Round Hill Music has acquired Rident Royalties and folded the entity into its Sound Hill neighboring rights division, which counts as clients Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale (pictured). Photo Credit: Round Hill
On the heels of a deal to sell its publicly traded song fund to Concord, the overarching Round Hill Music has announced the acquisition of Rident Royalties.
13-year-old Round Hill emailed Digital Music News today about the purchase of seven-year-old Rident Royalties, which is based in Austin and billed as “the leading” neighboring rights agency for visual-media composers as well as production music. (In brief, neighboring rights royalties refer to international compensation from the use of recordings in public establishments, on terrestrial radio, and more.)
Founded by former SoundExchange higher-up Chris Kennedy, Rident is said to have “direct relationships” in place with 64 collective management organizations (CMOs), among them Portugal’s Audiogest, Serbia’s OFPS, Romania’s Credidam, and Latvia’s LaIPA, to name a few.
Additionally, the entity has attracted over 1,000 clients (with a cumulative catalog of some 4,000,000 recordings) by prioritizing pacts with labels and performers with “income in territories either not covered by their national CMO or on usage types not covered by their national CMO,” according to the involved parties.
Bearing in mind this sizable reach, Sound Hill, Round Hill’s two-year-old neighboring rights operation, will have a client base of approximately 1,200 performers and 120 labels once the transaction formally wraps, execs indicated. Sound Hill’s artist clients currently include Alice Cooper, the Goo Goo Dolls, and David Coverdale.
Addressing the sale, Chris Kennedy – who’s set to serve as co-head of Sound Hill alongside PPL vet and more than two-year Round Hill team member Róisín Brophy – noted the companies’ shared “goal of providing an unparalleled level of representation and personal service to our clients.”
“Together, our experience,” proceeded Kennedy, “global neighbouring rights affiliations and client portfolios will provide mainstream clarity on one of the least understood revenue streams in the music industry, and ultimately ensure that rightsholders are paid quickly and accurately.”
And in comments of his own, Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss said in part: “The combination of Rident and Sound Hill’s advanced repertoire, claims technology and deep expertise creates an unequalled service provider in this area of the market, which has strong growth forecasts underpinned by the music industry’s overall positive outlook. With this new addition to its stable, Round Hill will continue to apply its expertise to managing and maximising the value of our music catalogues.”
Worth highlighting in conclusion is that Sony Music’s much-publicized buyout of AWAL also included Kobalt Neighboring Rights, which the major label went ahead and rebranded as Kollective Neighbouring Rights about one year back. More recently, Sound Credit and the aforementioned PPL kicked off 2023 by inking a partnership deal designed to make it easier for North American performers to collect neighboring rights royalties.