In a bid to stay on the right side of the much-debated European Directive on Collective Rights Management, Dutch songwriter collection society Buma/Stemra has inked a long-term deal with International Copyright Enterprise (ICE) and Network of Music Partners (NMP) for the provision of online administration services.
The service agreement will be in effect as of March 2015. Buma/Stemra says the deal is the first time Europe has seen an author’s rights society outsources the administration of online administration and processing.
As a result, it says the agreement is in line with the European Directive on Collective Rights Management whose ambition is a cross border online music market in Europe based on cooperation, consolidation and transparency.
It is also the first deal as part of an ongoing agreement between Nordic/Baltic online back office service provider NMP and ICE. ICE is now offering its customers an online service based on NMP’s technology.
Buma/Stemra will receive delivery of services together with online usage reports from the new deal from January 2015.
ICE was established in 2007 by PRS and STIM to build a joint database and deliver copyright services to both its parent companies and other collecting societies.
Hein van der Ree, CEO Buma/Stemra, says: “Creating value for our rights owners in a fragmented and complex European online market means planning for the future while ensuring an operational service from the get-go as a key condition for Buma/Stemra. The collaboration with ICE and NMP is an important step in achieving a cost-effective and sustainable solution for the processing of all online music usage data. All licensing and member services will continue to be based at the Buma/Stemra offices in Hoofddorp.”
“This agreement is a milestone in the ICE vision to deliver a broad portfolio of services that enable our customers to focus on their core business of licensing and collection. We are very pleased to sign our first online processing agreement with Buma/Stemra, thereby strengthening our long term commitment and partnership,” says ICE CEO Carsten Drachmann.
Malin Jonsson, Managing Director of NMP, says: “We are extremely pleased to start delivery of online services to our new customer Buma/Stemra. Based on our already extensive experience as a Nordic/Baltic online back office service provider, we feel convinced that we can deliver a second to none service at an absolute competitive price.”
[Pictured, left to right: Carsten Drachmann (CEO ICE), Malin Jonsson (Managing Director NMP), Hein van der Ree (CEO Buma/Stemra)]Music Business Worldwide
