Why Traditional Solutions Can't Work
Collective management organizations were built for a different era. They can't solve this problem because they weren't designed for it.
Built for a Different Era
ASCAP, PRS, SGAE, SACEM—these organizations were designed for radio, venues, and television.
Radio Stations
Broadcast licensing
Concert Venues
Live performance rights
TV Networks
Synchronization deals
Physical Sales
Mechanical royalties
The Speed Gap
Platforms Operate
- Globally across 150+ countries
- Algorithmically in milliseconds
- Instantaneously at scale
- Unified under single systems
Societies Operate
- Nationally with territorial limits
- At the speed of copyright tribunals
- Through legislative cycles
- Fragmented across federations
The Timing Problem
A video goes viral across 150 countries in six hours. An AI model scrapes ten million images overnight. A remix appears on forty platforms simultaneously. By the time a traditional collecting society identifies the usage, files the paperwork, and processes the payment, the cultural moment has passed and the revenue has been captured by someone else.
A Structural Impossibility
Fragmented Nationally
Structured as federations of national societies, each with its own systems, rules, and bureaucracies.
Analog Speed
Processes designed for physical media and broadcast can't handle real-time digital distribution.
Local Focus
Built for territorial rights management in a world where content flows globally in milliseconds.
"The platforms are unified, technological, and global. The societies are fragmented, analog, and local."
What about the platforms themselves?
Discover why platforms won't solve the problem voluntarily.
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