Configurable Metadata Infrastructure for Music and Audiovisual Rights Organizations
In short: The Noctil Platform lets rights organizations create custom data objects for any type of information they manage, such as members and mandates, licensees and venues, licences, tariffs and invoices, cue sheets and usage reports, distribution rules and statements, reciprocal agreements and claims. Each object has its own fields, relationships, validation and permissions, and can mirror the organization's current data structure. The organization's own team can take full control of its information architecture, shaping everything without code in the Admin section, or work side by side with a Noctil consultant. Every object and workflow is available through data and workflow APIs. Because the objects sit on Noctil's music and audiovisual metadata infrastructure, they work with industry standards, workflows, matching and AI out of the box, on secure, reliable and cost-efficient cloud infrastructure, with regional hosting when required.
Model your organization’s data your way, on infrastructure built for music and media rights. For music and audiovisual rights organizations, industry bodies and rights businesses whose data and processes don’t fit a fixed product.
The Situation
No two rights organizations work the same way. Beyond works and recordings, each one manages its own mix of information across membership, licensing, billing, usage, distribution and international exchange: members and their mandates, licensees and venues, licences, tariffs and invoices, cue sheets and broadcast logs, distribution rules and statements, reciprocal agreements with sister societies, claims and disputes, each with its own fields, rules and relationships.
That data has usually grown up over years in legacy systems, spreadsheets and databases, shaped around the organization’s own processes.
The Problem
The tools available rarely fit:
- Fixed products don’t match real processes. Packaged rights software comes with a set data model, so organizations bend their processes to the tool, or keep critical data outside it.
- General-purpose databases don’t know music. Flexible spreadsheet-style databases are easy to set up but know nothing about ISWCs, ISRCs, IPI numbers, CWR, DDEX, shares or mandates.
- Custom builds are slow and costly. Building a bespoke system takes months or years and leaves the organization maintaining it alone.
- Data in silos. Licences, tariffs, agreements and customer records often sit in separate tools, disconnected from the works, recordings and rightsholders they relate to.
- Hard to change. New licence types, tariff structures or reporting requirements, including AI attribution and consent, mean expensive changes to rigid systems.
The Solution
The Noctil Platform combines the flexibility of a fully configurable, no-code database with music and audiovisual metadata infrastructure. Each organization’s own team shapes its account in the Admin section to fit its business needs, working on its own or side by side with a Noctil consultant.
- Custom objects for any data type. The organization’s team, or a Noctil consultant working with it, creates objects for whatever the organization manages, without code, and defines each one’s fields, field types, required values and validation rules.
- Relationships between objects. Objects link to each other and to works, recordings and parties, so a licence connects to its customer and tariff, and an agreement connects to the sister society and repertoire it covers.
- Mirror your current data structure. Objects can be shaped around the organization’s existing data model and processes, which makes migrating from legacy systems and spreadsheets simpler.
- Industry standards built in. Configurable input and output templates map objects to industry standards, such as CWR and DDEX, or to any custom format a partner requires. Objects work with industry identifiers such as ISWC, ISRC, IPI and ISAN, and DataFort applies validation rules to every data intake and external exchange.
- Workflows and AI with ProcessEngine. Workflows are configured to match the organization’s business processes. Any object can drive workflows, approvals and notifications, and can be enriched or reviewed by AI-assisted processes.
- Matching with MatchIQ. Records in custom objects, such as rightsholders, performers or customers, can be matched and kept free of duplicates.
- Permissions with OrgLink. Policies and permission rules by role, group and user control who can create, read, update and delete each object, record and field, including for members, partners and sister societies.
- Version control and audit. Every change is versioned and auditable, with rollback.
- Data and workflow APIs. Everything configured on the platform, from objects to workflows, is exposed through data and workflow APIs, so it connects to the organization’s other systems.
