Interview with Simone Prandin, CEO of SoundRights.net
April 5, 2022
Interview with Simone Prandin, CEO of SoundRights.net, the first italian startup entirely dedicated to the world of music and sound design for matching and synchronization.
The music industry, especially after the advent of streaming, has changed drastically. Nowadays, in fact, anyone can make music. This, on the one hand, can definitely be an advantage since it allows everyone to make great work even without particularly expensive equipment but, on the other hand it is a real challenge precisely because anyone can publish, in a very simple way, their own works. To give prominence or even just to monetize their sound productions today there are several alternatives: one of them is to grant the use of their works to users of sound content, today called “Creatives”, such as directors, videomakers, videogames producers, Youtubers, theatrical performers, etc.
SoundRights.net is the ally that supports the music and sound’s producer in this activity, giving him maximum autonomy in the management of their libraries and providing him free of charge a dashboard that analyzes the geolocation and monetization of each track.
What is SoundRights and how it works
SoundRights.net is an e-commerce platform dedicated to the world of music from synchronization and matching. Within this platform there is a network of sound and music producers, publishers and independent selected artists that provides their works cataloged by genre and mood. The user will then have the opportunity to download the best track for him through an entire interactive audio library, always updated and selected by genre and mood, with the ability to purchase the best license for his projects.
Artists who want to join this fantastic platform can create the Creator account for free. By creating this type of account, they will have the possibility to load the songs, instrumentals, beats, audio effects, loop and samples and wait for the SoundRights.net selection and check of the tracks.
Once approval is received, the Creator track will be inserted in the digital store and can then be listened to and purchased by customers. The platform will pay its Creators every 3 months, upon reaching the minimum threshold of 50 €. This allows a capillary selection of everything that is offered in this valuable sound library.
If you want to know more, by continuing to read this article, you will find the interview with Simone Prandin, CEO of SoundRights.net
Hi Simone, it’s a pleasure to meet you and thank you for your time. Tell us more about SoundRights.net
How and when was the idea born?
Hello, thank you for this opportunity to introduce this new all Italian tool. I have been making music since I was 14 years old (30 years ago…wow), first as a musician then also developing the hobby of production. Over time this hobby became more and more serious, I began to buy more important machinery until I started studying and obtained the qualification of sound engineer that allowed me to open my personal recording studio. From there I started to develop knowledge of the productive environment, the average market offer, the network of collaborators, etc. But my primary job has always been as a business consultant, the one that after the crisis in the industry that began in 2001 allowed me to continue buying machinery. This aspect has allowed me also to acquire knowledge of the world of copyright deeper and deeper. These bureaucratic skills, combined with the technical knowledge of sound production, have greatly benefited the birth of SoundRights.net when the EU issued the New European Directive on Copyright that highlighted the lack, especially in Italy, of a link in the chain necessary to unite the world of sound production with that of use in a horizontal sense of the market, such as that of the marketplace.
How did you launch SoundRights.net? Did you use crowdfunding campaigns?
No, unfortunately this market is still too young to be considered attractive by investors of a certain type, the European Directive was issued in February 2019, but the countries have only transposed it in 2021. Fortunately, the Chamber of Commerce, through the spin off of Bergamo Sviluppo, is very attentive to innovative start-ups, and thanks to the validity of the project we were able to win a grant for 75% of the costs for the beta version of the project. The rest was all personal investment.
If an application is rejected, does the user have the opportunity to reapply?
Absolutely yes, after 14 days the system gives the opportunity to reapply with new tracks.
What are the agreements between SoundRights.net and a Creator user?
Easy to keep in mind:
- the service has no cost
- If the creator grants us exclusive rights to a particular work, its collection percentage will be 60%, if he does not grant us exclusive, his collection percentage will be 40% (the choice of exclusivity can be chosen by the Creator track by track)
- if the creator track is the “top seller” of the month in its category, the next month’s sales of that same track will be paid 70%
- there are no registration fees, management, maintenance, account closure
SoundRights.net was created to help those who make music at the worst time perhaps never seen before by professionals in this sector, giving a very useful tool and speeding up the sound placement process
Any plans for the future?
Many! I would like to make SoundRights.net a community of producers more and more alive and creative giving our Creators the opportunity to collaborate with each other… and then there’s the metaverse integration, the ability to accept cryptocurrencies, the SoundRights.net token… so much planned, we hope to succeed in this lifetime 🙂
Funny fact: some curiosity about the final choice of the name?
The first idea (that just thinking back I laugh) was Slice Sound with the logo that resembled a slice of pizza coming off the plate, this to give the user the idea that he was acquiring a fraction of the track, not the property and then also to try to communicate the Italian nature of the project… but then we immediately realized that it would be very misleading, considering that Italy, as well as the country of composers, is also the paradise of the best chefs.
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