[Editor Charlie sez: No database helps services that don’t use it–like Spotify.]
….Systems of this kind can’t help to revive memories of the doomed Global Repertoire Database (GRD) project, an attempted collaboration between SACEM and fellow collecting societies ASCAP, SOCAN, PRS for Music, SIEA and SGAE. It fell apart in 2014 after £8m of investment.
Why did it fail? “There were many reasons,” [Jean-Noël Tronc, CEO of French authors’ rights society SACEM] says, citing the involvement of too many cooks as one of them.
“Another reason was the technological choices being made – where we were creating a unique centralised database – was just not the proper way to address the issue,” he continues.
“Documentation is, by definition, dynamic. Every minute thousands of new works are being created every day. That is across tens of thousands of different databases. Some relate to publishers, some relate to CMOs; and so the idea that we could create a unique and centralised database with the project whose budget was tens of millions of dollars was maybe too ambitious a vision. And maybe not from a technology point of view tackling the issue from the right angle.”
Artist Rights Watch--News for the Artist Rights Advocacy Community 