News

It is with great honour we can announce that last Thursday, on November 8th, our Chief Technical Architect Mats Lidström delivered a keynote presentation at the International Power 2012 conference. The conference was organised by the British IBM user group NiSUG and was held at the Double Tree by Hilton – Tower of London.

Mats was invited to talk about his work in developing and implementing our ICE application. The organisers refers to his keynote as ‘one of the most iconic user presentations we have ever had’. In his presentation, he talked about our company, our vision and purpose, and of course about the technical implementation which forms the basis for our application.

Talking about our application, Mats said before the conference: ‘we are in the forefront in the way we use IBM Power’, and that due to this fact and the stable and secure system we are using, ‘our IT department is able to focus on meeting business needs instead of spending resources on server maintenance’. (Where we have only one server technician, other companies can have a handful!)

After the conference, Mats comments that he is now even more certain that the ICE IT architecture is in the top when it comes to cost-efficiency, stability and the ability to keep focus on the business. Judging from the response from other participants at the conference, he notes that he is surely not alone in this conclusion.

Reflecting on the fact that there seems to have been some focus on mobile solutions in the conference agenda, Mats says that thanks to how flexible our application is, it is actually quite ready to ‘go mobile’.

Prior to this, Mats has made two presentations on the same subject – in 2010 on Data3, the Swedish IBM Power user group conference, and in 2011 on the Scandinavian Developers Conference. Both previous presentations were very well met, and made a name for both ICE and Mats. This was made quite obvious last week, as it turned out that several guests came specifically to listen to Mats’s presentation.

Click here for more information on the conference.

Copyright database owned by PRS for Music and STIM looks to expand

The International Copyright Enterprise (ICE) has appointed Carsten Drachmann from Nokia Siemens as its new Chief Executive. The company, co-owned by UK collecting society PRS for Music and Swedish collecting society STIM, was established in 2007 to deliver copyright services to both its parent companies and other collecting societies.

Drachmann spent 20 years at Nokia Siemens in a variety of roles spanning sales, research and development and software. Most recently he was VP of Sales in the Professional Services division, focussing on consulting and system integration. During his tenure at Nokia Siemens he was based in Copenhagen, but had an international focus, which included a 2-year stint in Brazil during which he held responsibility for the entire Latin America region. Carsten Drachmann will report directly to the board of ICE.

On his appointment Drachmann commented: “It’s a hugely exciting time to join ICE and I see great potential for the company. We are already providing a high standard of service to our current customers PRS for Music and STIM and ICE will provide the technology on which the future Global Repertoire Database is based. My focus will be developing ICE into a commercial organisation with a strong Professional Service and Product offering. Our scope is international and I am looking forward to welcoming our next customers on board very soon.”

Chief Executive of PRS for Music Robert Ashcroft commented: “Carsten has been appointed as Chief Executive because of his extensive experience in the technology sector and in providing business to business services. He is the right man to lead ICE as it enters an exciting new phase in its development, expanding its service offering to new customers.”

ICE has also announced the re-appointment of Wanda Goldwag as Non-Executive Chair of its board of directors. Wanda holds a number of non-executive positions, including that of external director of PRS for Music.

This past week ICE Services AB has received some attention in Swedish media regarding the Global Repertoire Database (GRD) project. National radio stations Sveriges Radio P1 and P3 have each broadcast the news that ICE has been selected as the provider of the GRD. The GRD Project has kicked off with the ambition to simplify music licensing for new music services. This is also featured in an article in IT/telecom/business magazine Computer Sweden.

“A common database implies radical changes for companies aspiring to distribute music via the Internet and at the same time eases the compensation to those who have created the music”, says Susanne Bodin, Director of Communications at Stim in her interview with Computer Sweden.

Click here to listen to the radio spot in Sveriges Radio P1 and click here for the announcement in Sveriges Radio P3. In order to read the article in Computer Sweden, click here.

Global Repertoire Database Working Group launches scoping study

London (27th September 2011) – The Global Repertoire Database Working Group, has now launched its Stakeholder Engagement and Scoping Study. The Study will involve a 20-week industry-wide consultation to determine the technical, data, business process and organisational design aspects of the Global Repertoire Database, as well as the approach to governance and funding. There will be a core group of around 20 representative organisations from around the world including publishers, songwriter associations, collecting societies and digital retailers, with yet further consultation with a wider group of stakeholders. A programme of open webinars will set out the plan for the design phase of the GRD. The dates and further details of the webinars will be available via the GRD website shortly (see http://www.globalrepertoiredatabase.com/.

