Downtown Music Holdings

Last updated

Downtown
Industry Music Publishing
Founded2007 (2007)
FounderJustin Kalifowitz
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Area served
Global
Key people
  • Justin Kalifowitz (Executive chairman)
  • Andrew Bergman (CEO)
  • Alan Goodstadt (CFO)
ServicesMusic rights management
Divisions Downtown Music Services
Songtrust
CD Baby
AdRev
Fuga
Downtown Neighbouring Rights
Downtown Studios
Website www.downtownmusic.com

Downtown Music Holdings is an independent rights management and music services company based in the US State of New York. It comprises 10 businesses. All divisions live under the Downtown Music Holdings umbrella and are split between two verticals, Creator and Business (Downtown Music).

Contents

History

Downtown was founded as Downtown Music Publishing in 2007 by Justin Kalifowitz in New York. The business model was developed to address the consolidation of the music publishing industry as well as the new technologies which impacted songwriters and copyright holders. Downtown Music Studios opened in 2008. [1] [2] [3] In 2011, Downtown formally launched Songtrust as a business unit, extending the company's royalty collection platform capabilities beyond the parent publishing company. Neighboring Rights was established in 2016. [4]

Until January 2013, Downtown was the owner of the record label Downtown Records. [5]

In 2013, Downtown expanded its offices to Los Angeles. [6] In early 2014, the company expanded to Nashville and later that year founded Downtown Music Benelux. Based in Amsterdam, Downtown Music Benelux was established in collaboration with Hot Streak Music, a division of Cloud 9 Music. In 2015, following the acquisition of the London-based music publisher Eagle-i Music, Downtown UK was founded. [7]

In March 2019, Downtown acquired AVL Digital Group for $200 million. AVL became the owner of CD Baby, Soundrop, AdRev, and DashGo. [8]

In August 2021, founder Justin Kalifowitz stepped down as CEO and became the company's executive chairman. [9]

Divisions

Downtown Music Publishing

The publishing division, ranked in Billboard's Music Publishing Top 10, is Downtown's primary focus. In addition to administering copyrights, Downtown Music Publishing's services include royalty collection, songwriter development, catalog marketing, neighbouring rights, and financing services. It arranges co-writing opportunities and places its songwriter's compositions in film, television, advertising, and video game productions. Downtown writers have written hit songs for artists including Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Rihanna, and Selena Gomez, and, among others, their compositions have been used in the Hunger Games series, Girls, and Grand Theft Auto. [10] Brands that have featured spots from Downtown writers include the NFL, Coca-Cola, Apple Inc, Budweiser and Amazon. [11] [ citation needed ]

Downtown has formed partnerships with digital service providers including YouTube, Pandora Radio and LyricFind to directly process data and payments owed to songwriters and publishers. It provides analysis for songwriters, managers, and lawyers, allowing writers to review and export statements, see their account balance, create reports for different periods by income over different territories, and access details of each royalty line. [12] [13]

In 2016, Downtown Music Publishing was nominated for Music Business Worldwide's Publisher of the Year Award. The company appeared on the Billboard 2014 list of the Top 10 Publishers. [14] [15]

Downtown acquired Salli Isaak Music and Salli Isaak Songs in 2018, giving the publisher the rights to works by One Direction, Madonna, and Sam Smith. [16]

In May 2019, Downtown acquired the 1987 to 2017 catalogue of Belgian music publisher Strictly Confidential. [17]

In May 2020, Downtown acquired two publishers: Good Soldier Songs (home of The 1975), and the South African Sheer Music. [18] [19]

In April 2021, Downtown sold its song publishing roster and catalogue to Concord, though Downtown will continue to represent the publishing rights for several artists including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Miles Davis, John Prine, and the Wu-Tang Clan. [20]

Songtrust

Songtrust is a global music rights management software platform. Launched in 2011, it services Downtown Music Service's catalog and provides royalty collection services for creators all over the world. The platform enables creators at all levels to recover their royalties directly from over 90 countries and from more than 20,000 unique income sources worldwide. [4] [21] [22] Songtrust also has business partnerships and provides publishing royalty collection with companies such as sister company CD Baby, Secretly Publishing [23] and Stones Throw Publishing. [24]

