New Data Reporting from Bell Radio to Improve Royalty Distributions

By FYI Staff

What: A new data-ingestion system used by Bell radio stations will help to ensure better data is relayed to collecting societies including Re:Sound, resulting in cleaner data, which significantly benefits all rights holders in the Canadian music industry

Standardization in data collection helps improve efficiencies in the distribution chain, including more accurate distributions to rights-holders.

Before 2017, radio stations only had to report for 14 days (changed to 28 days), and after successful lobbying by Re:Sound at the Copyright Board, there is now mandatory 365-day reporting.

Beginning with a successful pilot program at Toronto's 104.5 CHUM FM in early 2017, Bell Media radio stations are now tracking complete sound recording data including ISRC automatically on new tracks from major record labels and independent label partners.

With the elimination of manual processes, the new reporting system has resulted in cleaner data, which significantly benefits all rights holders in the Canadian music industry including artists, background musicians, songwriters, and music publishers, through organizations (SOCAN, CMRRA, SODRAC, etc.) relying on broadcast data to get royalties to rights holders.

The system is part of an ongoing project to develop administrative efficiencies by Music Canada and Re:Sound. Through consolidating multiple data sets, maximizing the use of ISRC (International Standard Recording Codes), and other improvements, the project has so far resulted in faster payouts and 28% more revenue for major labels and members of CIMA (the Canadian Independent Music Association).

Recent advancements in cross-platform reporting have ushered in a new era of cooperation between Canada's music and media industries. Developed by Bell Media, Music Canada and Re:Sound, the new reporting process aligns terrestrial broadcast data with digital, ensuring all music industry stakeholders are served with efficiency, transparency, and accountability, while setting a new industry standard for data reporting. With this game-changing initiative by Bell Media, the automation of the existing music content distribution tool allows the industry to streamline sound recording data within the Canadian music ecosystem.

"I commend Bell Media, and specifically Randy Lennox, for showing remarkable leadership on this project," says Graham Henderson, President and CEO of Music Canada. "Thanks to this collaboration, achievements in data efficiency from projects completed by the major record companies and Re:Sound will now yield even greater results, generating savings throughout the royalty chain, while resulting in more dollars in the pockets of creators "

"As someone with love for Canada's music industry, I am thrilled by the results of this project," said Randy Lennox, President, Bell Media. "When Music Canada's Graham Henderson approached us to help resolve what has been a longstanding issue within Canada's music industry, it was an easy decision to lend Bell Media's resources and expertise. The automation of the tracking process establishes international best practices that benefit creators while making the entire system considerably more efficient."

"At Re:Sound, we only exist for the artists and sound recording owners we represent," says Ian MacKay, President of Re:Sound. "Ensuring that the absolute best quality data flows through the entire music ecosystem is a huge step forward for rights holders, and will help us (and other organizations) to ensure that we pay the right people as quickly and efficiently as possible. We couldn't have done this without the strong leadership of Bell Media and Music Canada."

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