European Music Rights Organisations announce commitment to DDEX messaging standards

Five major European Music Rights Organisations (MROs) have announced their commitment to adopt the DDEX messaging standard for the receipt of sales information reported by licensed online distributors of music.

The Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) is a standards development organisation set up in 2006 by the major record labels, online music distributors and music rights societies. DDEX was set up to develop and encourage the adoption of standard XML message formats to improve the current exchange of data between companies operating in the digital media content value chain.

The MROs, which include CELAS, GEMA, PAECOL, PRS for Music and SACEM, have formalised their commitment to the adoption of DDEX standards by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. They have worked together to design and develop a set of standard XML messages for the exchange of information between business partners across the digital value chain. The five MROs have agreed their minimum mandatory information requirements so that online distributors can submit their sales information using the same data format. “This is an important landmark towards streamlining the way information can be provided by online distributors to MROs” confirmed.

Alexander Wolf, co-MD of CELAS. “By complying with the DDEX standard any distributor can report in the same way to any of the signatory MROs, thereby simplifying the reporting process and minimising their costs”. Co-MD Nick Williamson confirmed that “online distributors will no longer need to contact each individual MRO to clarify their specific requirements, resulting in customised reporting formats for each MRO”.

According to Dr Harald Heker, CEO of GEMA, “other MROs are in the process of reviewing the set of XML messages with a view to becoming signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding. We expect that most MROs will sign up to this common approach very soon”.

Bernard Miyet, CEO of SACEM said “DDEX has recently been extended to allow the reporting of music in audiovisual productions. The signatory MROs are also working to produce a set of standard XML messages so that online distributors can simplify their reporting of music in AV productions too”. 

“Our commitment to adopt standard business messages for music reporting is entirely consistent with our support towards adopting a common information framework to support pan-European licensing” said Jeremy Fabinyi, acting CEO of PRS for Music. No matter which organisation is issuing the license, all online distributors can report their music sales information in a standard DDEX format”.

More business messages will be standardised in the future, including those required for the reporting of music in audiovisual sales.

About CELAS (www.celas.eu) 

CELAS GmbH is a joint venture between GEMA and its British sister society PRS for music, which attends to the Pan-European licensing of the Anglo-American mechanical repertoire of EMI Music Publishing in the field of online and mobile services. The founding of CELAS is based on the online recommendation of the European Commission from October 18, 2005.

About GEMA (www.gema.de)  

In Germany, GEMA represents the copyrights of more than 60,000 members (composers, lyricists, and music publishers), and GEMA also represents over 1 million copyright owners all over the world. Worldwide, it is one of the largest societies for authors of music works.

About PAECOL 

PAECOL GmbH attends to the Pan-European licensing of the Anglo-American mechanical repertoire of SONY/ATV Music Publishing in the field of online and mobile services. The founding of PAECOL is based on the online recommendation of the European Commission from October 18, 2005.

About PRS for Music

PRS for Music is the leading copyright and royalty collection society representing 65,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in the UK.  A not-for-profit organisation it ensures music creators are paid whenever their music is played.

About SACEM (see www.sacem.fr) 

Sacem is a non-profit membership organization for managing rights and royalties of authors, composers and publishers of musical works. Its primary mission is to collect royalties and to redistribute these equitably to rights holders. Founded over 150 years ago, Sacem was the first society in the world to represent musical rights holders. It has established itself as a key international player and a driving force in rights management. Sacem counts today over 130,000 members worldwide. It manages 37 million works.

About DDEX (www.ddex.net) 

DDEX was set up to develop and encourage the adoption of standard XML message formats to improve the current exchange of data between companies operating in the digital media content value chain. The standards enable the identification of the information required to provide digital media content to the consumer and report sales back to the content owning companies, as well as common ways for this data to be exchanged between companies. DDEX was formed in 2006 by the world’s leading companies and organizations involved in the digital music value chain. Initially DDEX has therefore focused on the digital music value chain, but DDEX is now encouraging membership from stakeholders in any media sectors that overlap with music.

Membership of DDEX is open to any organization with a business interest in the digital media content value chain.

Press contacts

Sacem France : Elisabeth Anselin 
elisabeth.anselin@sacem.fr  
33 (0) 6 07 35 67 91 

Simon De Luca:
simon.de.luca@sacem.fr 
33 (0) 1 47 15 45 93

Sacem International : Fabienne Herenberg
fabienne.herenberg@sacem.fr
33 (0) 6 84 95 29 80  

Gema And Celas : Isabel Palmtag
 ipalmtag@gema.de 
+49 - (0)89-48 003 429