Summus is a Latin word that describes the greatness of things. In our case, SUMMUS is a summit to celebrate the greatness of music. A place where experts from all around the music industry meet to share lessons learnt, build consensus about today's challenges, and design forthcoming landscapes.
SUMMUS is an ideal forum to debate and learn in details about proposals and necessities for identification and distribution of rights using avant-garde tools.
Javier Asensio, Regional Director Latin America at IFPI
There are forces pushing for the hyper-fragmentation of copyright. The explosion of featured artists per song, the proliferation of IMEs, the growth of licensing vehicles, the financial edge of copyright assets, frequent acquisitions, new usage types, the increasing reach of multi-territory representation, sub-licenses – to name a few. Until now, licensing has grouped these forces together, but the industry might be adapting to a new composite reality.
Do mechanical rights follow performing ones? Are the writer’s share and publisher’s share in line with each other?
We’ll try to understand how deep fragmented licensing can go, as well as how different countries are.
Financial products have always been part of the music industry – with advance payments to artists being the typical example. We’re now seeing major artists selling their catalogues as well as major financial institutions starting to own music assets directly.
How will the transition of creative ownership of music assets to financial institution ownership impact the incentives behind the music royalty industry?
We’ll explore the current state of this trend, how it’s evolving, and the potential impact on all participants in the music royalty space.
For decades charts have been a measure of success within the music industry. However, as the metrics for defining success continue to evolve, charts, as they are today, might be becoming less relevant to artists, labels and consumers. Charts may need to start transcending industry norms in order to stay relevant.
What will the new metrics for defining success be, and how can charts evolve to encompass them? Which existing and new data streams should be consolidated into the charts of the future?
We’ll evaluate existing chart compilation methodologies and discuss how they could evolve to stay relevant.
Among the expanding offerings of Video on Demand, Broadcasters have started to launch their own on-demand offerings to compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. With these movements, music licensing, royalties processing and cue sheets for VoD platforms are being put in the spotlight.
What challenges does the music industry face when licensing VoD services? What are the challenges faced in processing, collection and distribution, and by whom?
We’ll explore music licensing and royalties processing trends and challenges in the age of VoD.
Web3 and NFTs have become household names in the industry overnight, and are being touted as a disruptive solution for artists to monetise their music. Concepts like copyright and royalties are being challenged, and we’re watching it all unfold.
How might this change the foundations of the music industry? How can web3 initiatives achieve decentralisation, and can they do this without contradicting their own principles?
We’ll try to understand how these new technologies interact with the well-known challenges the music industry faces today.
China’s 1.4 billion consumers make it look like a giant tantalising pie with magical potential. Music publishing is in its infant stage in China and there are many mysteries still to be uncovered.
How does music publishing in China differ from the rest of the world?
We’ll try to understand the challenges and identify the uniqueness of the Chinese landscape.
The connection between the artist and the fan is easier than ever thanks to the digitisation of the music value chain. The number of unsigned artists is growing in all emerging markets and is looking on track to become one of the most relevant segments of the industry.
Will unsigned artists continue growing in number? What are the gaps in the industry this could expose?
We’ll discuss the relevance of these unsigned artists in the market, examine the current tools they’re using and discuss what they may need in the near future.
Streaming and on-demand services for music can now add gaming, micro-video-creation and social media platforms to the gang. The growing abundance of these platforms continues to challenge the status quo of music licensing, identification, data processing, collection and distribution.
Will current processes evolve or new ones have to be created to fit the services of prospective and current platforms?
We’ll explore what changes are already being made to deal with the proliferation of digital platforms.
SUMMUS is an event organized by BMAT
It will be held on 3rd & 4th October at Flowers by Bornay and BMAT HQ.