Summary

In 2024, negotiations with selected vendors were carried out. In parallel, the market watch continued to keep the list of vendors accurate and up-to-date. 

Activity

Who we worked with

Online Webinars

On Tuesday 20 February IMPF hosted its first online webinar of the year “Is Data Relevant to Make A&R Decisions.”

A&R remains predominantly the “raison d’être” of music publishers — identifying and signing new talent and investing in the development of new songwriters, composers, and lyricists. But in the digital era, is the A&R process different? How much does data inform the decision process? And what kind of data can be used? In the end, do analogue tools (i.e. the ears, experience, and taste of A&R executives) still trump the new digital systems? A group of A&R executives from different horizons will share their views on the new A&R landscape.  Panellists: Kim Frankiewicz, EVP Worldwide A&R, Concord Music Publishing (UK);
Jodie Ferneyhough, President, CCS Rights Management (Canada); Tony Alexander, President, Made in Memphis Entertainment MIME (USA); Rhiannon Bramley, A&R, Bucks Music Group, (UK).

On Tuesday 7 May IMPF hosted an online webinar “In conversation with Dr. Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA.”

Dr. Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA in conversation with IMPF about his vision for GEMA and the state of the market for royalty collections in Germany and the rest of the world, and touching upon topics such as Generative AI and European policy issues.

On Wednesday 17 July IMPF hosted an online webinar “New Markets; big expectations”

Large parts of the world are opening-up to music publishing and are starting to provide meaningful streams of revenues. Music publishers are building partnerships or establishing companies in new markets, whether they are in Europe, South-East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, or Africa. This session will explore the “Hows and Whys” of investing in and monetising new markets.  With confirmed speakers: Thando Makhunga, Managing Director, Sheer Publishing/Downtown Music Publishing (South Africa);  Achille Forler, Founder, Silk Roads Communications (India); Spek, Founder & CEO, PopArabia/ESMAA (Abu Dhabi/MENA); Kertu Mägar Founder FAAR Music Estonia (Central and Eastern Europe).

On Tuesday 12 November IMPF members were invited to attend an online webinar “An Introduction to Curve Royalty System.”

On Tuesday 03 December IMPF hosted an online webinar “How to Make the Best of New Digital Tools to Drive Revenue?”.

A wide range of new digital tools now offer rights holders the possibility to further monetise creative content. This webinar — IMPF’s last of the year — will review some of the new services or applications that allow music publishers to develop their businesses, better protect their rights and monetise their catalogues. 

Speakers include: Natalie Birocheau, CEO, Ircam Amplify (France); Gaurav Sharma, Founder and CEO, Hook (USA)
Jessica Powell, CEO, Audioshake (USA); Danny Garcia, CEO and Co-Founder, SongTools (USA); Chantal Epp, Founder, ClicknClear (UK); Jean-Luc Biolet, CEO, Music Story (France); Moderator: Emmanuel Legrand, Creative Industries News.

An online presentation webinar ‘Introduction to Soundcharts’ took place on January 14, 2025 exclusive to IMPF Members.

On February 17, at 17:30 IMPF members were invited to an ‘Introduction to Bridge.Audio‘ via an online webinar.

Beneficiaries

The IMPF Membership.

Outcomes/Next Steps

A summary report to date (21/01/2025) is available here.  A final summary report will be available in March 2025.

Summary

The EU project team explored the market offers for music publishing business solutions, with the aim of negotiating with selected vendors network discount rates for IMPF members. IMPF hosted three webinars for IMPF members throughout 2023.

Activity

After having defined and agreed on a clear methodology, the WP4 team has identified an extensive list of 48 providers of business solutions, and has analyzed each of them according to IMPF members needs (administration or creative/marketing needs). In this context, 11 vendor interviews have been conducted. A survey has also been circulated to IMPF members to collect feedbacks on the currently used solutions. The responses have been used as inputs of the analysis.

In March IMPF produced a generic model template for the licensing of NFTs.   IMPF secured external legal counsel, David Deakin of Lewis Silkin, to produce two template documents for IMPF members.

1. NFT Licence Terms
2. NFT Asset Licence Terms  (which attaches to the NFT to control the licence of assets granted to the buyer of the NFT)

The templates have been shared with IMPF members and are intended as a guide/draft only, given the geographically diverse nature of the IMPF membership, the varying legal jurisdictions, and the complexities of music publishing.

