Re:Sound Financials Prove Impressive
Performance rights org Re:Sound reports preliminary figures show income for 2018 has topped $50M with foreign income up 38 percent over 2017.
Final figures will be available in June, but the big news for now is that performers and record companies will be receiving a higher amount of income from US sources as a result of greater interoperability in an existing bilateral agreement between Re:Sound and US digital performance rights royalties org SoundExchange.
SoundExchange collects music royalties in the US from 2,500+ non-interactive digital streaming services, namely Internet radio (such as Pandora – which isn’t available in Canada), satellite radio (such as SiriusXM) and cable TV music services.
Re:Sound also has bilateral agreements in place to collect on behalf of labels from counterparts in Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece/Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine.
International collections grew 38% over 2017, coming in at $9.5 million. By contrast, private copying revenues (from the Canadian Private Copying Collective, CPCC) declined from $7.6 million in 2017 to just $1.0 million in 2018 as a result of outdated copyright law.
Private copying income is slowing to a trickle as the current legislation is limited to collecting a levy on various CD formats (rewritable, recordable) and blank tape.
Various internal efficiencies have reduced expenses by about 4 percent from 2017, adding further to the distribution income stakeholders receive.
As well as contributing as much as $50M to the musical ecosystem, Re:Sound employees also gave back in 2018 through the 6th annual Re:Wind fundraising concert, which raised over $36,000 for the Unison Benevolent Fund and Anduhyaun Inc. (an organisation supporting indigenous women and children through the operation of the Anduhyaun Shelter, for aboriginal women fleeing violence).
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