(2 February 2008 9:30 pm)

NEW DELHI:With an eye to streamlining licensing for the use of music and music videos in Southeast Asia and India, Universal Music Publishing Group have entered into an agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The agreement also includes digital royalties.

This multilateral agreement will enable both players to enter into similar agreements with other publishers and distributors and, thus, help in mutually increasing the business in music and music videos.

"For many years, digital music resellers have been challenged with licensing content from a myriad of content owners and similarly challenged in effectively reporting sales in return," says Sony BMG senior VP of digital and new business development in Asia.Ruuben van den Heuvel.

"We expect to see a significant increase in our respective businesses as content flows to our partners and consumers are able to find their favorite artists and discover new music to get excited about," adds van den Heuvel.

The new agreement is expected to speed up the development of the legitimate online and mobile markets, and ensure that rights holders -- including artists, songwriters, record companies, music publishers, and collection societies -- will benefit from Asia's position as a leader in developing new models for music on digital devices. The arrangement creates a new precedent in India where for the first time record companies have agreed to pay mechanical royalties to songwriters and publishers on the sale of records.

"This multilateral deal should enable the legitimate digital business in the region to operate with certainty," says UMPG executive VP of international Andrew Jenkins. "Through the combined efforts of UMPG and Sony BMG, and our common line of action with this agreement, we are providing a digital model for the whole industry to adopt."

The agreement during the Midem in Cannes covers all digital uses of compositions except monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, karaoke and non-interactive webcasting. They include audio and video downloads, streaming and subscriptions services; mobile products including master ringtones, ringback tones, full-track downloads and mobile video.

For the Southeast Asian countries, the companies agreed to a specific, undisclosed rate that digital services in Asian countries where no rates have ever been set before. The countries are India, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Macao, Pakistan, Viet Nam and Burma. Deals for Japan and Korea are already in place.

UMPG and Sony BMG will work together with the performing rights society in each territory to implement this agreement for the benefit of authors, artists and other rights owners, digital service providers and consumers. The arrangement is expected to provide clarity regarding licensing procedure in many countries of the region for the first time, and will support the efforts of those organizations who want to provide legitimate digital music services.

The companies say they are inviting all of the relevant rights societies to join in their efforts to provide simple and effective licensing models throughout the region.