Who we worked with

Online Webinars

IMPF hosted three webinars for IMPF members and worked with a range of expert panellists.

“The AI Toolbox” was held on 30th May 2023.  Description: AI is a big buzzword, but in reality, the music sector has been using AI-powered tools for years, and it can only accelerate. The webinar session will present some projects, tools or services that are using AI to provide music publishers and rights holders in general, with a new toolbox.

“What can Publishers do to get the Best Data?” took place on 20 July 2023.  Description: In this time and age, data is the currency that will determine if rights holders get paid — or not! What are the expectations from CMOs and DSPs? What is the best way to provide data to be ingested by PROs and DSPs? How much resources should be put into data and to what effect? And what are the day-to-day steps to ensure data stays clean and accurate? This session will look at data from a granular perspective to ensure that indie publishers are the best-in-class when it comes to data.  The webinar was attended by over 60 members.

‘Global Collections; What the increase and growth mean for music publishers and collective management. Held on 07 December 2023.  Description: After a few testing years, global collections from the international network of collective management societies have finally surpassed their 2019 level. See the report here. In the process, CMOs around the world have had to evolve, change the way they operate and accelerate their transition to digital. So how has that affected their performances? Has progress been made in efficiency and transparency? How do music publishers benefit from these changes? This session will start with a quick overview of the 2022 collections from CISAC and a panel of representatives from CMOs and music publishers will assess the changes experienced by the sector and what it means for their business.

Beneficiaries

The IMPF Membership.

Outcomes/Next Steps

In 2024, negotiations with selected vendors will be carried out. In parallel, the market watch will continue to keep the list of vendors accurate and up-to-date.   Further training webinars are also scheduled for 2024.

This report is available to download here below.

Summary

IMPF has established digital training webinars for members, surveyed their data needs and is working towards securing links with data platforms.

Activity

In 2022 IMPF hosted webinars on a range of different topics including a deep dive into data; new revenue streams from sectors such as gaming, the metaverse and NFTs; and managing royalties. IMPF also carried out a detailed survey of members’ digital and data needs. Results indicated that members had a strong interest in AI-based tagging and data collection tools. A webinar with AI tagging platform Disco focused on working with independent publishers took place in December.  Additionally, under the Project IMPF has commissioned templates for use by music publishers for licensing in the metaverse.

Who We Worked With

IMPF worked with a broad range of panellists in five Training & Digital Transition webinars hosted in 2023:

• “Can the streaming pie grow?” panel (March 03): Will Page, author of Tarzan Economics, visiting Fellow at London School of Economics and former Chief Economist at Spotify and PRS for Music; Ender Atis, COO, Budde Music and Board Member of IMPF; Vickie Nauman, founder of CrossBorderWorks; Helienne Lindvall, composer, author, Chair of ECSA and Board Member of The Ivors Academy.
• “Maximising revenues for music publishers”(April 21): Lisa Öjeklint, Head of Publishing Operations, Musixmatch; Robert Singerman, SVP, International Publishing, LyricFind; Jennifer Mitchell, President and Founder, Red Brick Songs; Mitch Rubin, Vice President, Digital Rights, 
• “Deep Dive into Data” (May 20): Lisa Selden, Global Head of Publishing Solutions – Spotify, Sylvain Piat, Director of Business – CISAC, Juliette Charonnat, Sales Marketing and Communications Director – Believe; Bryson Nobles, Co-Founder and CTO – Music Tech Works, and Gwenola Gicquel, Director of Online Licensing Administration – SACEM.
• “Managing Royalties; from tracking and matching to paying accurately and on time” (June 30): Elisa Amouyal, CEO – Talit MuZic Publishing; Hanna Grzeszczyk, Founder and Director – Media IP Rights; Eric Baptiste, Co-founder and CEO – Qwantum Rights Solutions; Lindsay Conlin, Director of Business Development – Exactuals; Jessica Treacy, Head of Operations and Royalty Distribution – IMRO; Colin Young, Founder and Owner – CC Young.
• “Disco – Working together with Independent Publishers” (December 07): Claire Lothian, Head of Customer Success – DISCO; Nuno Saraiva, Founding Director – Lusitanian Music Publishing.

Beneficiaries

The IMPF membership.

Outcomes/Next Steps

The EU project team is exploring the possibility of negotiating a network discount rate with data platforms for IMPF members.

This report is available to download here below.