Downtown Neighbouring Rights (DNR), the Downtown Music Holdings-owned business dedicated to performance royalties, has signed former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham to a four year deal. DNR will represent his entire catalog, which includes his work as a writer and performer on one of the top selling albums of all time, Rumours, among other notable Fleetwood Mac and solo works. In addition to Buckingham, Downtown Neighbouring Rights also represents Justin Bieber, Tori Amos, Slowthai, Better Noise Music, and the Estate of Ella Fitzgerald, among others.
Said Lindsey Buckingham: “Neighbouring rights are an important and expanding source of revenue for artists with U.S. citizenship and I appreciate having a trusted partner in Downtown Neighbouring Rights to support the collection of that income.”
News of the signing follows the completed consolidation by parent company Downtown Music Holdings to bring all of its neighbouring rights capabilities under the Downtown brand. The division combines the pre-existing Downtown Neighbouring Rights service with the neighbouring rights division of FUGA, the world’s largest full-service B2B distributor which Downtown acquired in 2020.
Headed up by General Manager Dean Francis, Downtown Neighbouring Rights offers a bespoke, client relationship-focussed neighbouring rights collection service. The more streamlined offering leverages FUGA’s proprietary technology to automate aspects of the royalty collection process, alleviating the administrative burden of dealing with a multitude of collecting societies, each with society-specific delivery requirements. Additionally, the company is developing a centralised portal for neighbouring rights data, sharing resources and key release information to grant full transparency for clients and their teams, from labels and managers to accountants and lawyers.
Said Dean Francis: “Lindsey has written some of the most celebrated music in the world and we’re extremely excited to be partnering with him at this key moment for Downtown Neighbouring Rights. The integration of Downtown and FUGA’s operations means we can offer all of our clients the best possible service, combining world-leading tech and deep sector knowledge.
Francis continued: “With the recent opening of new neighbouring rights territories for US artists and the heightened need for accurate royalty collection following the pandemic, we look forward to continuing to explore a wealth of new opportunities with international performers and labels.”
To further this vision, Diane van Beekum, one of the sector’s foremost specialists, stepped into the role of Senior Manager of Neighbouring Rights in October 2020. The former Director of Client Relations at Fintage House brings a wealth of experience to the venture, working under the leadership of General Manager Dean Francis, who now reports directly to FUGA CEO Pieter van Rijn.
About Downtown Neighbouring Rights
Owned by Downtown Music Holdings, Downtown Neighbouring Rights provides neighbouring rights collection and analytics to empower rights holders to take full advantage of the new digital ecosystem. It combines the operations and expertise of both Downtown and FUGA, and uses FUGA’s end-to-end technology to strip away the administrative burden of the royalty collection process. This allows it to offer a bespoke, client-centric service.
Downtown Neighbouring Rights helps rights holders navigate the complexities of performance royalties rights management and has direct affiliations with more than 50 collection societies and performance rights organizations around the world. This helps it to maximize income for both artists and record labels. Clients include Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Justin Bieber, Kimbra, Koffee, Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe, OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder, Tori Amos, Young T & Bugsey, Better Noise Music, and Mountain Apple among others.
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