London’s Soundmouse acquired by Orfium

London-based music cue sheet reporting and audio recognition service Soundmouse has been acquired by Orfium. While the financials behind the deal remain undisclosed, according to Orfium, the acquisition is set to “solve the entertainment industry’s most complex challenges” and “revolutionise digital music and broadcast rights management”.

When it comes to rights management, the associated revenues that come with it, and the associated nightmare that the accurate capture and processing of it can be, I speak from personal experience having done a stint with ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers more than a few moons ago.

Since my time with ASCAP there have been tremendous leaps and bounds forward, particularly in the technical aspects of the process, demonstrated in full by London-based Soundmouse. The 20+ year firm has been instrumental in forming global norms when it comes to cue sheet (the listing of any and all music used in a film or television production) and music reporting around the world. 

On the other side of the table of this acquisition sits Orfium, a firm founded in 2015 and since 2017, led by Rob Wells, former global digital head at Universal Music Group.

Through its technology stack which includes software, data, licensing, and bespoke solutions, according to Orfium, it has helped its partners including Warner Music Group, Sony Music, and a host of others, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue.

And now, that solutions list is augmented even further via the Soundmouse acquisition.

“Bringing Soundmouse into the Orfium family, we are moving to a place where we can serve the entire entertainment ecosystem across mainstream and digital media,” commented Wells. “By connecting creators, rights holders, and music users, we can deliver more value to stakeholders across the board.”

On joining forces with Orfium, Soundmouse co-CEO Charles Hodgkinson added, “Over the past 20 years, Soundmouse has been building and setting the standard in cue sheet management and monitoring for the broadcast and entertainment production space. Combine that with Orfium’s expertise in UGC tracking and claiming for publishers, labels, and production music companies and we bring the worlds of digital and broadcast together in an integrated way. There is a huge amount of synergy between our companies which will allow us to deliver even more benefits to creators, rights holders, broadcasters, and collecting societies with cutting-edge technology and industry expertise.”