Word Collections is a first of its kind Performing Rights Collection Agency founded by TuneCore and Audiam founder Jeff Price along with eMusic and Royalty Share founder and copyright attorney Bob Kohn.
It currently represents over 1,300 literary works including works by George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Roy Wood Jr., Jake Johannsen, Milton Berle, Bob Zany, Bill Dana (Jose Jimenez), Rich Vos, John Valby, Steve Sweeney and many others. Word Collections is the ASCAP and BMI for spoken word instead of music. It licenses the legally required Literary Work rights in spoken word comedy for broadcast radio (both digital and terrestrial), collects the royalties and gets the money into the pockets of the comedian and other spoken word performers. Word Collections is the other side of the coin to SoundExchange royalties.
"There has never been more money generated from the use of comedy, music and film, with less of it going back to the work's creator, than in our current digital age," says Price. "First came the long continuing battle to ensure music creators are being properly licensed and paid a commiserate royalty. Comedians are the new music for tech companies. Tech has allowed comedy to be everywhere, but the necessary pipelines and infrastructure to ensure licensing and payment have not been built. Word Collections fixes that problem."
Price, who irrevocably upended the global music industry, getting over $1.5 billion into the pockets of artists, songwriters and publishers when he founded TuneCore in 2006 and Audiam in 2013, will serve as CEO. Also joining the board is copyright attorney Bob Kohn, author of industry and academia bible "Kohn on Music Licensing," founder of the first on-line digital music service EMusic as well as RoyaltyShare, developer of web-based systems facilitating the accurate accounting of digital revenue to authors, recording artists, songwriters, music publishers, book publishers, and other creators. Also joining the board is Norm Laviolette, the Co-Founder and CEO of renowned Boston and New York comedy institutions Improv Asylum and Laugh Boston. With over 25 years in the comedy business, Laviolette has overseen the development of several multi-million-dollar comedy ventures. Snr. Director Operations Eric Goldberg is a Massachusetts civil trial attorney with over 25 years of experience.
Each time a comedy routine is broadcast/played on digital radio like Pandora, SiriusXM, I Heart Radio, etc., the station is required to get two licenses and pay two separate royalties, one for the public performance of the sound recording and one for the public performance of the Literary Work. Word Collections is the ASCAP and BMI for spoken word instead of music. It works for the world's comedians and other spoken word performers to license and collect royalties earned when digital radio or AM/FM radio broadcast recordings of their "Literary Works".
Word Collections can also work to find videos on YouTube and other sites like it using Literary Works without a license, get the videos monetized and get the revenue back into the comedian's pocket.
Word Collections recovers all eligible past royalties and also ensures royalties are paid for current and future broadcast/plays.
Word Collections website:
https://www.wordcollections.com/.
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