Free Online Unclaimed Works Portal Gives Music Publishers and Songwriters the Ability to Search Long Tail Data for Unpaid Digital Uses of Their Repertoire
TORONTO – February 26, 2019 – The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, Ltd. (CMRRA), Canada’s leading music reproduction rights collective, today announced a new service that gives music publishers and songwriters the ability to search for unmatched uses of their repertoire so they can get paid for that work.
The new Unclaimed Works Portal powered by CMRRA Direct gives publishers and songwriters easy access to data from digital services spanning billions of uses. The result is a free, game-changing enhancement to the suite of services on CMRRA Direct that is available to all music publishers and self-published songwriters to help bridge gaps between sound recording and musical work metadata for music played on digital services in Canada.
“One of the biggest challenges publishers and songwriters face is knowing how their work has been used,” said Veronica Syrtash, CMRRA SVP – Business Affairs and Corporate Development. “Thisnew CMRRA Directservice provides unprecedented visibility into music use data so that these creators can get paid. The service fulfills the company’s broader mission of making the business side of music easier for creators.”
Digital services have always provided 100% of their download and streaming usage logs to CMRRA for Canada,and the Unclaimed Works Portal provides new visibility into that data. The portal features include:
- Sound recording data from multiple services aggregated by the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC).
- A searchable database through a number of data points allowing publishers to match individual tracks to musical works and also submit missing copyright ownership claims on those works, if necessary.
After validating the claim, CMRRA will use the data to invoice services retroactively and generate royalty payments across all digital services licensed by CMRRA. CMRRA will also incorporate the new matches in its database for future royalty payments when the tracks are used. Search returns will also include works in cue at CMRRA for validation of shares submitted by publishers. CMRRA already continually matches its repertoire to digital service use reports and makes retroactive claims to services each reporting period.
“This tool offers unprecedented access and transparency. It is a comprehensive and open solution for all publishers,” added Syrtash.“We welcome music publishers of all sizes and self-published songwriters to help fill-in the gaps where data is unknown or incomplete.”
The Unclaimed Works Portal is live and accessible via CMRRA Direct and optimized for desktop and mobile use. Music publishers can register for the service at http://www.cmrra.ca. The Online Claiming Portal is part of a suite of tools created by the SoundExchange Companies to help music creators get paid accurately. Other tools include Music Data Exchange (MDX) which brings publishers and labels together to properly align metadata for new releases; NOI Lookup which is a free searchable database of all NOI Address Unknown filings made with the U.S. Copyright Office and ISRC lookup which provides access to information on more than 30 million sound recording releases around the world.
About CMRRA and SXWorks
CMRRA, a SoundExchange company, represents almost all of the music publishers doing business in Canada, including all the large multi-national and independent music publishers and individual self-published songwriters. CMRRA licenses dozens of digital services including all major online music services operating in Canada. It administers the majority of songs recorded, sold and broadcast in Canada. For more information, http://www.cmrra.ca.