- Secure, scalable cloud hosting. The platform runs on hyperscale cloud infrastructure, can be hosted in a specific region when a customer requires it, and grows with the organization’s data volumes, with high availability, encryption in transit and at rest, and regular backups. Organizations get enterprise-grade reliability and security without the cost of building, hosting and maintaining their own systems.
Example objects
| Area | Example objects |
|---|---|
| Members and parties | Member, rightsholder, writer and composer, publisher, performer, producer, heir or estate, agent or representative, payee with tax and payment details |
| Rights and mandates | Mandate (rights, territories and periods assigned), membership application, rights assignment, representation agreement |
| Repertoire | Musical work, sound recording, recording session, release, audiovisual production, episode, cue sheet, live setlist |
| Licensing | Licensee (customer), premises or venue, broadcaster and channel, licence, licence application or quote, tariff, tariff category and usage type |
| Billing | Invoice, payment, credit note, licensee declaration (such as turnover, attendance or audience figures) |
| Usage | Usage report, broadcast log, playlist, monitoring or recognition result |
| Distribution | Distribution rule, distribution run, royalty pool, allocation, statement, deduction (such as administration fees or social and cultural funds), undistributed and unclaimed funds |
| International | Sister society, reciprocal (bilateral) agreement, incoming and outgoing remittance, exchange file |
| Cases and compliance | Claim, dispute, licensee inspection or visit, correspondence, supporting document, transparency report data |
Every organization combines these differently, and any of them can be added, changed or left out to fit its own processes.
The Result
- A no-code data model that fits the organization, not the other way round
- All rights data connected, from licences and tariffs to works, recordings and rightsholders
- Industry standards, workflows, matching and AI available on every object
- Faster change, with new objects and fields added as needs evolve
- Simpler migration from legacy systems and spreadsheets
- Open through APIs, secure and auditable, with role-based permissions and version history on every record
- Reliable, secure and cost-efficient, on hyperscale cloud infrastructure, with regional hosting when required and no systems to build, host or maintain
Frequently Asked Questions
What are custom data objects?
Custom data objects are the entity types an organization defines for its own music or media business, such as licences, tariffs or reciprocal agreements, each with its own fields, rules, relationships and permissions. They are how the Noctil Platform's metadata infrastructure is configured to fit each organization's own data and processes.
Who configures the objects and workflows?
Your team, on its own or in collaboration with a Noctil consultant, in the platform's Admin section and without code. Objects, input and output templates, workflows and validation rules are all configured to fit each account's business needs.
Is there an API?
Yes. Objects and workflows are exposed through data and workflow APIs, so they connect to the organization's other systems.
Can we model our existing data structure?
Yes. Objects can mirror the organization's current data model and processes, which makes migration from legacy systems and spreadsheets simpler.
How is this different from a general-purpose database?
Custom objects on the Noctil Platform understand music and audiovisual rights. They work with identifiers and standards such as ISWC, ISRC, IPI, ISAN, CWR and DDEX, and connect to matching, workflows and AI.
Can custom objects link to works and recordings?
Yes. Objects can relate to each other and to works, recordings and parties, so all rights data stays connected.
Who can see and change the data?
Policies and permission rules by role, group and user decide who can create, read, update and delete each object, record and field, including for members, partners and sister societies.
Where is the data hosted, and how is it secured?
On Amazon Web Services (AWS), in a specific region when a customer requires it, with high availability, encryption in transit and at rest, and regular backups. Each organization's data is kept separate, and OrgLink permissions and a full audit history control and record every change.
Is the Noctil Platform music and audiovisual metadata infrastructure?
Yes. The Noctil Platform is music and audiovisual metadata infrastructure for rights organizations and rights businesses, bringing industry standards and identifiers, data validation, matching, workflows and permissions together in one place. Custom data objects extend that infrastructure to any other information an organization manages, such as licences, tariffs and reciprocal agreements.
Who is this for?
Music and audiovisual rights organizations, industry trade bodies, B2B music licensees running their own enrichment workflows, and rights businesses whose data and processes don't fit a fixed product.