Methods and systems for licensing sound recordings used by digital music service providers

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for providing a musical works administration service to digital music service providers (DSPs), to provide a streamlined approach for such DSPs to comply with copyright licensing, accounting, and reporting requirements. The service receives, from the DSP, information relating to sound recordings used by the DSP during a relevant time period. Using several matching techniques, the service identifies specific musical compositions embodied in each sound recording, and also determines corresponding publisher-share information. Subsequently, the service employs several mechanisms to attempt to obtain licenses for publisher-shares that are not already covered by preexisting client licenses. Based on the client's usage of such sound recordings and other information required to calculate the royalty rate(s) associated with such usage, the service also performs accounting, reporting and payment operations for the client. The service, in some instances, receives funds from the client and makes corresponding royalty payments (and makes accounting reports available) to the respective rights holders.

1 . A method for managing licenses associated with a catalog of sound recordings using an administration server, the method comprising:
 receiving, by the administration server, client label metadata (CLM) from a client, the CLM comprising one or more records indicative of identification information associated with one or more sound recordings;   utilizing the identification information included in the individual CLM records, identifying, at the administration server, one or more publisher-shares associated with the sound recording identified in a given CLM record, each publisher-share representing an entity holding a copyright interest in at least a portion of at least one musical composition embodied in the identified sound recording; and   acquiring, by the administration server, a license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting license associated with the client.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, prior to the step of acquiring the license, the method further comprises:
 evaluating whether each of the one or more publisher-shares associated with the identified sound recording is covered under any preexisting client license;   designating publisher-shares covered under any preexisting client license as previously licensed; and   executing a licensing function to acquire a new license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting client license.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein, for a given publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting license, the method further comprises:
 executing a licensing function to obtain a license for the given publisher-share; and   subsequent to obtaining the new license, designating the given publisher-share as currently licensed.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the external licensing entity is a collective rights organization. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the external licensing entity is a rights-holder of a given publisher-share or an agent of the rights-holder, wherein the agent is authorized to receive a Notice of Intent to obtain a compulsory license (NOI) from the client. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring a new license for a given publisher-share further comprises:
 evaluating whether the client has a preexisting agreement directly with the rights-holder of the given publisher-share;   wherein, if the client has an agreement directly with the rights-holder:
 designating the given publisher-share as currently licensed; 
   wherein, if the client does not have an agreement directly with the rights-holder for the given publisher-share,
 evaluating whether the client has a preexisting agreement with a collective rights organization; 
   wherein, if the client has an agreement with the collective rights organization:
 transmitting a license request to the collective rights organization, wherein the license request includes identifier information associated with the given publisher-share, and 
 receiving either a new license from the collective rights organization for the given publisher-share or a notification that the collective rights organization is not prepared to grant a new license for the given publisher-share; 
   wherein, if the client does not have an agreement with the collective rights organization or if the collective rights organization is not prepared to grant the new license for the given publisher-share:
 transmitting an NOI to the rights-holder of the given publisher-share or the rights-holder's agent, and 
 subsequent to transmitting such NOI, designating the given publisher-share as currently licensed. 
   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting, to the client, a license status report, the license status report indicating the extent to which the musical composition embodied in a given sound recording is licensed either by a voluntary license with an applicable rights-holder, a collective rights organization, or through an NOI.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the client, information related to the client's use of the sound recordings in the client's catalog over a given accounting period, the information representing a type and extent of the client's usage of the sound recording in the catalog and data for calculating an appropriate license royalty corresponding to such usage;   performing an accounting operation for the given time period to calculate a royalty rate associated with the given usage of the sound recording; and   generating a royalty accounting report based on the results of the accounting operation.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 transmitting a summary royalty accounting report to the client based on the client's use of the sound recordings in the client's catalog; and   requesting royalty funds from the client for the use.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 making available a royalty report to each publishing rights-holder associated with the one or more publisher-shares of the musical composition embodied in the sound recording in the client's catalog; and   performing a payment operation to compensate each publishing rights-holder based on the client's use of the sound recording.   
     
