Background to GRD
In September 2008, then Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes launched a series of Roundtable meetings. The meetings brokered dialogue between industry stakeholders on legal and administrative barriers to the online distribution of music. General agreement was reached on the need for a common framework for consolidating and maintaining accurate data regarding musical works, their ownership and authority to license.
To progress this the GRD Working Group was formed in late 2009 and initially focusing on determining how best a common framework for rights ownership information could be achieved. At that time the members of the GRD WG were EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, iTunes, Amazon, Nokia, PRS for Music, STIM and SACEM.
The conclusion of these discussions was that a central repository of authoritative information is needed, the high-level requirements of which were set out in the Request for Information and Request for Proposals that were issued in 2010. The GRD WG received over 30 responses to the RfI, and then 14 responses to the RfP from organisations from within and outside the music industry. Of these, 7 companies were invited to present to the GRD WG their proposals in more detail. This process concluded with the publication of a Recommendations document, which included the selection of Deloitte as the project manager and ICE as the technology solution.
As a result of the Recommendations in December 2010, the GRD WG launched a Stakeholder Engagement and Scoping Study in September 2011. The Study involved a 20-week industry-wide consultation to determine the technical, data, business process and organisational design aspects of the Global Repertoire Database, as well as the approach to governance and funding. There was be a core group of around 20 representative organisations from around the world including publishers, songwriter associations, collecting societies and digital retailers, with yet further consultation with a wider group of stakeholders. A programme of open webinars took place to help inform a still wider group of stakeholders about the progress and eventual results of the Study.
The Study concluded in March following which work was undertaken across the industry to ensure all parties are comfortable with the way forward, plan the next phase of work and put the necessary structures and resources in place to ensure a successful conclusion of future phases. In October 2012 a new phase of work was launched, the Requirements and Design Phase (R&D Phase). This will continue until May 2013.