CISAC’s Information Services Committee Convenes in Portugal
On 14 April, CISAC’s Information Services Committee (ISC) met in Lisbon, Portugal. On this occasion, the four Experts Groups (MWX, IPX, AVX and BEX) that report to the ISC also met together. The representatives were very committed to making progress on the various working items with an excellent attendance ranging from 50 to 60 people at each of the four meetings.
The main discussion topics included reviewing of the status of various work in progress projects like the ISWC and its relationship with other music identifiers. The ISC is also actively involved in a review of CIS-Net support, in order to provide 24-hour worldwide helpdesk assistance. One other topic the Committee is actively working is the strengthening of the relationship with the Business Technical Committee (BTC) to improve the delivery and adoption of business solutions.
CISAC’s Director of Information Systems, José Macarro debriefed the ISC on the status of the various activities to deliver a legal framework that covers both internal projects and those in close cooperation with other stakeholders. The ISC is also working on some new Service Level Agreements (SLA).
The ISC was also informed on the discussions held at the four previous Experts Groups by their respective chairs. The Musical Works Exports Group (MWX) began with Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Tara Bolger and Cooperative Society of Music Authors and Publishers in Switzerland (SUISA), Brigitte Kueng reporting on new WID developments and CIS-Net databases. For the Audiovisual Works Experts Group (AVX), GEMA’s Jens Kindermann and Tim Carmichael of PRS for Music brought up an in-depth analysis on cue-sheet harmonization. The Interested Party Experts Group (IPX), led by Gudrun Obermeier of GEMA and David Grundy of Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), addressed IPI database data quality assessment and new developments in progress. Led by Frédéric Rampelberg of SACEM and Patrick Williams of PRS for Music, the Business Exchange Experts Group (BEX) reported on discussions covering a new version of CRD as well as the release management process for new formats.
Afterwards the ISC focused on issues related to the ISWC dissemination project. Following an introduction about the current status of dissemination activities, a conversation followed on how to better address the issues for the future of ISWC and related services to societies. Ed Oshanani of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Chair of the ISC, conducted the discussions to assess the future of this initiative.
Concluding the ISC meeting was an open discussion on CIS-Net tools and how their implementation could be better achieved by societies, notably on how to reduce the time to integrate those tools within societies’ business processes.