Achille Forler, CEO of SyncMama told Entrackr, “Royalty is the salary and provident fund of the music creators.”
Fighting against the practice of the availability and companies built up on royalty-free music, Forler has been one of the major driving forces behind the 2012 amendment of the Copyrights Act.
Describing the unfairness faced by music composers he explained how when a company buys music from an artist, the contract demands that the artist does not register independently for copyrights. This means that the company wholly holds the rights to the music piece for the entire life of the artist and even a few years after.
When a company holds all rights to a music piece, the royalty goes to the company Instead of the artists. The composer gets paid a certain amount just once for the piece. This puts the artist at a clear disadvantage.
Explaining the process Forler said, “When we say royalty-free it is not copyrights free…it means the royalty is collected by the new owner and not the composer.”
To combat this situation and make a difference in the music industry, Forler decided to start Syncmama.
SyncMama is a ‘royalty-included’ music synchronization licensing platform that serves individuals, professionals, and corporate content creators. The platform is supported by an AI-powered audio search engine that helps users find the specific tracks they are looking for.
Recently set up in September 2022, the company is owned by Silk Road Communications.
One feature that sets SyncMama apart is how the company is integrated into the traditional global copyright system. This will ensure that the income is evenly distributed across the value chain.
The platform currently houses over 4,00,000 sound recordings and about 20,000 special effects. The platform offers tools to users that will help them make a complete soundtrack.
Apart from the variety of offerings the platform provides, it also provides support for its users to generate licenses for their music pieces that are legally applicable worldwide and in perpetuity.
Currently, in its pre-seed for minimum viable product, SyncMama is first opening its platform to South Asia. It has plans of adding new territories next year.
Having launched recently, the platform awaits building a solid user base and the valuation of the company is still underway. The revenue model of the platform includes subscriptions for UGC creators, blanket licensing for corporates, and performing royalty income.
SyncMama’s growth plans include the completion of the full automation of the platform such as licensing, cue-sheet generation, tracking, collecting, distribution, and payments.
The 2012 amendment of the Copyrights act has given rise to quite a few platforms and companies In the music industry that deal with music licensing and distribution. SyncMama’s competition on the ‘royalty-free’ side, would be Epidemic and on the incumbents’ side, there are companies like Universal Production Music, BMG Production Music, etc.
