Labels, publishers and distributors will now be able to outsource some or all of their royalty processing tasks as Downtown Music‘s newly established Royalties & Financial Services division announced the launch of Curve Royalty Services on Thursday (June 27).
The move follows Downtown’s acquisition of royalty processing platform Curve Royalty Systems in January 2023 and the launch of Downtown’s division, Downtown Royalties & Financial Services, last month. Downtown Royalties is led by Tom Allen, founder of Curve.
The division focuses on three core areas: royalty processing powered by Curve, royalty accounting services, and payments.
Curve Royalty Services expands the existing offerings for Curve’s global clientele. Clients can use the company’s expertise for accurate reporting to artists and songwriters, Downtown said in a statement issued on Thursday (June 27).
The Curve platform, used by over 1,500 clients including Domino, Epitaph, Mad Decent, Armada, Cloud9, Demon Music and Big Machine, has been providing transparent reporting and payments since its launch in 2017. Curve processed an average of 1.7 billion royalty lines per month in 2024, and over 10 billion royalty lines in the first three months of the year.
“This is a logical next step for Curve, utilizing our team’s knowledge of royalties, catalog administration, and the Curve platform itself to help our clients.”
Richard Leach, Curve Royalty Systems
The service is designed to be flexible, allowing clients to choose the level of outsourcing that they need. The platform will assist clients who either require assistance with onboarding onto the Curve platform, specific royalty processes, or full royalty accounting responsibilities. The service has already begun its initial rollout.
“We are proud to announce this expansion to Curve’s offering, providing our clients with top-tier royalty services. This is a logical next step for Curve, utilizing our team’s knowledge of royalties, catalog administration, and the Curve platform itself to help our clients,” said Richard Leach, Managing Director at Curve Royalty Systems.
“It has always been our goal to make royalties better and easier: now our royalty services team can take on those parts of the process clients would like to outsource, using the powerful Curve software for the accounting process.”
“Royalty accounting is a special kind of accounting that takes precision and understanding of the nuances of publishing and label agreements.”
Danielle Mignogna, 411 Music Group
Danielle Mignogna, Chief Partnerships Officer for 411 Music Group, added: “Transferring to a new royalty accounting program is not for the faint of heart and Curve has made the transition as easy as possible. Royalty accounting is a special kind of accounting that takes precision and understanding of the nuances of publishing and label agreements.”
“Curve Royalty Services has made the matching of works and processing of statements easy, painless, and accurate and I can confidently say that the services offered by Curve are top-tier.”
Downtown Music has undergone a transformation in recent years, transitioning from owning copyrights to becoming a service provider for copyright holders. Earlier this month, Downtown partnered with SymphonyOS to offer AI-powered marketing tools at a discount to streamline artist marketing efforts. In September 2022, Downtown established a division to manage its global services for artists and songwriters.
Downtown’s services-focused M&A spree over the last five years included the acquisition of AVL Digital Group, including its portfolio of services for independent artists like distribution platform CD Baby, in a USD $200 million deal in 2019.
This was followed by the acquisitions of FUGA, a B2B tech and services company, in 2020, and Curve in 2023.
Music Business Worldwide