Word Collections is the first performing rights collection agency founded by TuneCore and Audiam founder Jeff Price, as well as eMusic and Royalty Share founder and copyright attorney Bob Kohn.
It currently represents over 1,300 literary works, including works by George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Roy Wood Jr., Jake Johannsen, Milton Berle, Bob Zany, Bill Dana (Jose Jimenez), Rich Vos, John Valby, Steve Sweeney and many others. Word Collections is ASCAP and BMI for speech instead of music. It licenses the legally required literary work rights in spoken word comedy for radio broadcast (both digital and terrestrial), collects the royalties and puts the money in the pockets of the comedian and other artists of spoken word. Word Collections is the flip side of SoundExchange royalties.
“Never has there been so much money generated from the use of comedy, music and film, with less money going to the creator of the work, than in our current digital age,” says Price. “First came the long, ongoing battle to ensure that music creators are properly licensed and paid a commiseration royalty. Comedians are the new music for tech companies. Technology has enabled comedy to be everywhere , but the pipelines and infrastructure needed to secure licensing and payment have not been created. Word Collections solves this problem.”Price, who irrevocably disrupted the global music industry, putting more than $1.5 billion in the pockets of artists, songwriters and publishers when he founded TuneCore in 2006 and Audiam in 2013, will hold the post. of CEO. Bob Kohn, author of the industry and academia bible “Kohn on Music Licensing”, founder of the first online digital music service EMusic, and RoyaltyShare, developer of web-based systems that facilitate accurate digital revenue recognition for authors , recording artists, songwriters, music publishers, book publishers and other creators. Norm Laviolette, co-founder and CEO of famed Boston and New York comedy institutions Improv Asylum and Laugh Boston, also joins the board. With over 25 years in the comedy business, Laviolette has overseen the development of several multi-million dollar comedy businesses. Sr. Director of Operations Eric Goldberg is a Massachusetts civil attorney with over 25 years of experience. Each time a comedy routine is aired/played on digital radio like Pandora, SiriusXM, I Heart Radio, etc., the station must obtain two licenses and pay two separate royalties, one for the public performance of the recording sound and one for the public performance of the Literary Work. Word Collections is ASCAP and BMI for speech instead of music. It works for comedians worldwide and other spoken word performers to license and collect royalties earned when digital radio or AM/FM radio plays recordings of their “literary works”.Word collections can also work to find videos on YouTube and other similar sites using unlicensed Literary Works, monetize the videos, and get the revenue back into the comedian’s pocket.Word Collections collects all eligible past royalties and also ensures royalties are paid for current and future broadcasts/plays. Word Collections website: https://www.wordcollections.com/.
