ICE, the copyright hub co-founded by collecting societies PRS for Music, Gema and Stim, has announced a new milestone this morning: more than €1bn of digital royalties paid out to societies and publishers. That first billion euros of payouts has come in three and a half years since ICE made its first distribution in March 2016.
“Whilst this milestone represents a landmark for the industry in this digital era, we’re focused on continually improving the services we offer,” said CEO Thorsten Sauer. “We are working to increase transparency and achieve even greater efficiency in getting money paid quickly and accurately to rightsholders.”
The news comes shortly after it was revealed that ICE is facing a battle in the UK’s Copyright Tribunal with social app TikTok. “The TikTok platform is unlicensed and ICE is disappointed an agreement for use of the millions of musical works belonging to the songwriters, composers and publishers we represent has not been reached before this point,” said its spokesperson then. The hub will be hoping for a positive outcome to the dispute, to help speed its next billion euros of payouts.
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