The GRD project was initiated following a request from the European Commission in 2009 to investigate how a GRD for musical works might be created and deployed. An industry-wide Working Group was formed which published a set of recommendations in December 2010 appointing ICE (the International Copyright Enterprise) as the technology solution provider and Deloitte as project manager to support the delivery of the GRD.

Neil Gaffney, representing EMI Music Publishing on the Working Group commented: “it was a significant achievement for a disparate but representative stakeholder group such as the GRD WG to be able to work together in the development of a clear set of common requirements for a GRD and to be able to agree a way forward in its development. This very consensual approach will be taken forward into the Study, which envisages the involvement of a much broader stakeholder community. Only through such an approach will we be able to arrive at a collective view on the key issues of governance and funding whereby an important tool for the administration of music rights can be created for the benefit of the whole industry”.

The scope of the GRD is to provide, for the first time, a single, comprehensive and authoritative representation of the global ownership and control of musical works. Once deployed the GRD would save extensive costs currently lost to duplication in data processing. These back-office savings might ultimately be re-invested in frontline services to increase the licensed usage of music, benefiting creators and rights-holders. The GRD would also reduce data management, working capital costs and aims to lower the administrative barriers to businesses seeking to distribute content online and ensure that creators of music are quickly and efficiently compensated for their work.

Chris Gardner, Managing Director of ICE said: “the ICE Copyright system was conceived in 2006 as a database that would hold multi-territorial ownership information about musical works. Therefore, in terms of functionality, ICE’s systems already provide most of what the GRD requires”.

Neil Allcock, the Deloitte partner leading the project, said: “One of the primary challenges of managing the input of a set of records into a database by a wide range of disparate organisations is ensuring accuracy. The GRD will be designed in such a way that it becomes a “common reliable source” of data.”

The Global Repertoire Database Working Group is a cross-sector initiative whose members include EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, iTunes, PRS for Music, STIM and SACEM. Since the publication of the recommendations ECSA (the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance), ICMP (the International Confederation of Music Publishers), CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Composers and Authors), Google and Omnifone have joined the Working Group to continue the principle of a wide stakeholder involvement in the project.

It has been announced that CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, will engage with the Global Repertoire Database Working Group (GRD WG). CISAC has significant expertise and experience in the management of copyright data and is pleased to contribute to the effort to construct a global database of musical works. As Board member of CISAC, Eric Baptiste, CEO of Canadian authors’ society SOCAN, will lead CISAC’s engagement with the GRD Working Group.

The first phase of our project with GEMA is now finished, where we have been looking at how ICE and GEMA can co-operate. The technical feasibility showed that the ICE documentation system and the online processing system LION/MAX are suitable and compatible with the requirements for the respective societies.

Since the technical feasibility was confirmed, it is recommended to continue with phase 2, which will start in June. This second phase will focus on the economic feasibility, technical changes and organisational changes.

NCB – Nordic Copyright Bureau – and PRS for Music/MCPS have announced a new partnership to co-operate on recorded media royalty processing. A joint venture will be established and the operations will start in April.

As a natural effect the ICE application has been modified in order to support the changes that this joint venture will cause.

At this year’s edition of MIDEM, the annual trade fair and conference for the music industry, there will be a conference on the subject of the Global Repertoire Database. The GRD Working Group (made up of Publishers, Societies and Music Users) will explain to the International Confederation of Music Publishers their proposal and choice of ICE as solution provider.

In related news, Reuters illustrated the Global Repertoire Database in a recent article titled “Music industry working on global copyright database“.

Time flies. Today ICE has been “live” for exactly one year – it was on 11th January 2010 that we started our operations. It’s been a truly eventful first year with Chris Gardner appointed as the Managing Director of ICE, the ICE Operations transfer from London to Stockholm, new recruits, Wanda Goldwag becoming the Non Executive Chair of ICE as well as ICE being recommended as a solution provider for the Global Repertoire Database.

ICE awaits forthcoming challenges with great delight and we hope and believe that 2011 will be as successful as last year.

A new department within ICE has been set up, managed by Johan Hammarström. The Department’s primary task is to make sure that the systems within the ICE application portfolio enable ICE to provide good service to its existing and future customers as well as end users, at the same time ensuring that the ICE application portfolio is kept flexible for future business requirements.

