NEW YORK, May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- VNUE, Inc. (OTCQB: VNUE) announced today that it has signed its first radio monitoring agreement utilizing its patent-pending Soundstr technology, with Radio Operations International (ROI). The deal will utilize the tech to provide accurate music play reporting to reduce licensing costs to radio stations, and also to increase transparency to all stakeholders.
VNUE's Soundstr is an innovative hardware and cloud computing solution that will not only help bars, restaurants and venues to reduce licensing costs, but also radio stations, many of whom pay far more than their fair share for blanket music licenses.
"In many cases, radio stations are vastly overcharged for their license agreements by performing rights organizations (PROs)," said Zach Bair, CEO of VNUE. "By leveraging Soundstr, our goal is to ensure that there is a transparent method for tracking every single song play, and relating that back to each PRO for the appropriate representation and accounting. At the end of the day, this means that everyone is paying their fair share and no more, and most importantly, artists are being properly compensated."
The deal with ROI targets to have at least several Soundstr Pulse™ units deployed by July and up to 100 by the end of the summer. There is an initial charge for the Soundstr proprietary hardware, and a monthly recurring charge for monitoring and reports provided to each station, which they then correlate back to their billing in order to facilitate better licensing.
Bair continued, "We envision creating a substantial recurring revenue model that will build over time as we penetrate the market."
Chip Morgan, CEO of ROI, said "Radio stations have been promoting music for almost 100 years and have paid blanket fees to PROs in expectation that the fees would be equitably distributed to artists. With this new technology, radio stations can track both live and recorded song data automatically and use the data in negotiations with the performing rights organizations and artists they play."
There are about 15,000 radio stations in the US market. Estimates put the potential market size for VNUE monthly fees to about $54M in the US, and about half a billion worldwide, which is a fraction of what stations pay for blanket licenses. This figure does not include other general licensing (bars, restaurants, etc.), which account for as much as $3B or more in royalties collected by the PROs.
For more information about the Soundstr technology, visit www.soundstr.com.
About VNUE, Inc. (www.vnue.com)
VNUE, Inc., (OTC: VNUE) is dedicated to further monetizing the live music experience for artists, labels, writers, and publishers, with products such as its set.fm platform, exclusive license partner and "instant live" pioneer DiscLive, and Soundstr, which helps businesses pay fairer music license fees based on actual music usage. The veteran entrepreneurs, artists and songwriters behind VNUE are passionate about the future of their industry and ensuring that rights holders' value is not lost amid always-changing technology. VNUE's team has produced live content and created experiential products for over 15 years for artists and companies including Father John Misty, The Pixies, Blondie, EMI, Capitol Records, and more.
SOURCE VNUE, Inc.