London-based Soundmouse has been acquired by music technology platform Orfium in a deal that brings together the global market leaders in digital music and broadcast rights management and reporting.
Soundmouse is an independent media technology company that specialises in music cue sheet reporting and audio recognition services.
Founded by Kirk Zavieh and Charles Hodgkinson in 2000, Soundmouse connects all stakeholders in the reporting process: broadcasters, programme makers, collecting societies, distributors, labels, publishers and music creators.
Soundmouse has a team of almost 400 with offices in London, Bulgaria, Seoul, Sri Lanka, Taipei and Tokyo.
Co-CEO Charles Hodgkinson, said: “Over the past 20 years, Soundmouse has been building and setting the standard in cue sheet management and monitoring for the broadcast and entertainment production space.
“Combine that with Orfium’s expertise in UGC tracking and claiming for publishers, labels and production music companies and we bring the worlds of digital and broadcast together in an integrated way.
“There is a huge amount of synergy between our companies which will allow us to deliver even more benefits to creators, rights holders, broadcasters and collecting societies with cutting edge technology and industry expertise.”
Orfium was founded in 2015 in Los Angeles by Drew Delis and Chris Mohoney, with the goal of bringing cutting edge technology to the music rights management space.
Current CEO Rob Wells joined the business in 2017, helping transform the company into a trusted partner for record labels, music publishers, production music companies, and collecting societies.
Wells, who is the former Universal Music Group President of Global Digital, hailed the deal as a landmark move for rights holders and media companies, commenting: “Bringing Soundmouse into the Orfium family, we are moving to a place where we can serve the entire entertainment ecosystem across mainstream and digital media. By connecting creators, rights holders, and music users, we can deliver more value to stakeholders across the board.”
Orfium’s technology has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for its partners, which includes top global record labels and music publishers.
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Wells added: “Making music easier to find, use, track and monetise across all channels is one of the core problems we’re helping to solve for the industry.
“Our software, built on advances in machine learning and AI, empowers rights owners, creators and key stakeholders to realise more value as new platforms for media consumption emerge and scale. There is no other company in this space building and investing in technology like Orfium.
“Acquiring Soundmouse enables us to scale our product offering and expand deeper into the complex infrastructure of the entertainment industry, streamlining content creation and management for programme makers, broadcasters and music rights holders.”