TONO has chosen Spanish Point Technologies as the supplier of new business-critical data systems. “This agreement means that TONO will be able to establish better systems for collective rights management (CRM) to meet the current and future expectations of members, customers and international partners,” says TONO’s CEO, Karl Vestli.
/ 14/11/2022 / Willy Martinsen
The Irish technology company Spanish Point Technologies is TONO’s new supplier of key IT systems. The company, which currently has TONO’s umbrella organisation CISAC among its customers, will supply the technological framework for TONO’s whole operation.
“Spanish Point Technologies is a well-respected supplier of professional systems for music rights management organisations. After a long and thorough process, in which eight different suppliers were weighed against each other, we are now fully confident that Spanish Point’s systems will help TONO maintain its position as one of the leading CRM societies. We will switch to solutions from Spanish Point for all our core functions, which encompass licensing, reporting and payment of performing rights fees to composers, lyricists and music publishers,” says Vestli.
Initially the agreement will cover back-office functionality, but also includes options to create new, or further develop existing, CRM systems, as well as portals for members and customers.
Collective rights management societies receive vast quantities of reports from broadcasters, concert organisers, etc, detailing the musical works that have been performed. The information in these reports must be linked correctly to the societies’ databases of musical works. Spanish Point’s ‘matching engine’ solution includes a wide array of functions for automating and improving data quality, which in turn provides cost savings for the CRM societies which use it.
“Our ‘matching engine’ solution can help organisations like TONO to automate work processes and handle a growing volume of data. We are looking forward to working with TONO and to continuing to offer CRM organisations innovative software solutions,” says Spanish Point Technologies’ Chief Technology Officer, John Corley.
The ‘matching engine’ solution is built on Microsoft Azure technology, using modern cloud-based architecture. The solution has helped a number of CRM societies to resolve data challenges and incorrect metadata, and ensure that the right amount of money is transferred to the correct rights holder in a transparent manner.
“When TONO starts using the solution, our members will experience the services provided through the My TONO membership portal will be improved as a result of automated work processes, faster response times and better data quality, to mention just a few. Customers will also receive services that meet their needs in a user-friendly and effective manner. We look forward to launching new solutions and functionality in the course of 2023,” says Vestli.
The alliance with Spanish Point will result in a number of projects that will be included in a larger project portfolio for TONO, with effect from 2023. This the first of several major investments in ICT and digitalisation that will be implemented in the years ahead.
“We must meet the expectations of our members, customers and partners in other countries, and must therefore have the systems needed to do so. The investment in the solutions from Spanish Point will be crucial in this context,” says Vestli.
Spanish Point currently supplies systems to the international umbrella organisation for CRM societies, CISAC, as well as companies in Spain and South Africa. TONO’s Irish sister company, IMRO, has used Spanish Point’s solutions for 16 years.
TONO was established in 1928 and is a non-profit, collective management organisation (CMO), owned and governed by creators (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, on whose behalf TONO manages financial copyrights to their music. TONO licenses the public performance of copyrighted music on radio, TV, internet, concerts, and the cinema, etc. for a fee. Each year, it transfers its financial profit from music that has been played in public to the music rights holders. TONO has more than 38,000 members in Norway, but it also represents millions of creators and music publishers around the world. TONO provides music creators with a financial foundation that enables them to create new music, and simplifies the process of licencing copyright-protected music for music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 843.9 million in 2021. Visit www.tono.no for further details.
Spanish Point Technologies is a software company that has worked with CRM organisations since 2007. The company has built a matching application on the Microsoft Azure platform that resolves the problems facing CRM organisations. The high-performance engine helps organisations to resolve metadata errors and ensure that music royalties can be traced accurately and transparently. The company was named ‘Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Partner of the Year 2022’ at the Microsoft Inspire Partner Awards, for their innovative Matching Engine application. The company is Irish and was established in 2005. For more information about Spanish Point, please visit their website at https://www.spanishpoint.ie/.
Willy Martinsen, Director of Communications at TONO, mob: +47 909 65 254; email: willy.martinsen (a) tono.no