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VNUE, Inc. To Acquire Music Rights Company Soundstr To Ensure Fairer Royalty SystemNEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- VNUE, Inc. (OTC: VNUE), the global leader in recording live events and releasing experiential content to fans, is leading a group that has signed a letter of intent to acquire Soundstr, a technology company that helps businesses pay fairer music license fees based on actual music usage. The acquisition leverages Soundstr's progress in developing music identification technology and hardware that will accelerate VNUE's patent-pending MiC™ (Music Identification Center) system to market considerably. "For years, the performance rights organizations (PROs), have utilized blanket licensing agreements to charge businesses, such as the 62,000+ bars and taverns in the US, large fees for music they are likely never going to play, due mainly because the PROs have no idea what music is actually being played," said VNUE CEO Zach Bair. "Because of this, many rights holders don't see a dime from performances of their work in blanket licensed businesses. Our technology aims to solve this issue and make it fair for everyone." The Cincinnati-based Soundstr was founded by Eron Bucciarelli-Tieger, who previously served as co-founder and drummer for the platinum-selling rock band Hawthorne Heights. Like Bair, Bucciarelli-Tieger became passionate about rights management when he determined that he was not being properly compensated for the use of his music. "The vision for Soundstr is to create transparency on real-world music use, ensure accurate songwriter payments when their works are used and simultaneously help licensees pay fees in accordance with their music use," said Bucciarelli-Tieger. "VNUE is the natural home for Soundstr as the company seeks to carry on with that vision. I look forward to the day when General Performance royalties show up on my Performing Rights statements." Instead of paying those large fees in the current system — sometimes resulting in small stores going out of business or eliminating music altogether — music licensees under the MiC system would only pay for music they actually used, and the appropriate rights holders would then be properly compensated. Additionally, VNUE will leverage the technolog in its business of "instant live" recording to greatly streamline the process of these types of rights clearances. "The current performing rights system discourages venues from having music and does not fairly compensate the musicians even if the venues do pay into the PRO system. With the joining of the MiC system and Soundstr technology, we will better align the fees the venues pay with the music that's actually played there, and by making this fee fair and transparent, increase the number of licensed venues, and ultimately increase royalty payments to the actual rights holders for the songs," Bair added. About VNUE, Inc. (www.vnue.com) About Soundstr (www.soundstr.com) Forward-Looking Statements MEDIA CONTACTS: Press Contact Information
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vnue-inc-to-acquire-music-rights-company-soundstr-to-ensure-fairer-royalty-system-300598161.html SOURCE VNUE, Inc. |