29 March 2007 
MCPS-PRS and STIM to create new service centre for music rights administration
The MCPS-PRS Alliance and STIM have today announced a new way forward for music rights administration. The two collecting societies are to create a jointly-owned commercial service centre to transform the way global rights administration is handled.
The partners share a vision of transforming their administrative capabilities by taking a centralised and consolidated approach to deliver significant operational and cost efficiencies for rights holders, music customers and other societies.
To begin with, this collaboration will involve building a completely new copyright works registration system to dramatically improve data quality and processing capability. The project will additionally assess how the service centre can deliver further opportunities for rights holders in a rapidly changing market.
A joint project team based in Sweden will work in more detail on the two societies’ requirements from the new service centre, to be called ICE (International Copyright Enterprise).
Steve Porter, MD of the MCPS-PRS Alliance said:
‘Our mission is to transform our business to deliver world-class results and service for the benefit of our rights holders and customers. STIM is committed to the same vision and is our ideal partner in the ICE project.’
Kenth Muldin, CEO of STIM said:
‘The jointly-owned STIM/MCPS-PRS service centre will deliver benefits unparalleled across the current European collecting society system. We have both long recognised the need for efficiencies that consolidation can deliver and by working together we’ll achieve this goal.’
For further details, please contact:
Dorota Nosowicz/Adrian Crookes Telephone: 020 7306 4777
Notes to editors
The MCPS-PRS Alliance. MCPS and PRS are the not-for-profit UK collecting societies that ensure composers, songwriters and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used: from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. MCPS and PRS are committed to delivering maximum royalties and world-class service for composers and songwriters everywhere.
www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk
STIM. STIM is an incorporated organisation owned by composers, lyricists and music publishers and safeguards their rights, both performing and mechanical, according to the Swedish Copyright Act. STIM collectively licenses music for public performance and the Internet and assembles information about the use of that music. STIM distributes the money collected individually to rightsholders, composers, lyricists and music publishers. www.stim.se