Enriching Music Usage Reports with Rights Metadata for Music Licensees
In short: Music licensees have to report the music they use to the publishers and master owners who hold the rights, but their own usage data usually holds little more than a title and an artist. Noctil matches each usage line against its database of more than 55 million musical works and enriches it with writers, publishers and ownership shares. It also matches each line against more than 300 million sound recordings and adds release details such as label, release name, UPC and ISRC. The result is a complete, rights-ready report each rightsholder can act on.
Turn simple usage logs into rights-ready reports for publishers and master owners. For music licensees, such as karaoke, fitness, gaming, background music, broadcast and digital services, that must report music usage accurately to rightsholders.
The Situation
Many businesses license music to run their service: karaoke and fitness platforms, games, background music providers, broadcasters, airlines and digital services. Every song they use involves two sets of rights: the musical work, owned by its writers and publishers, and the sound recording, owned by its label or master owner.
Under their licences, these businesses must report what they used to those rightsholders, so that the right people are paid for the right songs and recordings.
The Problem
A licensee’s own usage data describes songs the way its product does, mostly a title and an artist. Rightsholders need much more than that to identify and pay for their repertoire:
- No publishing information. Usage lines don’t say who wrote each song, which publishers represent those writers, or how ownership is shared, which is exactly what publishers need to claim their share.
- No master or release information. Usage lines don’t identify the label or master owner, the release, or identifiers such as ISRC and UPC.
- Titles and artists that vary. Song titles and artist names are often abbreviated, misspelled or styled differently, so simple lookups fail.
- Scale. Large catalogs and usage volumes produce far more lines than a team can research by hand.
- Licence obligations. Incomplete or inaccurate reports put licence compliance at risk and create friction with rightsholders.
The Solution
Noctil runs a licensee’s usage reports through a metadata enrichment workflow built on the Noctil Platform.
- Ingest the usage report with DataFort. Usage reports are loaded and normalized, whatever their format.
- Match to musical works with MatchIQ. Each line is matched against Noctil’s database of more than 55 million musical works, using contextual matching that handles title and artist variations.
- Match to sound recordings with MatchIQ. Each line is also matched against more than 300 million sound recordings to find the corresponding recording and its releases.
- Enrich every line. Matched lines are enriched with the rights information each rightsholder needs:
| Rights | Information added |
|---|---|
| Musical work (publishing) | Writers and composers, publishers, ownership shares, and identifiers such as ISWC and IPI |
| Sound recording (masters) | Label, release name, UPC, ISRC and other release details |
- Deliver rights-ready reports with DataFort. The enriched usage is delivered in the formats the licensee needs to report to publishers and master owners.
The Result
- Complete publishing data on every matched line: writers, publishers and shares
- Complete master and release data on every matched line: label, release, UPC and ISRC
- Rights-ready reports that publishers and master owners can act on directly
- Stronger licence compliance and smoother relationships with rightsholders, without a manual research team
- One workflow for any licensee, whatever the service or the format of its usage data
Frequently Asked Questions
What is music usage metadata enrichment?
It is the process of matching a licensee's usage data, often just a title and artist, to authoritative musical work and sound recording records, and adding the rights information each rightsholder needs to identify and pay for their repertoire.
How does Noctil enrich music usage reports?
Each usage line is matched against more than 55 million musical works and more than 300 million sound recordings, then enriched with writers, publishers and shares, plus label, release name, UPC and ISRC.
Why do music licensees need to report usage to rightsholders?
Most music licences require the licensee to report what it used, so publishers and master owners can identify their repertoire and be paid correctly.
Which kinds of licensees is this for?
Any business that licenses music and must report its use, including karaoke, fitness, gaming, background music, broadcast, airline and digital services.
Who is this for?
B2B music licensees that need complete, rights-ready usage reports for publishers and master owners.