Author: Press Officer

Due to the recent change in our Tours & Residencies submissions policy, which is effective for submissions for our July 2012 distribution, we can no longer accept paper or email submissions for Tours & Residencies.

Circa 90% of live performance submissions received from members for our Tours & Residencies Scheme are now submitted online via the members area of the IMRO website.

By moving to processing online submissions only, we are reducing the administration costs for processing Tours & Residencies submissions from 30% to 10%. Under the same policy change we are increasing the gross payment per venue per night from €15.24 to €20.00. Taking into account the previous administration cost of 30% on a gross payment of €15.24 versus the new administration cost of 10% on a gross payment of €20.00, there should be a noticeable increased net payment to our members for Tours & Residencies.

Therefore we would ask that you submit your Tours & Residencies via the members area of www.imro.ie – we encourage you to regularly submit your live performance details and set lists online. Once a set list has been submitted online, it can be used against any number of gigs. You can also track when your submissions have been processed online.

IMPORTANT

Royalties for Tours & Residencies taking place between July and December 2011 will be paid in our D122 July 2012 distribution. In order for eligible performances to be included in the D122 payment, please submit your July to December 2011 performances online by Wednesday 29th February 2012.

If you have not already done so, please register for online access to the members area of this website, where you will be able to view & update your correspondence details, view statements online, register new works, view your repertoire of registered works and submit live returns to us.

Should you have any questions about logging on & registering as a new user, please contact the IMRO Membership Department at Ph: 01-6614844 or by email at membership@nullimro.ie

The introduction of this change moves us closer to paperless processes and the delivery of associated cost and service benefits to members.

CISAC publishes economic survey of authors’ society royalty collections.

Despite a challenging economic environment, 2010 proved a positive year for creators: Royalty collections hit a high note & climbed 5.5%

MIDEM, Cannes, January 30, 2012 –The annual Global Economic Survey released by CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, shows gross royalty collections climbed 5.5% year-on-year. That was a second consecutive year of significant growth, following a 1.7% rise in 2009, with the slight dip seen in 2008 failing to halt the steady climb of collections over the last 7 years—in striking contrast to the performance of other cultural sectors.

“These positive results show the solidity and efficiency of the international network of authors’ societies represented by CISAC,” said the confederation’s Director GeneralOlivier Hinnewinkel.

“Here is proof,” he added, “that collective management is the solution for today and tomorrow, generating wealth for creators while withstanding economic changes and supporting digital music markets.”

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Key figures for global collections in 2010

€7.545 billion—total gross collections from CISAC member societies

+5.5%—worldwide year-on-year growth (in current €).

61% of global collections were generated in Europe(€4.6 bn)

73% of collections were from public performance royalties

86% of collections were accounted for by musical repertoire

+15%—growth for audiovisual repertoire.

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The Survey was based on data provided by CISAC members—232 authors’ societies in 121 countries, representing more than 3 million creators and publishers of all artistic genres.

Mr Hinnewinkel said that, “The growth has been delivered through the hard work of CISAC members who are constantly looking into improving their costs, expanding coverage of their own territories and adapting to the constantly-changing ways their repertoire is used, especially in the digital sector.”

Emphasizing the contribution authors’ rights can make to global economic development, the overall rate of growth for royalty collections during 2010 slightly exceeded that of world GDP (5.1%, according to IMF figures).

That growth came across the globe, with particularly dynamic performances in the Latin America-Caribbean (+21%) and Asia-Pacific (+12%) regions. North America saw growth of 5.7%, although Europe remained somewhat muted, at 2.3%.

The year also saw an unexpected recovery in mechanical reproduction royalties for recorded works, driven by results in North America, Asia and Latin America and by the digital sector.

However, public performance continued to provide the lion’s share of revenues for creators and music publishers, climbing 7.5% to €5.5 billion, or 73% of all revenues. With the advertising market predicting growth through to 2014, those figures are expected to climb further.

With 56% of public performance revenues accounted by broadcasters, radio and television remain the predominant royalty source (39.8% of all collections). Revenues from the phonographic industry accounted for 23.4% of all collections, representing the second major source of royalty collections. But while collections from the digital sector rose 22% in 2010, they have still not offset the decline in royalties from physical sales and remain a very limited source of revenues (1.7% of collections).