Songtrust was founded by Downtown CEO Justin Kalifowitz and CSO Joe Conyers III. Launched in 2011, it enables creators at all levels to recover their royalties directly from more than 90 countries and 20,000 unique income sources worldwide. The company also provides royalty collection services for global distributors such as CD Baby and The Orchard. [21] [4] [25]

In January 2018, Molly Neuman, former drummer for riot grrrl band Bratmobile, joined Songtrust from her previous role as the first head of music for crowdfunding website Kickstarter. [26] In October 2019 Molly Neuman was named President of Songtrust. [27]

CD Baby

CD Baby is an independent music monetization and distribution service based in Portland. They help DIY artists monetize their music through streaming, downloads, vinyl & CD sales, video monetization, sync licensing and publishing royalties (through partnership with sister company, Songtrust). CD Baby also runs DIY distribution service, Soundrop. CD Baby was acquired by Downtown through the acquisition of AVL Digital in 2019. [28]

Adrev

Adrev is a digital content and rights monetization service on Youtube, Facebook and other online video platforms. AdRev is a YouTube partner company that was initially designed to help creators and music rights holders monetize their work with ad placements on other channels using their content. Adrev was founded in 2011 and is based in Los Angeles. Adrev was acquired by Downtown through the acquisition of AVL Digital in 2019. [28]

Fuga

FUGA is a B2B tech and music service company based in The Netherlands. Fuga was acquired by Downtown in January 2020. [29] [30] Fuga provides music distribution and marketing services to labels and management teams around the world.

Downtown Music Studios

Downtown Music Studios was a two studio recording facility located in SoHo, Manhattan. Opened in 2008, the studios were designed by Martin Pilchner and are overseen by chief engineer Zach Hancock. The studio is currently closed, timing of reopening is unknown.

Neighbouring Rights

Through its direct affiliations with sound recording performance rights services, Downtown formally launched a Neighbouring Rights offering globally in 2016. The division enables Downtown to make certain that artists are compensated when the recorded performance of their songs are performed in public on satellite and online radio services such as Pandora. [31]

Advocacy

Downtown's executives sit on the board of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) in the United States, an organization which safeguards and promotes the interests of music publishers and songwriters to government bodies, the music industry, the media, and the public. Additionally, the company recently teamed with the Berklee College of Music's Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE) to collaborate on the Open Music Initiative in an effort to achieve fair payment for songwriters through digital licensing. [32]

Kalifowitz is a co-founder of NY is Music, a coalition of over 200 organizations advancing the importance of music in economic development, culture, and education across the state. NY is Music is credited with the passage of the 2015 New York State Tax Credit for Music production. [33]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects license fees through a music licensing program approved by the Copyright Board of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Music Publishing</span> American music publishing company

Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned by Sony Entertainment. The company was formed as Sony/ATV in 1995 by the merger of the original incarnation of Sony Music Publishing and ATV Music, which was owned by late entertainer Michael Jackson. Jackson had purchased ATV Music, which included the Lennon–McCartney song catalog, in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CD Baby</span> Digital music distributor

CD Baby, Inc. is a Portland, Oregon based online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. It was established in 1998 and offered distribution for artists in physical and online format, however it discontinued the physical media service and went digital only in June 2023.

SoundExchange is an American non-profit collective rights management organization founded in 2003. It is the sole organization designated by the U.S. Congress to collect and distribute digital performance royalties for sound recordings. It pays featured and non-featured artists and master rights owners for the non-interactive use of sound recordings under the statutory licenses set forth in 17 U.S.C. § 112 and 17 U.S.C. § 114. As of 2023, the company serves a community of over 650,000 creators worldwide, offering various products and services.

A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellectual property of composers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner Chappell Music</span> American music publishing company

Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentric Music</span>

Sentric Music is a British independent music publisher specialising in emerging song writers and artists.

