Google lands deal with Armonia for music-licensing

Google just closed a deal with the Armonia societies (SACEM, SGAE and SIAE) which will grant access to their repertoires, which include more than 5.5 million works. This means the Mountain View giant will make available to its users, via its various services (Google Music Play and Locker, VOD and more) the licensing to a huge amount of material.

Armonia was born to facilitate the pan-European licensing by offering a single point of entry for the use of repertoires of the artists represented by SACEM, SGAE and SIAE; the deal with Google will definitely give proper visibility and accessibility to this important hub. Users will be offered the facility to obtain more easily multi-territory licences to use an essential repertoire. This one-stop shop addresses online exploitation and/or mobile uses over a territory of 31 countries.

Sami Valkonen, head of music licensing at Google, commented: " We're thrilled to have reached an agreement with the Armonia societies. Licenses such as this are important in ensuring that artists and rights-holders are rewarded fairly for their creative endeavours, and digital service providers are able to bring innovative services to market for the benefit of European consumers. Armonia is a welcome development in the on-going reform of pan-territorial licensing in Europe in helping simplify and speed-up the music-licensing process, which is crucial in fostering ongoing rapid innovation by digital music service providers".