Music tech firm Orfium acquires Soundmouse to empower rights holders, creators and media companies to unlock more value across the entertainment landscape

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Jan 16, 2023, 07:00 ET

Led by Rob Wells, former global digital head at Universal Music Group, Orfium expands to solve the entertainment industry's most complex challenges with an acquisition poised to revolutionise digital music and broadcast rights management

LONDON, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global music technology platform Orfium has acquired London-based Soundmouse in a deal that brings together the global market leaders in digital music and broadcast rights management and reporting.

Rob Wells, Orfium CEO and former Universal Music Group President of Global Digital, hailed the deal as a landmark move for rights holders and media companies, commenting: "Bringing Soundmouse into the Orfium family, we are moving to a place where we can serve the entire entertainment ecosystem across mainstream and digital media. By connecting creators, rights holders, and music users, we can deliver more value to stakeholders across the board."

Orfium's technology has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for its partners, which includes top global record labels and music publishers. At a time when it has never been harder for creators, rights holders and media companies to track and monetise usage with the proliferation of new channels, platforms and the growth of the Metaverse and Web3, Orfium continues to build and deliver the technology needed to support the entertainment industry of today and the future.

Wells continued: "Making music easier to find, use, track and monetise across all channels is one of the core problems we're helping to solve for the industry. Our software, built on advances in machine learning and AI, empowers rights owners, creators and key stakeholders to realise more value as new platforms for media consumption emerge and scale. There is no other company in this space building and investing in technology like Orfium. Acquiring Soundmouse enables us to scale our product offering and expand deeper into the complex infrastructure of the entertainment industry, streamlining content creation and management for programme makers, broadcasters and music rights holders."

Orfium was founded in 2015 in Los Angeles by Drew Delis and Chris Mohoney, with the goal of bringing cutting edge technology to the music rights management space. Rob Wells joined the business in 2017, helping transform the company into a trusted partner for record labels, music publishers, production music companies, and collecting societies.

Soundmouse has set the global standard for cue sheet and music reporting around the world, connecting all stakeholders in the reporting process including broadcasters, producers, collecting societies, distributors, programme makers and music creators themselves. It works for major broadcasters, media companies and streaming platforms.

Soundmouse Co-CEO, Charles Hodgkinson, added: "Over the past 20 years, Soundmouse has been building and setting the standard in cue sheet management and monitoring for the broadcast and entertainment production space. Combine that with Orfium's expertise in UGC tracking and claiming for publishers, labels and production music companies and we bring the worlds of digital and broadcast together in an integrated way. There is a huge amount of synergy between our companies which will allow us to deliver even more benefits to creators, rights holders, broadcasters and collecting societies with cutting edge technology and industry expertise."

About Orfium

Orfium is a global technology leader providing software, data, and licensing solutions to the entertainment industry with offices in Malibu, Athens, London and Tokyo. Led by CEO, Rob Wells and co-founders Drew Delis and Chris Mohoney, their mission has always been to enhance the commercial value of the industry for all stakeholders. With a global team of 300+ Orfium provides unrivalled solutions to the entertainment industry's most complex problems around music, content, and rights management. Orfium's clients include the world's leading record labels, music publishers, production music companies and DSPs.

About Soundmouse

Soundmouse is an independent media technology company that specialises in music cue sheet reporting and audio recognition services. Founded by Kirk Zavieh and Charles Hodgkinson in 2000, Soundmouse connects all stakeholders in the reporting process: broadcasters, programme makers, collecting societies, distributors, labels, publishers and music creators. Soundmouse has a team of almost 400 with offices in London, Bulgaria, Seoul, Sri Lanka, Taipei and Tokyo. They have a global client base and manage music cue sheets and metadata for many of the world's leading networks, channels and streaming platforms.

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SOURCE Orfium; Soundmouse