IMPEL secures global licensing reach with amra deal for APAC and Brazil

IMPEL, the international collective licensing agency for digital music publishing rights, has signed a licensing and administration agreement with digital music collection society amra, for Asia Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, South East Asian territories and Brazil.

The deal extends IMPEL’s licensing capabilities to cover every continent, offering its members access to the music markets of Asia Pacific (APAC) and Brazil, IMPEL said Monday (August 5).

In June, amra, a subsidiary of Kobalt Music Group, revealed that it has invested more than $50 million in technology since it was launched in June 2015.

The agreement will connect IMPEL members to markets that have experienced double-digit streaming growth over the past year, promising to offer “revenue, efficiency and transparency advantages” through multi-territory online licensing.

The new partnership strengthens IMPEL’s international presence. Building upon its core partnership with SACEM (Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Indian subcontinent), existing relationships with LatinAutor (Latin America) and CMRRA (North America), the amra deal unlocks new revenue streams for IMPEL’s membership.

IMPEL, a member-owned and controlled international collective licensing agency, represents the digital music publishing rights of 57 independent music publishers across 14 territories, including Reservoir Media, Beggars Music, Bucks Music, CTM, Reach Music, NexTone, Kassner Music, TRO Essex, Just Isn’t Music, and Mute Song. Their collective catalog boasts works by some of the biggest artists in music history, from Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Dua Lipa, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Calvin Harris to Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and more.

“This deal with amra marks an incredibly significant threshold for IMPEL in that we can now say our licensing capabilities are truly global,” said IMPEL CEO Sarah Williams.

“Our growth has been phenomenal in just over five years, and now being able to offer our members access to digital licensing in the dynamic markets of APAC and Brazil is really exciting. We are looking forward to working with amra to build on these great opportunities.”

amra CEO Tomas Ericsson added: “We are thrilled to join forces with IMPEL and Sarah Williams’ team. At amra, we have always championed independent music publishers, and we are excited to bring our top-tier services to this vibrant community.”

“At amra, we have always championed independent music publishers, and we are excited to bring our top-tier services to this vibrant community.”

Tomas Ericsson

Added Ericsson: “With our exceptional territorial licensing coverage and cutting-edge technical capabilities, enhanced by major investments in our platform, we are poised to deliver unparalleled ingestion, processing, and matching services to IMPEL’s publishers.”

For amra, the partnership with IMPEL follows its deal with AI-driven music funding platform beatBread, announced in April, to offer the latter’s clients with publishing administration services from Kobalt and amra.

Music Business Worldwide