AllTrack joined the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) — the planetary standard-bearer for postulation societies — arsenic a rights absorption entity. AllTrack’s website besides cites partnerships and affiliations with the National Music Publishers’ Association, the Association of Independent Music Publishers and the Music Managers Forum. 

With much PROs operating successful the United States than immoderate different state — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, Global Music Rights, PRO Music Rights and present AllTrack (SESAC and GMR run connected an invitation-only basis) — the authorities has taken notice. In February, the U.S. Copyright Office opened a announcement of enquiry into “emerging issues” with PROs present astatine the behest of Congress, which expressed concerns astir the “proliferation” of caller PROs, arsenic good arsenic the sector’s alleged deficiency of transparency. 

Bower says AllTrack’s beingness is justified due to the fact that it serves creators who are underserved by its predecessors. “We’re arrogant of the information that not lone did we successfully commencement a PRO, but we past bolted connected mechanical and neighboring rights,” helium says. “There’s thing other similar it.”

What was the top hurdle you faced successful the instauration of AllTrack, and however did you flooded it? 

There’s a few. There’s a exertion hurdle: however to person radical travel to your site, registry songs, way each the metadata and administer it passim the world. That was highly complicated. There’s besides the concern hurdle of “How bash you get writers to motion up if you don’t person licenses?” and “How bash you get licenses if you don’t person writers?” It’s a chickenor-egg occupation that needed to beryllium solved. We went respective years earlier we were capable to adjacent participate into a azygous licence with a licensee [any nationalist level that uses euphony services similar Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, arsenic good arsenic bars, restaurants and different venues]. And successful the meantime, we were compensating our songwriters due to the fact that wherefore would idiosyncratic articulation AllTrack if we weren’t? We needed to amusement we were a reputable concern partner. 

How were you funded backmost then?

We took backing from creator managers, concern managers, agents and different rights organizations. It started with maine asking people’s opinions of whether determination should beryllium a PRO for autarkic creators, and everyone gave a resounding yes — 100%. Then we did a task circular for strategical euphony investors.