Songtrust has hired Darren Briggs in a newly created role as global head of technology.
Reporting to Songtrust president Molly Neuman, Briggs will oversee the ongoing expansion of its technology infrastructure.
The platform now collects royalties from more than 215 countries.
“Darren brings an incredible and uniquely qualified experience set to Songtrust, with his work in performance rights societies, at start-ups, and at Sony/ATV,” said Neuman. “Every music creator and rightsholder in the world deserves to get paid for their music, and Darren’s expertise, paired with our already excellent team and fast-growing market position, will help us fulfill our mission and continue the growth trajectory we’re on.”
Briggs, who prior to Songspace was the VP of data strategy and technology innovation at BMI, as well as the head of global systems development & technology at Sony/ATV, will lead the development and innovation of Songtrust’s royalty collection and rights management platform.
During his time as president and chief product officer of Songspace, he developed products for sound recording and master rights data Management, sync licensing request tracking and led the automation of music data and catalogue delivery.
“Millions of music creators can now globally distribute their music with the click of a button and each month there are trillions of music use transactions,” said Briggs. “As new ways to create, experience, and distribute music continue to grow across social media, livestreams, live concerts, streaming services, and beyond, it is more important than ever before to provide music creators and rights holders with clear, accurate, and timely information about the use of their copyrights and their royalties earned.
“It’s great to join the Songtrust team who share the same passion of supporting music creators, ensuring that their copyrights are protected and that they are paid for their work. I look forward to working with the team to continue building new and exciting Songtrust products and services that provide real value to music rights holders around the world."
Songtrust said the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated a shift in music towards independence: artists without a label expanded by more than 32% in 2019 and music distributors experienced record distributions in spring 2020.
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