Registering musical works is one of the most complicated administrative duties artists and songwriters have. In an era when a track can easily have up to 10 co-writers, Bridger’s new collaborative works feature removes a serious pain point for musical work registration and furthers its mission to make copyright accessible to all.
Bridger’s new feature is already available to all its members at no additional charge. It will primarily serve DIY musicians and non-published independent artists who need to register musical works written and/or composed by several people. Musical work registration is a crucial step in the copyright collection process to make sure that every rights holder receives the income they deserve.
“Artists finally have the possibility to easily register and manage collaborative musical works on an online platform. This is a highly anticipated feature for many musicians,” says Jocelyn Seilles, Founder and General Manager of Bridger. “The possibility for the collaborators to validate or make a counter-proposal of the split is an exclusive feature that no other Collective Management Organization offers, and we are glad to see that even some publishers have already validated our tool.”
Bridger collaborative work registration in a nutshell
When they register a musical work on Bridger, songwriters are invited to indicate if other rights holders have participated in its creation. If so, they will enter the names of the other right holders, their contact info, and suggest an applicable split (share of the rights).
Regardless of whether the other co-authors are Bridger members or members of other organizations, they will have to validate the proposed splits or to make their counterproposals, avoiding future disputes.
A beneficial innovation for artists and the entire music industry
An estimated $655 million of royalties generated on streaming platforms do not get paid out to the relevant rights holders. This ‘black box’ of unpaid royalties accumulates because the large numbers of non-affiliated songwriters, along with bad track metadata, make it impossible for the rightsholders to be identified. So, the royalties they have earned cannot be distributed to them.
With the launch of this innovative solution for collaborative musical works registration, Bridger contributes to improve metadata accuracy and therefore reduce the black box.
About Bridger
Bridger is an Independent Rights Management Entity. Launched in 2022, the service addresses to the global independent songwriter’s community that are either currently not engaged with any of the existing Collective Management Organization (CMO) nor Performance Right Organization (PRO) or already affiliated with a CMO or a PRO and who would like to benefit from an additional 100% digital service.
Bridger’s goal is to bring songwriters to copyright by offering an innovative and easy solution for online copyright collection.
Songwriters can subscribe to the service and register their musical works in just a few minutes. Bridger collects copyright royalties generated on music streaming services. It is a free service; there is no registration or annual fees. Artists can simply make money and keep 90% of their earnings.
In addition to online management and collection of copyright, Bridger provides substantial educational content to help artists develop and grow their careers. Through blog posts, webinars and masterclasses, available for free, the company is offering everyone the opportunity to understand the specifics of music rights and the industry – because knowledge is the key to success.
Published since 1977, Music Connection magazine is a monthly music trade publication catering to musicians, industry pro’s, and support services. Music Connection exists to serve artists and music people, to offer connections to the unconnected and to provide exclusive information that can help our readers take their music to the next level.
Founded in 1977 on the principle of bridging the gap between “the street and the elite,” Music Connection has grown from a popular print publication into a spectrum of products and services that address the wants and needs of musicians, the music tech community and industry support services.
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