Photo Credit: Spotify
Royalty-collection platform Salt has inked a decade-long deal with the Netherlands’ Buma/Stemra and announced the acquisition of Björn Ulvaeus’ Session.
London-based Salt, which bills itself as “a next-generation music society back-office SaaS platform for processing and distributing rightsholder royalties,” revealed the Buma/Stemra tie-up and the Session buyout today, via a formal release that was emailed to Digital Music News.
The royalty-processing agreement with the Dutch society is expected to run 10 years, as noted, and Buma/Stemra CEO Bernard Kobes in a statement touted “Salt’s advanced capabilities” as well as their perceived benefits for his organization’s members.
“Salt’s advanced capabilities, designed in collaboration with BumaStemra’s experts, allows us to automate and streamline our processes, maximise monetisation, and provide much greater transparency,” the more than three-year Buma/Stemra head said in part. “Our members continuously seek faster, more accurate, more regular and transparent income. Salt enables us to provide exactly that.”
Meanwhile, the Session purchase arrives about five months after the credits and collaboration platform – which prioritizes the collection of accurate metadata at the point of creation – unveiled a partnership agreement with the Musiio owner SoundCloud.
Though the financial specifics of Session’s sale haven’t been disclosed publicly, Salt emphasized the acquisition’s perceived significance in terms of bringing “about a new generation of fair recognition and compensation for all music creators and rightsholders” and making unmatched royalties an issue of the past.
In a statement, Björn Ulvaeus – who has joined Salt’s board – acknowledged his view of the combined operation’s importance with regard to bringing “transparency and accuracy to the industry.”
“I am delighted to join the board of Salt and to work with this prestigious team to bring the transparency and accuracy to the industry that we have all waited so long to achieve,” said the Pophouse Entertainment owner Ulvaeus.
And in remarks of his own, Salt CEO Doug Imrie (who likewise co-founded and leads Session, according to his LinkedIn profile) relayed in part: “These partnerships will enable Salt to press ahead with innovation and provide our users, and their members, with the most comprehensive and efficient music rights management solution in the market. We look forward to continuing to lead the way in the music industry’s long-awaited and inevitable transformation.”
In other industry acquisition news, Sony Music’s The Orchard earlier this week purchased dance distributor and label services company Above Board, and BTS agency Hybe remains involved in a much-publicized battle for control of rival K-pop company SM Entertainment.