     
         11 . A method for managing licenses associated with a catalog of sound recordings using an administration server, the method comprising:
 receiving, by the administration server, client label metadata (CLM) from a client, the CLM comprising one or more records indicative of identification information associated with one or more sound recordings;   utilizing the identification information included in the individual CLM records, identifying, at the administration server, one or more publisher-shares associated with the sound recording identified in a given CLM record, each publisher-share representing an entity with a copyright interest in at least a portion of at least one musical composition embodied in the identified sound recording; and   executing a licensing function to acquire a license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting client license.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the step of executing a licensing function further comprises:
 evaluating whether the client has a preexisting agreement directly with the rights-holder of the given publisher-share;   wherein, if the client does not have an agreement directly with rights-holder for the given publisher-share, evaluating whether the client has a preexisting agreement with a collective rights organization;   wherein, if the client has an agreement with a collective rights organization:
 transmitting a license request to the collective rights organization, wherein the license request includes identifier information associated with the given publisher-share, and 
 receiving either a new license from the collective rights organization for the given publisher-share or a notification that the collective rights organization is not prepared to grant a new license for the given publisher-share; 
   wherein, if the client does not have an agreement with the collective rights organization, or if the collective rights organization is not prepared to grant the new license for the given publisher-share:
 transmitting an NOI to the rights-holder of the given publisher-share or the rights-holder's agent, and 
 subsequent to transmitting such NOI, designating the given publisher-share as licensed. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein, the step of identifying the one or more publisher-shares associated with the sound recording identified in a given CLM record comprises:
 comparing, by the administration server, one or more identifiers of a plurality of identifiers included in the given CLM record against a corresponding set of registered musical composition identifiers stored in a publishing information database (PID);   based on the comparison, identifying particular musical composition entries from the PID that correspond to the given CLM record of the given client sound recording; and   identifying, based on the information stored in association with the particular musical composition entries in the PID, the one or more publisher-shares corresponding to the client sound recording.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of comparing one or more identifiers further comprises:
 comparing, by the administration server, a first subplurality of primary identifiers from the plurality of identifiers against a corresponding set of registered primary identifiers stored in the PID;   if the comparison based on the first subplurality of primary identifiers does not yield a positive match, then comparing, by the administration server, a second subplurality of extended identifiers from the plurality of identifiers against a corresponding set of registered extended identifiers stored in the PID; and   if the comparison based on the second subplurality of extended identifiers does not yield a positive match, then using a manual matching operation to match one or more of the plurality of identifiers of the given client CLM record against musical composition identifiers in the PID or, if such manual matching operation does not yield a positive match, then manually researching possible matches in one or more external secondary sources.   
     
