MIDEM 2008: A new way of doing things

After digital has done making old-style labels look untenable, there's going to be a new project. It's the collection agencies who should start to shuffle uncomfortably in their seats. In an age when it's easier than ever to track sales and plays and who's sold what to whom, is there any point in paying agencies to go round collecting money from broadcasters and shops to pass on, eventually, to artists and labels?

That's the thinking behind RoyaltyShare, a company who are attracting a lot of attention down in the South of France with the simple-but-screamingly-obvious propostion: wouldn't it make more sense, and cost less, for the downloads warehouse services to process the royalties at the same time?

They've already got Beggars onboard. If I worked for MCPS, PRS or PPL, I'd be spending tomorrow thinking about how collection agencies can have a future. This afternoon, though, I'd be tidying my CV.