Music licensing is frequently a confusing snarl that can intimidate anyone trying to use music in a responsible manner. Many cowed creators therefore may welcome today’s announcement that RightsFlow has been acquired by Google and will become part of the YouTube business unit.
Patrick Sullivan, RightsFlow president and chief executive officer, broke the news on the company’s blog. “We’re pleased to now be taking a momentous step with the team at YouTube, that shares in our vision of solving the really challenging problem of copyright management,” he wrote. “Combined with the worldwide platform and reach of YouTube, we’ll now be able to drive awareness, adoption, and licensing success to a much larger audience — ultimately benefiting users, artists, labels, songwriters, publishers, and the entire global music ecosystem.”
David King, YouTube Product Manager, wrote a blog post explaining that combining RightsFlow’s expertise and technology with YouTube’s platform will make it possible to more rapidly and efficiently license music on YouTube. “Smart copyright management is an important part of this online video service,” he wrote. “It helps songwriters and performers to be appropriately compensated for their works, while also allowing for those works to be used in new ways.”
The two companies were previously strategic partners. RightsFlow is a technology-enabled licensing and royalty service provider for artists, record labels, distributors and online music companies.
Related links:
RightsFlow blog post – http://tinyurl.com/btsmhar
YouTube blog post – http://tinyurl.com/7wqvgq6
Photo of YouTube billboard at Tokyo’s Akhihabara Station by Flickr user x_jamesmorris, used under Creative Commons license
