ICE has passed €1 billion for digital royalties distributed to its society and publisher customers.
The pan-European licensing body made its first distribution in March 2016. The growth since then was driven by its own core licence expansion, as well as processing services provided for Sony/ATV, BMG and Warner Chappell Music.
ICE said it continues to improve its service through on-going process development and investment in technology.
“Whilst this milestone represents a landmark for the industry in this digital era, we’re focused on continually improving the services we offer,” said Thorsten Sauer, CEO at ICE. “We are working to increase transparency and achieve even greater efficiency in getting money paid quickly and accurately to rightsholders.”
“The ICE hub provides our members with the best return for the use of their work internationally,” said Karsten Dyhrberg Nielsen, CEO at STIM. “The revenue from licences negotiated by ICE continues to grow and their scale and expertise means royalties are efficiently processed despite ever increasing data volumes.”
Kaspar Kunisch, MD at ARESA, said: “The effectiveness and efficiency achieved by ICE in this day and age is great news for rightsholders, and to reach such a milestone in such a short time is an endorsement of their collaborative approach. Combined with the upcoming initiatives we’re excited by the future.”
ICE was created by PRS, STIM and GEMA and represents over 290,000 rightsholders.
The streaming revolution has seen rapid growth in digital royalties for recordings and compositions. Merlin has distributed over $2 billion since its launch in 2008.
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