Three European rights agencies have inked an agreement to form a joint venture and launch a hub for digital rights. The participants are PRS for Music in the UK, GEMA in Germany, and STIM in Sweden. The goal of this hub is to make digital rights management faster and more efficient for single- and multi-territory licenses. The main improvement is consolidated licensing of the three groups’ multi-territory online rights and options for joining the core license or pursuing separate solutions. It will have services for data processing and matching, a copyright and audiovisual database, and administrative tasks such as invoicing and legal.
Digital rights management has been a new focus for the industry on a global scale. In the U.S., UMPG recently updated its Royalty Window portal with improved options for processing and advances.