The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has formed a new strategic agreement with Nielsen, the global data and consumer research company.
The agreement will enable the organisation to provide enhanced reporting, business tools and services to its members. In a statement, ASCAP said the deal with help achieve "increased transparency and efficiency."
The multi-pronged, long-term data agreement will allow ASCAP to access, among other things, US radio monitoring data complete with metadata and unique identifiers for recordings from Nielsen, which ASCAP will couple with its membership and copyright data. “This data link of unique identifiers creates the potential for more efficient performance matching and reporting,” said ASCAP.
ASCAP also plans to use a wide range of Nielsen measurement tools and insights to create innovative reporting capabilities and services. These will be developed by ASCAP’s recently formed Digital Product & Data Team and made available to ASCAP members through its re-launched Member Access portal. Nielsen’s services include music sales and streaming tracking, TV ratings, and a wide range of metrics.
ASCA CEO Elizabeth Matthews said the agreement with Nielsen is part of “a strategy of remaining flexible and nimble by pursuing partnerships with best-in-class service providers.”
Matthews added: “As the market-leader in consumer, music and audio measurement, Nielsen’s data will bring additional frequency and breadth to ASCAP’s reporting, enabling ASCAP’s members to have a 360-degree view of the performance landscape for their music, while enabling faster and more accurate reporting and tracking across all platforms. This deal also sets the stage for us to provide our members with new business intelligence tools with predictive analytics components.”
“Nielsen is excited to work with ASCAP to provide its songwriter and publisher members with more efficient and effective business tools,” said Nielsen Entertainment president Howard Appelbaum. “This agreement brings together two world-class organisations that excel at using data to increase transparency within the music sector, including music creators.”
