PRS for Music has announced a new partnership with Orfium, the leading music rights and metadata management software platform.
The partnership dramatically expands PRS’s licensing coverage to music users based in Africa, providing access to tens of millions of works. Comprehensive coverage provided by Orfium will extend to public performances including live events, as well as radio, cable TV as well as local and certain multinational online services.
Orfium will license the PRS repertoire and provide the underlying technology infrastructure used to serve these markets in a highly efficient manner. This relationship leverages the proprietary software platform built by Orfium, and is expected to drive key speed, discovery and cost efficiencies for PRS, which will unlock tremendous value for its talented songwriter members.
In addition, the agreement will expand the global reach of PRS for Music’s Major Live Concert Service, the market leading royalty collection service for large concerts, which will now be available for events held across Africa.
The partnership with Orfium will sit alongside the existing agreement with SAMRO, the collecting society based in South Africa, for its home territories and provide the framework for PRS members to be paid, when their works are used in some of world’s fast growing music markets.
Sami Valkonen, PRS for Music’s Chief International Business Officer, says, ‘The African music market is rapidly progressive, driven by a burgeoning homegrown music scene and a new generation of talented music creators. Orfium has both the expertise and tools necessary to ensure that songwriters, composers and publishers are paid when their music is being used across the African continent. This agreement was designed to be flexible, ensuring it can adapt and offer innovative solutions in markets where we are experiencing considerable change and growth.’
Rob Wells, CEO, Orfium says, ‘We’re incredibly excited to partner with PRS for Music. Orfium exists to support and improve the global entertainment ecosystem so that creators everywhere can be paid fairly for their work. Over the last three years, we have invested heavily in building a state-of-the-art rights management platform to support our partners in the licensing and remuneration of music rights in the entertainment industry. Orfium looks forward to working with PRS as their trusted partner to support this incredible region and contributing to Africa’s future as a high-growth music market.’
