Songtrust®, the world's largest global royalty collection platform, today announced that it 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 stack. The continued advances in Songtrust’s technical infrastructure mirrors its growth, with the company now collecting 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 startups, and at Sony/ATV,” said Molly Neuman, President of Songtrust. “Every music creator and rights holder 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 Vice President 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, Darren developed products for Sound Recording and Master Rights Data Management, Synch Licensing Request Tracking, and led the automation of music data and catalog 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. 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,” said Briggs. “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."
Working in tandem with the hiring of Briggs is Songtrust’s expansion of its global royalty collection network. On track to surpass milestones from its record year in 2019, the company now collects royalties from more than 215 countries and territories around the world, representing nearly 90% of the planet, based on the UN's total country and territory count, and reflecting a 43% increase in coverage.
For a full list of Songtrust collection sources, visit here.
Songtrust’s efforts to help producers, songwriters, publishers, and labels ensure they’re collecting their global royalties is more relevant than ever, with live music paused, and streaming services accounting for nearly 80% of all music revenue in 2019. 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. Music publishing is growing at a healthy clip, as indicated by Goldman Sachs’s recent projections that publishing will reach $11BN by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate of 6%. With independence expanding, it could not be more important for producers, songwriters, publishers, and labels to ensure they’re collecting their global royalties.