Nick Raphael is a music industry executive and entrepreneur born in London, England. He is a former President of Capitol Records in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary Wave (company)</span> American music and entertainment company

Primary Wave is a privately held music publishing and talent management company. Primary Wave was founded in January 2006 by music executive Lawrence Mestel. Since its origin as a music publishing and administration company, Primary Wave has expanded into talent management, film and TV production, digital marketing, and branding. Primary Wave owns a significant song catalog, with major acquisitions beginning in 2016, including several hundred #1 hits.

Kobalt Music Group, Ltd. is an independent rights management and music publishing company. Founded in 2000 by CEO Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company, not owning any copyrights. Also offering label services and neighboring rights, the company has developed an online portal to provide royalty income and activity to artists and allow them to manage their rights and royalties directly.

GoDigital Media Group (GDMG) is a diversified multi-national conglomerate founded in 2006 by Jason Peterson and headquartered in Los Angeles. GDMG focuses on intellectual property rights management through divisions in music, video networks, and brands (commerce). CEO Jason Peterson's “Content is King” philosophy for GoDigital closely resembles that of Sumner Redstone, the 80's media mogul that grew his father's drive-in theater business into a content-centric empire that included Viacom, Paramount Pictures and CBS.

Royalty Exchange is an American company that operates an online platform for buying and selling royalty assets of any type, mostly music, where royalty owners can sell their future payments to investors as alternative assets. The company hosts a centralized marketplace and online auction platform that connects a community of over 22,500+ investors with owners of royalty-based assets.

Tracy Maddux is an American business executive. He was CEO of Portland, Oregon-based CD Baby from 2012 through 2020 during which time the company grew significantly during the transition from physical to digital and streaming music formats. During Maddux’s tenure at CD Baby, the company evolved into one of the largest platforms for creator direct music distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Better Noise Music</span> Record label founded in 2006

Better Noise Music is the rebranded and re-organized record label founded in 2006 by Allen Kovac, CEO of 10th Street Entertainment. The label was previously known as Eleven Seven Label Group with Eleven Seven, Five Seven and Better Noise Records as imprints. They are an artist development label, developing new bands in the rock music genre. The label recently announced an expanded alliance with FUGA and was named 2019 Active Rock Label of the Year for the second consecutive year. In early 2020, Kovac launched sister company, Better Noise Films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amuse (music company)</span>

Amuse is a global music company offering digital music distribution, funding and artist services to independent artists and managements, who retain 100% of their master rights. The company was founded as a modern alternative to major record labels in 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden by entrepreneurs Diego Farias, Andreas Ahlenius, Christian Wilsson, Guy Parry, and Jimmy Brodd. Amuse is based in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in London, UK and New York, US. In 2021, Roshi Motman was appointed CEO of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concord (entertainment company)</span> Music company

Concord is an American independent creative rights company that develops, manages and acquires sound recordings, music publishing rights, theatrical performance rights and narrative content. It is a private company, funded by long-term institutional capital and members of Concord's management team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audible Magic</span>

Audible Magic Corporation is a Los Gatos, California-based company that provides content identification services to social networks, record labels, music publishers, television studios, and movie studios. The company also provides digital platform music management services for Internet radio, subscription music services, on-demand streaming, and fitness and gaming applications. The services help companies identify and protect copyrighted content, manage rights and monetize media.

Music Business Worldwide (MBW) is a global music industry news and analysis website launched in 2015 by former Music Week editor Tim Ingham. As of December 2020, it ranked 22,845 in the list of most visited global websites according to Alexa Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Gruss</span> American music publisher

Joshua Carl Gruss, better known as Josh Gruss, is an entrepreneur, musician and songwriter based in New York City, United States. He is a co-founder of Round Hill Music, an American music publishing company and co-owner of Quad Studios Nashville, a recording facility located on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also a guitarist and songwriter with the Boston-based band Rubikon. Currently, Gruss serves as the chairman and CEO at Round Hill Music.

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) is a nonprofit organization established under the Music Modernization Act of 2018. It was created to issue blanket mechanical licences for qualified streaming services in the United States, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. 

