The American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM), and PRS for Music, have entered into a partnership to prototype a new shared system of managing authoritative music copyright information using blockchain technology. 

The project aims to prototype how the music industry could create and adopt a shared, decentralized database of musical work metadata with real-time update and tracking capabilities. According to the official release, the societies are seeking to model a new system for managing the links between music recordings International Standard Recording Codes (ISRCs) and music work International Standard Work Codes (ISWCs). Robust links between these two pieces of data has the potential to improve the processes of royalty matching, which will in turn speed up licensing, reduce errors and reduce costs.

Under the initiative, data and technology teams from SACEM, ASCAP and PRS for Music are working with IBM, leveraging the open source blockchain technology from the Linux Foundation, Hyperledger Fabric, to match, aggregate and qualify existing links between ISRCs and ISWCs in order to confirm correct ownership information and conflicts. While still at an early stage, the project is proving to be an exciting reference point for future industry blockchain solutions.

The project seeks to harness blockchain’s ability to manage records without centralized governance to resolve conflicts between conflicting identifiers for the same work across multiple rights holders.

“We are very excited about this joint initiative. SACEM’s vision is to ensure a diverse and sustainable future for music, where creators are rewarded efficiently for their work. We have a long history of constant innovation and this partnership represents the next stage in that story”, Jean-Noël Tronc, SACEM’s Chief Executive Officer, said. “Through this partnership, we aim to develop new blockchain-based technologies that will tackle a long-standing issue with music industry metadata – a problem that has grown more acute as online music rights distribution has become increasingly decentralized with the rise in digital channels. By developing this blockchain technology in partnership with ASCAP and PRS for Music, we will unlock value to the benefit of music creators worldwide.”