Background

General Incorporated Association Copyright Data Clearinghouse (CDC) is a third-party organization jointly established by Music Content Distributors and Collective Management Organizations to realize the smooth right clearance for contents distribution.

Development and challenge of the content distribution business

The content distribution business, as a new form of music distribution, has rapidly grown along with the spread of mobile devices. Meanwhile, Online Music Providers (OMPs) have been faced with the high cost burden required for making accurate usage reporting of the massive amounts of distributed contents to the respective CMOs. In addition, with the enforcement of the “Law on Management Business of Copyright and Neighboring Rights,” OMPs are obliged to make usage reports in multiple CMOs’ respective forms, and found such clearance and reporting procedures a big business challenge.

Cooperation between OMPs and CMOs

For music content distribution business, the rights clearance of their contents is essential and the key to further development of the business is how to reduce its cost burden. While the content distribution business grows, OMPs and CMOs have shared the recognition that the cooperation between both parties shall be necessary for the reduction of the cost burden for the right clearance and have aimed to establish a solution to realize the clearance of the mass rights data. As a result of the cooperation, General Incorporated Association Copyright Data Clearinghouse (CDC) was established in March 2009.

Background of the establishment of CDC

A solution CDC offers

CDC has issued CDC-IDs to link DSPs’ contents information with CMOs’ rights information and has developed Fluso equipped with the function to produce accurate reports of usage records. Fluzo has realized the optimal rights clearance operation “quickly at low cost” with the use of Fluzo, and has enabled DSPs to greatly reduce burdens in making usage reports to CMOs and CMOs to receive usage reports with high accuracy.

As the digital environment grows, further growth of the content distribution market is expected. CDC will promote the healthy content distribution by offering a solution-providing service regarding rights clearance, and work toward its contribution in assisting the growth of a wealth of digital network content services such as music distribution and audiovisual content distribution.