     
         15 . A system for managing licenses associated with a catalog of sound recordings, the system comprising:
 a receiving module configured to receive client label metadata (CLM) from a client, the CLM comprising one or more records indicative of identification information associated with one or more sound recordings; and   a licensing module in communication with the receiving module, the licensing module configured to:
 utilize the identification information included in the individual CLM records to identify one or more publisher-shares associated with the sound recording identified in a given CLM record, each publisher-share representing an entity holding a copyright interest in at least a portion of at least one musical composition embodied in the identified sound recording; and 
 acquire a license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting license associated with the client. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein, prior to acquiring the license, the licensing module is further configured to:
 evaluate whether each of the one or more publisher-shares associated with the identified sound recording is covered under any preexisting client license;   designate publisher-shares covered under the preexisting client license as previously licensed; and   execute a licensing function to acquire a new license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting client license.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein, for a given publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting client license, the licensing module is further configured to either:
 receive the new license for the given publisher-share from the collective rights organization in response to transmitting the request; or   transmit an NOI to the the rights-holder of the given publisher-share or the rights-holder's agent, and   subsequent to either receiving the new license from a collective rights organization or transmitting the NOI to the rights-holder of the given publisher-share or the rights-holder's agent, designate the given publisher-share as currently licensed.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the external licensing entity is a rights-holder of a given publisher-share or an agent of the rights-holder authorized to receive a Notice of Intent to obtain a compulsory license for the given publisher-share. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the licensing module is further configured to:
 evaluate whether the client has a preexisting agreement directly with the rights-holder of the given publisher-share;   wherein, if the client has an agreement directly with the rights-holder:
 designate the given publisher-share as currently licensed; 
   wherein, if the client does not have an agreement directly with the rights-holder for the given publisher-share evaluate whether the client has a preexisting agreement with a collective rights organization;   wherein, if the client has an agreement with a collective rights organization, the licensing module is configured to:
 transmit a license request to the collective rights organization, wherein the license request includes identifier information associated with the given publisher-share, and 
 receive either a new license from the collective rights organization or a notification that the collective rights organization is not then prepared to grant a license for the given publisher-share; 
   wherein, if the client does not have an agreement with the collective rights organization or if the collective rights organization is not prepared to grant the new license for the given publisher-share, the licensing module is configured to:
 transmit an NOI to the rights-holder of the given publisher-share or the rights-holder's agent, and 
 subsequent to transmitting such NOI, designate the given publisher-share as currently licensed. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a reporting module configured to transmit a license status report to the client, the license status report indicating a designated license status of each sound recording identified in the CLM.   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising an accounting module configured to:
 receive, from the client, information related to the client's use of the sound recordings in the client's catalog over a given accounting period, the information representing a type and extent of client's usage of the sound recordings in the catalog and data for calculating an appropriate license royalty corresponding to the usage;   perform an accounting operation for the given time period to calculate a royalty rate associated with the given usage of the sound recording; and   generate a royalty accounting report based on the results of the accounting operation.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a payment module configured to:
 transmit a summary royalty accounting report to the client based on the client's use of the sound recordings in client's catalog; and   request royalty funds from the client for the use; and   perform a payment operation to compensate each publishing rights-holder based on the client's use of the sound recordings in the client's catalog.   
     
     
         23 . A system for managing licenses associated with a catalog of sound recordings, the system comprising:
 a receiving module configured to receive client label metadata (CLM) from a client, the CLM comprising one or more records indicative of identification information associated with one or more sound recordings; and   a licensing module in communication with the receiving module, the licensing module configured to:
 utilize the identification information included in the individual CLM records to identify one or more publisher-shares associated with the musical compositions embodied in the sound recording identified in a given CLM record, each publisher-share representing an entity with a copyright interest in at least a portion of at least one musical composition embodied in the identified sound recording; and 
 execute a licensing function to acquire a license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting client license. 
   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein, in order to identify the one or more publisher-shares associated with the sound recording identified in a given CLM record, the licensing module is further configured to:
 compare one or more identifiers of a plurality of identifiers included in the given CLM record against a corresponding set of registered musical composition identifiers stored in a publishing information database (PID);   based on the comparison, identify particular musical composition entries from the PID that correspond to the CLM record of the given client sound recording; and   identify, based on the information stored in association with the particular musical composition entries in the PID, the one or more publisher-shares corresponding to the client sound recording.   
     
     
         25 . A system for managing licenses associated with a catalog of sound recordings, the system comprising:
 receiving means for receiving client label metadata (CLM) from a client, the CLM comprising one or more records indicative of identification information associated with one or more sound recordings; and   licensing means in communication with the receiving module, the licensing module for:
 utilizing the identification information included in the individual CLM records to identify one or more publisher-shares associated with the sound recording identified in a given CLM record, each publisher-share representing an entity with a copyright interest in at least a portion of at least one musical composition embodied in the identified sound recording; 
 executing a licensing function to acquire a license for each publisher-share that is not covered under a preexisting client license; and 
 updating the client's license status report.