TORONTO and SEATTLE, May 12, 2016 /CNW/ - SOCAN, the member-based organization that represents the performing rights of more than four-million music creators and publishers, has purchased Seattle-based MediaNet (www.mndigital.com). The addition of this pioneer business-to-business music technology provider offers 360-degree music rights administration to SOCAN members.
MediaNet is the creator of powerful music and metadata delivery technologies that work with streaming services, download providers, media search, and other media discovery tools to provide an exhaustive catalog of music, while ensuring that creators and music publishers, including artists and all relevant rights owners, are properly compensated for their work.
The MediaNet acquisition will have immediate benefits for SOCAN members' digital performances, as the potential for increased matching on radio, TV and in areas such as nightclub performances is substantial. With MediaNet, SOCAN will be able to identify digital performances from around the world in real-time, with access to granular performance data to make better decisions, identify trends and increase revenue for members. This comes with a level of data accuracy and transparency that few, if any, music rights organizations in the world can provide.
With more than 51 million sound recordings in its database, each containing a unique audio identifier, MediaNet will provide SOCAN with authoritative information pertaining to master rights (sound recordings), and will augment already strong matching capabilities for all kinds of performances and reproductions of music on radio, digital, live, satellite, film and TV and other delivery of music to public audiences.
In keeping with SOCAN's vision to lead the global transformation of music rights, the acquisition and integration of MediaNet's technology will make SOCAN the leader in accurate matching of music data, one of the most significant challenges facing the digital music ecosystem worldwide. The benefit of robust, accurate matching of repertoire to rights-owners is significant to SOCAN's existing and future members, and will especially increase revenue streams for all whose music is played on digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud and other services relying on uploads.
"The music ecosystem is in need of data and accuracy and, with MediaNet, SOCAN is the first major music collective to meet this need," said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. "The expanded family of MediaNet and SOCAN creates an unbeatable combination that will help drive proper compensation for SOCAN's membership base of songwriters, composers and music publishers and potentially for all parties involved in the music value chain."
For SOCAN's more than 135,000 members the acquisition of MediaNet brings immediate dramatic improvement in digital match-rates and the speed of distribution of digital royalties. For digital service providers this means a new dimension of accuracy for matching musical works with rich ownership data.
MediaNet will continue to operate under its current name, with all of its 34 employees continuing at the organization's Seattle offices. MediaNet CEO Frank Johnson and the company's leadership team will remain in place.
"SOCAN is a leader in ushering the transition from physical to digital through a commitment to data and artist advocacy," said MediaNet CEO Frank Johnson. "We are thrilled to join the SOCAN family and realize our shared goal of pioneering high-scale technology solutions that ensure fair and accurate royalty administration."
The acquisition was completed in May 2016, the terms of which are undisclosed.
Headwaters MB acted as financial advisor and Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLC as legal counsel to MediaNet in this transaction. Venable LLP, Gowling WLG and KPMG advised SOCAN on the matter.
About MediaNet
MediaNet maintains one of the largest B2B rights-managed, global music catalogs of more than 51 million tracks and a database of over 4.1 million rights holders and their respective works. MediaNet's database of rights holders encompasses composers, publishers, administrators, PROs, collection societies, performers, labels, and distributors. MediaNet leads the music industry by hosting the only commercially available catalog of sound recordings connected directly to a comprehensive database of rights, ownership, and songwriting splits. MediaNet enables accurate royalty administration for streaming music apps, subscription services, and download stores. MediaNet has powered many popular digital music services worldwide including Beats Music, Pulselocker, CÜR Music, Songza, Target, and Univision. www.mndigital.com
About SOCAN
SOCAN is a member-based organization that represents the Canadian performing rights of more than four-million Canadian and international music creators and publishers. SOCAN is proud to play a leading role in supporting the long-term success of its more than 135,000 Canadian members, and the Canadian music ecosystem overall. SOCAN licenses more than 125,000 businesses in Canada, and distributes royalties to its members and music rights organizations around the world. SOCAN also distributes royalties to its members for the use of their music internationally in collaboration with its peer societies. www.socan.ca
SOURCE SOCAN
Media contacts: Environics Communications (for SOCAN): McKenna Wild, 416-969-2774, [email protected]; SOCAN: Andrew Berthoff, 416-442-3836, [email protected]; MediaNet: Glen Sears, 206-269-6017, [email protected]
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