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Armonia appoints first CEO

By | Published on Tuesday 7 June 2016

Virginie Berger

What with its latest expansion last week, thanks to French collecting society SACEM doing a new deal with Canadian counterpart SOCAN, the Armonia alliance of European song right collecting societies has now appointed its first CEO. Virginie Berger, founder of French tech and media consultancy DBTH, will take up the role on 1 Jul.

As previously reported, Armonia brings together SACEM in France, SACEM Luxembourg, SGAE in Spain, SIAE in Italy, SPA in Portugal, SABAM in Belgium, Artisjus in Hungary, SUISA in Switzerland and AKM in Austria to collectively manage the licensing of multi-territory digital services, and the processing of streaming data and royalties.

“Armonia has already been successful in agreeing multi-territory licences with digital service providers and it has created a market-leading technology platform for music processing”, says Berger. “This strong foundation is attracting new national collecting societies and mandates from across the globe, making Armonia even more attractive as a single point of contact for digital service providers”.

She continues: “I look forward to building on this virtuous circle of success so that we enable niche musical cultures to thrive in the global marketplace. Part of my mission will be to build support for innovative digital music businesses by providing a roadmap to licensing, so that it is easier and faster for them to provide a large and diverse repertoire to consumers, while ensuring a fair deal for everyone involved through simplicity and efficiency”.

SACEM CEO Jean-Noël Tronc adds: “Virginie’s experience of working for innovative digital businesses will provide her with the insight and experience to help drive Armonia forward by further building its membership and speeding up multi-territory negotiations with digital service providers”.

Founded in 2012, Armonia currently has seven multi-territory licences with digital platforms in place, with five more currently in negotiation.



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