References

  1. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (January 3, 2016). "Downtown Music Justin Kalifowitz Talks Publishing, Big Ideas For 2016". hypebot.com. Hypebot. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  2. ↑ Ingham, Tim (December 12, 2015). "Are Music Publishers Getting a Raw Deal in the Streaming Age?". Music Business Week. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  3. ↑ Kennedy, John (December 1, 2006). "Digital Music in 2007: A Brave New World" (PDF). IFPI.com. Digital Music Report. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 9, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Davis, Inman (February 1, 2011). "A New Frontier In Music Publishing". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Downtown Sells Label to Cofounders, Focuses on Publishing". Billboard .
  6. ↑ Peters, Mitchell (August 14, 2013). "Downtown Music Publishing Expands to West Coast, Names Amy Driscoll-Dunning Senior VP". Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  7. ↑ Christman, Ed (May 20, 2015). "Downtown Music Publishing Acquires Eagle-i Music, Home of Jeff Healey, Deep Purple & Others". Billboard. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Downtown buys CD Baby owner for $200m – Music Business Worldwide". March 27, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Andrew Bergman named Downtown CEO, as Justin Kalifowitz becomes Executive Chairman – Music Business Worldwide". August 18, 2021.
  10. ↑ Weiss, David (January 6, 2013). "The API and the iPad: Radical Routing Arrives at Downtown Music Studios". sonicscoop.com. Sonic Scoop. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  11. ↑ Christman, Ed (October 21, 2013). "Beatles Go Downtown: Fab Four Classics Go to Indie Music Publisher (Exclusive)". Billboard Biz. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  12. ↑ Peoples, Glenn (December 21, 2015). "Pandora's Latest Direct Deal Is with Downtown Music Publishing". Billboard. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  13. ↑ MBW Staff (April 13, 2016). "DOWNTOWN MUSIC PUBLISHING INKS DIRECT YOUTUBE PERFORMANCE DEAL". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  14. ↑ "The A&R Awards". Music Business Worldwide. The A&R Awards/MBW. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  15. ↑ Christman, Ed (May 12, 2014). "First-Quarter Music Publishing Rankings: SONGS Surges Again". Billboard. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Downtown announces Salli Isaak Music and Salli Isaak Songs acquisition". Music Biz Nation.
  17. ↑ "Downtown Music Publishing Acquires the Catalog of Indie Label Strictly Confidential". Billboard .
  18. ↑ "Downtown Acquires Good Soldier Songs, Publishing Home of the 1975". Billboard .
  19. ↑ "Downtown Music Holdings Acquires Leading Africa Publisher Sheer Music". Billboard .
  20. ↑ "Concord Buys Downtown Music's Publishing Copyrights". Billboard .
  21. 1 2 Lindvall, Helianne (May 6, 2011). "Behind the music: In praise of Songtrust". The Guardian. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ MBW (May 12, 2015). "CD BABY LAUNCHES PUBLISHING ADMIN SERVICE IN THE UK". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Songtrust and Secretly Publishing ink new administrative partnership – Music Business Worldwide". December 15, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Stones Throw Publishing inks global admin deal with Songtrust".
  25. ↑ MBW (May 12, 2015). "CD BABY LAUNCHES PUBLISHING ADMIN SERVICE IN THE UK". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  26. ↑ Rys, Dan (January 22, 2018). "Molly Neuman Leaves Kickstarter For Role As Head of Business Development at Songtrust". Billboard. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  27. ↑ Rys, Dan (December 2, 2019). "Molly Neuman Named President of Songtrust". Variety. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  28. 1 2 "Downtown Acquires CD Baby Owner AVL in $200 Million Deal". March 27, 2019.
  29. ↑ "FUGA".
  30. ↑ DOWNTOWN BUYS INDEPENDENT SERVICES COMPANY FUGA
  31. ↑ Nicholson, Jessica (February 29, 2016). "Downtown Music Publishing Launches Neighbouring Rights Division". Music Row. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  32. ↑ Grow, Kory (June 13, 2016). "Music Royalties Initiative Unites YouTube, Spotify, Labels". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  33. ↑ Moorfoot, Addie (June 27, 2016). "State legislature passes music production tax credit". Crain's. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.