PRS for Music expands Nexus metadata program with a new initiative to link songwriter information to pre-release recordings

Collection agency based in London PRS for music has expanded its Nexus program with the aim of associating songwriter and composer information with music recordings before they are released.

This ensures that the license fees are quickly paid out to the rights holders, the company said in a press release on Wednesday (September 6).

PRS for Music last year unveiled its Nexus works metadata portal with the goal of “making it easier for streaming services to provide author credits alongside existing artist information.”

“For the first time, we are releasing large amounts of the data we use to track and pay royalties. “Better access to this data opens up new opportunities that will ultimately improve accuracy and author credits,” said Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO of PRS for Music, in June.

Most recently, the CMO announced that it is expanding its Nexus program to help the group “maximize the value of members’ work online, faster and more cost-effectively.”

PRS for Music represents the rights of more than 165,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers worldwide and works to protect and enhance the value of their rights. In 2022, PRS for Music raised £964m and paid out £836.2m in royalties.

At a time when hundreds of thousands of new recordings are being uploaded to streaming services every day, music creators and publishers face the challenge of figuring out when and where their works are being used, according to PRS for Music.

This problem is exacerbated by the lack of metadata, which includes composition and text details, provided to streaming services by those uploading recordings. As a result, it can take months or even years for songwriters and composers to be associated with their works on recordings, leading to delayed royalties payments, the CMO said.

“Incomplete or inaccurate metadata too often leads to significant delays in the payment of royalties to creators. The industry has long recognized the value of providing complete recording and work data at the time of release, but progress towards that has been too slow.”

Mark Krajewski, PRS for Music

Mark Krajewski, Managing Director of Strategic Alliances and Chief Information Officer of PRS for Music, said, “Incomplete or inaccurate metadata too often results in significant delays in paying royalties to creators.” The industry has long recognized the value of providing more complete Recording and work dates recognized at time of release, but progress towards getting there has been too slow.”

Supported by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), PRS for Music’s Nexus program aims to address this issue by enabling contributors to music publishing to immediately create a unique Generate identifier for your work.

This identifier provides a link between the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) for the recording and the International Standard Works Code (ISWC) for the work. The program is designed to simplify the process for contributors to add an ISWC on top of their existing data submissions to streaming services.

“We took on the challenge of simplifying the process of obtaining an ISWC, thereby removing one of the biggest hurdles in the existing data chain,” added Krajewski.

Andrea Czapary Martin, CEO of PRS for Music said, “This groundbreaking initiative aims to solve a global problem and revolutionize the way songwriters are paid.” Linking ISWCs to ISRCs at the time of release is critical and has long been a barrier to music creators.”

She added: “We are committed to moving the entire music industry towards a single and unified data strategy, a common rail based on transparency and trust.” That’s why we created our Nexus program, which aims to moving the industry from just discussing their data problems to solving those problems.”

“Bringing the ISWC and ISRC together at the time of a song’s release holds tremendous potential for creators and rights holders and would be a huge step forward for the industry as a whole.”

Gadi Oron, CISAC

CISAC Director General Gadi Oron also commented on the move, saying, “CISAC is pleased to support PRS for Music in this project.” a huge step forward for the entire industry.”

CISAC is a global network of authors’ societies with 225 member societies in 116 countries, representing over four million artists from various artistic fields. Established in 1926, CISAC protects the rights and interests of creators on a global scale.

The new project will run for six months, with PRS for Music overseeing the testing and Spanish Point Technologies creating a new test environment that interfaces with CISAC’s existing ISWC system. After completion, the results are evaluated and, if successful, handed over to CISAC for further development.

The initiative is part of the Nexus program, which includes the metadata portal launched in 2022 and recently launched Get a paid guidean educational initiative developed in partnership with Ivors Academy, the UK Music Publishers Association (MPA) and the UK Intellectual Property Office.

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