(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Talent Clearing House has customized its royalty administration services for companies distributing or directly selling ringtones to the mobile phone market. Ringtone sales generate mechanical royalties that must be paid to the entity or person owning the rights to songs and in some cases to the performers of the song from which the ringtone has been taken. These royalties, combined with the administration of tracking, reporting and initiating payments can limit the profit margin on ringtones, which are gaining increasing popularity in the wireless consumer market.
Ringtones have provided a market for companies focused on the mobile wireless industry as well as an additional distribution channel for record labels and other media and entertainment companies. With the growing popularity of this product category in the consumer market, opportunity is available to a broad range of providers.
By creating a service specifically for this market, Talent Clearing House enables companies to strike quickly at this opportunity by handling all of the required back-office calculation, reporting and payment initiation. "We have the automation, infrastructure and experience to provide an end-to-end solution to meet the obligations of companies providing ringtones," said Paul Barretta, founder and president of Talent Clearing House. "This means such companies can concentrate on the technology and marketing of their ringtones, which is where their strengths are, and their efforts and resources should remain focused."
Talent Clearing House currently handles mechanical and artist royalties of greater complexity for record labels. The infrastructure and systems are in place and were easily customized to meet the needs of ringtone providers, be they record labels or companies operating in the wireless market. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
