SESAC Selects Tunesat To Monitor Performances In Television Broadcasts
& NASHVILLE – SESAC, the nation’s fastest growing performing rights organization (), today announced a partnership with TuneSat. The pact calls for TuneSat’s technology to detect performances of the SESAC repertory used in audio-visual programs monitored across TuneSat’s network of 110 national broadcast and cable channels.
“After a decade of industry attempts to streamline the process, tracking performances on TV is still a largely manual endeavor,” said Hunter Williams, Senior Vice President, Strategic Development with SESAC. “Cue sheets are notorious for being filed incorrectly, late, and in some cases, not at all, which adversely affects payments to songwriters and composers. We are very excited about the impact we believe TuneSat will have on improving the process and thereby increasing the accuracy in royalty reporting to rights holders.”
TuneSat’s proprietary audio-recognition technology, often referred to as audio fingerprinting, adeptly detects music in as little as 3 seconds and even in very noisy (“dirty audio”) environments. This means short pieces of music layered underneath sound effects and voiceovers, such as those used in broadcast TV, can be detected by the system.
“Copyrighted music used in broadcast TV content is usually buried under a vast array of voiceovers and special effects,” said Chris Woods, of TuneSat. “In many cases, rights holders are not properly compensated because their music is often unrecognizable and goes unreported. Our technology replaces antiquated cue sheet methodology and addresses inefficiency by offering the most compelling technology solution in the marketplace. We will provide SESAC with the ability to increase their accuracy in the royalty payments to its songwriters and publishers.”
“This deal marks a first for the music industry and clearly establishes SESAC as the leader in transforming the music business into an efficiently run industry lead by technology,” said Scott Schreer, of TuneSat. “TuneSat addresses two fundamental issues for all rights holders, accountability and transparency. With TuneSat, composers and publishers now have a real time solution to protect and monetize their content aired on broadcast TV.”
TuneSat’s field-proven technology will benefit SESAC’s affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers by greatly enhancing the PRO’s ability to capture performances of its repertoire on television, especially background and promotional uses of popular songs and production library music. When integrated, the TuneSat detection data will help ensure the timeliness and accuracy of payments by supplementing and streamlining SESAC’s system for processing television performances.
Updated 05-10-2010
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