Seattle-based MediaNet, a pioneer business-to-business music technology provider, has been acquired by SOCAN, a premiere performing-rights organization in Canada.
The move, which was effective Tuesday, gives SOCAN a major technological boost. The member-based organization represents the performing rights of more than 4 million Canadian and international music creators and publishers.
MediaNet creates music and metadata delivery technologies that work with streaming services, download providers, media search, and other media discovery tools, according to a news release. The company stresses transparency as a core goal in ensuring that creators and music publishers, including artists and all relevant rights owners, are properly compensated for their work.
Integrating MediaNet’s technology will allow SOCAN to increase the accuracy with which it matches music to rights owners and its members will especially benefit through increased revenue streams if their music is played on digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud and other services relying on uploads.
In a post on his Music Industry Blog, music and technology analyst Mark Mulligan writes about the importance of the acquisition in regard to digital rights reporting.
“The songwriter class action suits in the US against Spotify are the natural outcome of more than one and a half decades of failing to deal with the forsaken mess that is compositional rights in the digital era.”
MediaNet, founded in 2001, will continue to operate under its name at its headquarters in Seattle’s World Trade Center North building on Elliott Avenue. All 34 employees, along with CEO Frank Johnson and the company’s leadership team, will remain in place.
“SOCAN is a leader in ushering the transition from physical to digital through a commitment to data and artist advocacy,” Johnson said in a news release. “We are thrilled to join the SOCAN family and realize our shared goal of pioneering high-scale technology solutions that ensure fair and accurate royalty administration.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
