Musical matchmaking on the internet.(Ricall, online music licensing network)(Brief Article)

Ricall acts as matchmaker between record labels and companies needing music

Ricall is an online music licensing network that was established way back in 1998. The system is a business-to-business service that helps commercial users of music, such as production companies and advertising agencies, source music for their films and ads. Ricall functions as a matchmaker between music seekers and the record companies and helps record companies to speed up the music licensing process.

The Ricall system is effectively an intranet, and has attracted more than 500 registered users so far, including some of the major advertising agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, Publicis and M&C Saatchi. TV broadcasters -- for example the BBC, BSkyB and Channel 4 -- have also signed up for the service, as well as a number of production houses.

Most of the artists whose music is available via the system are hit recording artists -- Universal, BMG, EMI, Zomba and Sanctuary are some of the record companies on Ricall's books. The company has been granted a blanket licence by Phonographic Performance Limited and the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society. That might not mean much to you and me, but that's a big deal in the record industry and saves precious time for those trying to licence individual tracks.

Ricall makes its money by taking a cut of the fee paid for each track licensed through the system -- a performance-based model.

It also has a function that helps users to track music they can't place -- for example, they aren't sure of the artist or the name of the song. The site allows users looking for music to ...