Registering compilations in RDR-N 1.5

Introduction

In certain territories, there is a requirement to report sound recordings which were released on a compilation based on unit sales and duration of tracks, typically but not exclusively for the payment of private copy levies.

For some music licensing companies it is therefore important to know who owns all resources on a compilation and who is mandated to collect the money in any particular territory.

This makes the registration of such sound recording more complex especially since the RDR-N 1.5 is a suite of messages that is resource centric rather than release centric. As compilations typically differ from album releases with regards to track level rights ownership, this article provides a guide on how to register compilations as part of the HostSoundCarrier composite.

Requirements

A compilation is a release typically put together using one or more sound recordings from different artists. Those artists can be under contract with the creator of the compilation, in which case the compilation for the purpose of this article is referred to as internal compilation. Should the artists be under contract with at least one other record company or typically with various record companies, then the compilation creator typically releases the product under non-exclusive licenses from at least one licensor.

This means that there is a rights controller for the compilation and at least one additional rights controller for the underlying tracks on that release.

Only the releasing record company (compilation creator) will know the release-level metadata and the full track-listing. However, the music licensing companies- who are dealing with private copy levies based on unit sales and duration - need to pay each rights controller for each individual track. As the RDR standard is a suite of resource driven messages, which is updated whenever details about rights/recording metadata changes, the challenge is to determine which resource is part of a compilation and which one is not to allow the music licensing company to reconcile all tracks on a compilation and make the appropriate payments to the relevant rights holder or mandated parties.

The HostSoundCarrier composite, which contains details of the carrier of a release on which the sound recordings appear and exists to support the identification and matching of resources, enables the identification of all stakeholders involved in releasing a compilation and enables the music licensing companies to:

1. Identify the creator of the compilation and/or who is mandated to collect on behalf of the rights controller;

2. Identify whether the compilation is an internal compilation or not;

3. Identify the total number of sound recordings and/or tracks on that compilation; and

4. Identify how many tracks have been licensed in and are owned by a 3rd party

Information flow

1. The releasing record company, who creates the compilation, registers the release and the number of tracks in carrier to the music licensing company.

2. If all tracks are owned by the releasing record company, then this is considered an internal compilation and should be treated like an album release. If a compilation is internal and all tracks have   the same rights controller, the revenue does not need to be split between different parties.

3. If the compilation is released using tracks from one or more 3rd parties, each licensor of each track available on that compilation only reports the metadata for its resources; and

4. The music licensing company can then reconcile and administer all the revenue collected for each track to the relevant rights owners or mandated parties.

The elements in the HostSoundCarrier that are relevant for registering compilations in addition to the ones already outlined in the Recommended and Core Data profile Implementation: SoundRecordingDetailsByTerritory (v 1.5) are as follows:

• IsInternalCompilation – The Flag indicating whether the HostSoundCarrier is a Compilation where the rights for all contained SoundRecordings are controlled, for the territory at hand, by same Party that created the Compilation (=true) or not (=false).

• MessageSenderIsCompilationCreator – The Flag indicating whether the MessageSender is the Party that has created the Compilation (=true) or no (=false). If this Flag is set to true, the MessageSender is responsible to also provide the NumberOfTracksInCarrier.

• NumberOfTracksInCarrier – A number of Tracks that are included in a Carrier. NumberOfTracksInCarrier must be provided when MessageSenderIsCompilationCreator = true.

Below are two different use cases that typically occur when registering compilations and clearly highlights the elements required for each message sender depending on whether they are the compilation creator of an internal compilation, the compilation creator for a release with various artists licensed-in from a 3rd party or a licensor of a sound recording on such a compilation.

Use Case 1: Internal Compilation

In the use case where all tracks are owned by the releasing record company of a compilation (compilation creator), the HostSoundCarriercomposite needs to be completed in line with a typical album release, as outlined in the Recommended or Core Data profile or any bilaterally agreed information in addition to the following data fields:

• IsInternalCompilation = true

• MessageSenderIsCompilationCreator = true

• NumberOfTracksInCarrier = 14

Note: Please note that the use cases are examples only and do not represent actual label copy data of individual companies.
Mandatory elements are highlighted in Bold.

The same data needs to be provided for all 14 tracks. This can be done in one DeclarationOfSoundRecordingRightsClaimMessage with 14 SoundRecording composites or with multiple such messages with a combined total of 14 SoundRecording composites.

Use Case 2: Non-Internal Compilation 

This use case describes a compilation that has been released by a record company as above but at least one track has been licensed-in from a 3rd party on a non-exclusive license, i.e., the licensor of the sound recording used on that specific compilation.

In this case the creator of the compilation will supply the following to the music licensing company in addition to all other information required as part of the Recommended or Core Profile data for a Release or any other bilaterally agreed information.

The licensor of the licensed-in track is required to provide a different set of data to the music licensing companies in line with any other resource driven registration.

Data to be provided by the compilation creator

• IsInternalCompilation = false

• MessageSenderIsCompilationCreator = true

• NumberOfTracksInCarrier = 13

Note: Please note that the use cases are examples only and do not represent actual label copy data of individual companies.
Mandatory elements are highlighted in Bold.

For the seven tracks the compilation creator controls, seven SoundRecording composites need to be provided.

Data to be provided by the licensor

The 3rd party who has the rights in one or more sound recordings on the compilation can only provide resource-level metadata to the music licensing company.

The licensor is required to only provide the ResourceId from the track it licensed out and the ReleaseId (of the compilation), which has been communicated back from the compilation creator.

• IsInternalCompilation = false

• MessageSenderIsCompilationCreator = false

Note: Please note that the use cases are examples only and do not represent actual label copy data of individual companies.
Mandatory elements are highlighted in Bold.

This enables the music licensing company to match the individual tracks with their ResourceId and ReleaseId to the compilation, reconcile all rights controllers and make the appropriate payments.

Please note that a rights controller may not be the holder/owner of a track, but only a mandated party.

Summary

Below is a table to indicate how the flags have to be set depending on the relationship between the message sender and the compilation to be registered to the music licensing company.

Please note that the CompilationType and its allowed values is an old element that has been deprecated.