On Friday, January 27, Donemus will proudly launch a new advanced tool for composers, MyDonemus. As one of its many new features, this portal makes it possible for composers to submit new works. All details of a composition, such as title, subtitle, genre, duration, instrumentation, number of players, are processed directly in the Donemus database. After data input, the contract signing follows, running fully automatically via DocuSign. Once the composer has signed, the production process begins at Donemus through the editorial department. Composers can track production progress and see when their work is completely finished and available for sale, rentals and licensing.
A ‘classical publisher’ like Donemus generates income for composers from various sources, namely from sales, rentals, licenses (to e.g. libraries and conservatories) and major royalties. In addition, Donemus has separate label activities under Donemus Records, from which composers also receive income. Composers can view all this income ‘live’ in MyDonemus. There they can see detailed overviews per work, per type of revenue and per year. There is also an overview of investments / advance payments and royalties paid.
The financial overview includes all transactions from the past 10 years. A composer can then see even what was sold in January 2013 and how much royalties that has generated. Through a monthly export from Exact Online, the composer’s data is kept up to date. If an orchestra has placed an order for a certain title, the earnings are almost immediately visible to the composer. Furthermore, this info is responsive so can be easily accessed from all devices. This form of transparency is unique in this segment of the music industry. The construction of this modern platform was partly made possible by the Investment Fund II of Buma/Stemra.
During the corona crisis, while many artists were unemployed and without direct income, Donemus has boosted its label activities in order to generate revenue for musicians and composers. In the new portal, not only composers but also musicians or programmers can submit suitable audio recordings, for digital release on over 40 platforms such as Spotify, AppleMusic and many more. Again, an automatic contract process follows via DocuSign. When all right holders (such as musicians, conductor and orchestra) have signed for agreement, Donemus Records releases the recording through FUGA. Distribution is made possible for diverse recordings ranging from singles of 3 minutes to full-length productions of several hours. The Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund has contributed 10K to the development of this digital release engine.
MyDonemus is built by sophisticated APIs, exchanging data between MyDonemus, FileMaker, Exact Online and Donemus Webshop. This was made possible by a complex network of systems communicating with one another – yet with an attractive graphical representation, and a friendly user-interface. Donemus is very thankful to Ward van Wanrooij (NextFactory) and Ricardo van de Graaf and Olaf Wempe (RocketClowns) for their collaboration and expertise.
We will present and launch the new portal on our network meeting. You are welcome to join us on January 27 (16-19h) at the Stationskamer at The Hague Central Station.
Composers in the crosshairs of our attention