The Business Development Department consists of six persons.

We are very happy to have established the Business Development department and it is with great pleasure we look forward to further improvement of the ICE application and the company as a whole.

On December 17th ICE says farewell to many of the Staff members from PRSforMusic that came to Sweden earlier this year to help establish the work-quality ICE transferred from London to Stockholm.

ICE has completed the transfer and stabilisation of copyright operations from CEE Services and PRSforMusic. We are happy to find some of the staff members from PRSforMusic are still here in Stockholm as they have decided to stay and continue working at ICE.

ICE has been recommended by the Global Repertoire Database Working Group as solution provider for the Global Repertoire Database. Deloitte has also been recommended as project manager to work together with ICE in building the Global Repertoire Database. At ICE we are looking forward to the opportunity to continue developing our global management service.

The Global Repertoire Database Working Group released its recommendations for The Way Forward For the Development of a Global Repertoire Database on 10th December 2010 and can be downloaded here.

There is also additional information on globalrepertoiredatabase.com

Wanda Goldwag is appointed Non Executive Chair of ICE. She describes the ambition of ICE to expand and create a significant reduction in royalty administration costs through "a reduction in the duplication of information currently held in over 100 different national systems and a higher level of integration between rights management systems”.

Wanda Goldwag is an experienced manager and marketing expert specializing in
entertainment, loyalty schemes and HR. She currently holds a wide range of Directorships and we are very happy to have her join ICE as the Non Executive Chair of ICE.

ICE Operations are transferred from London to the new ICE office in Alvik, Stockholm.
Over the previous few weeks ICE has trained and welcomed new recruits to the organisation who will form the foundation of the copyright operations team, joined also by staff transferring from CEE Services and PRSfor Music.

For the next 6 months the plan is to establish the ICE company in Stockholm. ICE will be assisted by 15-20 staff members from PRSForMusic who will ensure the quality of ICE and to ensure that ICE takes on the skills and knowledge necessary to manage the copyright service for PRSforMusic and STIM.

Chris Gardner is appointed Managing Director of ICE. Chris comes from PRSforMusic where he has spent most of his working life since 1977.

In July of 2004 he was appointed Executive Director of Broadcast and Online Licensing and from 2005-2009 he was Executive Director of IT. In June of 2009 he took over the Programme Management of the ICE Project together with Anders Zetterlund from CEE Services. The two of them oversaw the launch of the ICE system in January 2010.

After two and a half years of planning and re-planning, we are proud to say that the ICE Copyright system is now up and running! The ICE Copyright application was successfully launched according to plan 11th of January and is now used by our operational teams.

Please contact us if you want more information about the ICE Copyright application.

We're on our way to MIDEM. Send us an e-mail if you want to meet up!

The ICE system development is very much nearing completion and we have only a few remaining modules to finalise which need to go through a user acceptance testing (UAT) process before launch early next year.

Through our new systems, ICE will offer members and societies flexible, scalable copyright administration, reporting, matching and distribution services, built on unparalleled music industry and technology expertise.
The ICE system will be launched early next year.

Through our new systems, ICE will offer members and societies flexible, scalable copyright administration, reporting, matching and distribution services, built on unparalleled music industry and technology expertise.
The ICE system will be launched early next year.

How to load an advanced copyright database with information.

Our ICE Copyright application will be one of the most advanced copyright databases available. The structural architecture is built on brand new technologies and the development team has been working hard to maximise all of its benefits. Please contact us if you want to know how ICE could help you.

GEMA, the German music copyright society, today confirmed that it is actively exploring opportunities to join ICE, currently a joint venture between the UK's PRS for Music and the Swedish society STIM. ICE’s mission is to build a new, world-class, shared back-office service centre for collective rights organisations.

Upon invitation by ICE, GEMA has been carrying out due diligence on ICE over the past six months and this will continue with a view to GEMA potentially becoming a full, third partner in ICE.

Harald Heker, GEMA's CEO, said "A strong back-office has always provided the basis for GEMA's operations. We believe that a potential participation in ICE, alongside PRS for Music and STIM, could provide an important strategic alliance to enable a leap forward in business quality, efficiency and effectiveness."

Kenth Muldin, STIM's CEO, said "ICE is focused on delivering world-class systems and business processes and winning GEMA's acknowledged skills and expertise in these areas would significantly strengthen the team.”