Nevertheless, the flow of revenues from the digital sector is set to continue increasing. The growth rates for streaming and downloads were very high, reflecting the expansion of licensing contracts for these two types of music use.

“IFPI recently reported that major international digital music services such as iTunes, Spotify and Deezer are now present in 58 countries,” said Mr Hinnewinkel,“compared to only 23 at the start of 2011. CISAC members are now well placed to develop this market as it expands.”

Grab Radio world

Grab Radio World is an app for music lovers everywhere. The app allows the mobile user to listen to over 40,000 radio stations from all over the globe. The unique thing about Grab Radio is that it enables the user to purchase the songs they love directly from the Apple Store. The app lets people build up all their favourite tunes into a must have playlist. 

Grab Radio Benefits

The listener can browse through five different categories; local radio; talk radio; sports; music genres; and they can also browse by location. The user can add their favourite stations to the favourites list.Grab Radio gives users easy access to free music on YouTube as they can go directly to the song on YouTube as it is playing on the radio by the click of a button. The ‘more’ button also allows users to link up with your favourite artist on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Other features include a built in Shazam feature to identify new music and sleep timer which  fades out gradually allowing the listener to fall asleep to their favourite station.

Future:

Grab Radio is currently available for iPhones, iTouch, iPad and Nokia smartphones. Grab Radio has just gone into partnership with Microsoft to launch the app on the Mango version in early February. Grab Radio World will also be coming soon to Android. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUTtVQrioEE

Apple Store: http://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/grab-radio-world/id395293559?mt=8

Ovi Store: http://store.ovi.com/search?q=grab+radio

Website: http://grabradioworld.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GrabRadio

★★★★“…The sheer volume of stations you can access is amazing!” iphoneappcafe.com

Accolades

• Best new business at the Sunday Business Post ‘Out on Your Own’ conference 2009
•  02 App of the week!
• One the few projects to get investment offers on RTE Dragon’s Den* 2010
• Ulster Bank business achievers award finalist 2010
• 2010 Appys ‘Best Media APP’ award finalist
• Nokia North America ‘Calling all innovators’ finalist 2011

The Irish Music Rights Organisation, (IMRO), today announces it has agreed to licence its Music Rights Royalty Distribution System to the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, (CMRRA).

CMRRA is a music licensing agency, which represents the vast majority of music copyright owners (music publishers) doing business in Canada. On their behalf, CMRRA issues licenses to users of the reproduction right in copyrighted music. Licensees pay royalties pursuant to these licenses to CMRRA and, in turn, CMRRA distributes the proceeds to its publisher clients. CMRRA is based in Toronto and has approximately 100 fulltime staff. 

“The music industry is facing major changes and challenges that are impacting the ability of songwriters to be compensated fairly for their work,” said David A Basskin, president and CEO of CMRRA. “In order to respond to unprecedented demand for licensing, and to best provide for the collection and distribution of royalties, we have decided to invest in new technology to allow for improved processing and communication between all parties involved.” 

Having carried out a competitive tender process for the replacement of its current systems CMRRA selected the IMRO system. The IMRO system was proposed by Spanish Point Technologies who will use it as the basis to deliver the new system for CMRRA.

The innovative design and the successful implementation of the IMRO system was recognised by Microsoft when it awarded Spanish Point the Worldwide Partner of the Year Award. The solution has achieved significant cost reductions for IMRO while at the same time handling an increase in data volumes. This is also a key objective for CMRRA.

“We are pleased to deliver real cost efficiencies to both CMRRA and IMRO members by sharing our IT development to-date and agreeing collaborations on future joint enhancements to our systems” says Victor Finn, Chief Executive Officer, IMRO

“CMRRA is a sister copyright distribution agency and we are delighted that they have selected the IMRO system to replace their legacy system. Built on a modern Microsoft  platform it is capable of scaling to handle very large amounts of data  The thousands of man hours of design, development and testing effort which our team and our implementation partners put into the system will ensure CMRRA have a great platform on which to deliver a best in class service to its publishing members”, added Declan Rudden, Director of I.T. and Distribution at IMRO.