Case study information Flashcards
Learning the case study itself
You are ____ ___, a final-year trainee ICAEW chartered accountant, based in the ____ ____ at ____, ___ and ______
You are Les Alton, a final-year trainee ICAEW chartered accountant, based in the business advisory at King, Loach and Meredith
What is the name of the client? What do they do?
Jubal Limited, a music publishing company based in London
Who do you report to?
Rashid Mendis a partner in the business advisory unit
What is a music publishers’ main role?
To protect and license songwriters’ and composers’ rights to their songs and other musical compositions
How does Jubal make money primarily?
They take a writer’s songs, market them for distribution, thereby earning revenue, of which they earn a portion (known as royalties)
What activities help maximise royalties? (4)
Licensing, promotion, A&R (artist and repertoire, i.e., advising artists on routes to commercial success and connecting the with song producers), and dealing (buying and selling rights to song collections (catalogues))
The work that Jubal does is purely to the ____ of the songs, and not the rights of ____ and ___ ____
The work that Jubal does is purely to the writers of the songs, and not the rights of singers and other artists
Music rights are forms of IP. What are the two types?
1) Publishing rights: derived from composing the song and belong to its writer(s)
2) Master rights: derived from recording the song and belong to the owner of the original sound recording (which does not for part of Jubal’s work. Only publishing rights are concerned)
Publishing rights are split into two equal 50% shares. Which are these?
Writer’s share and publisher’s share
Why would an artist allow for a publisher to take 50% of publishing rights?
As they may not have the time, resources or skills to do their own administration (collecting and maximising royalties, admin such as tracking usage, negotiating contracts and enabling writers to be remunerated accurately and on time)
Give and define the most common publishing contract
Co-publishing contract: in addition to receiving all the writer’s share, the writer receives a portion of the publisher’s share (performance, mechanical, digital and synchronisation), whilst Jubal will retain the rest
How long are typical publishing contracts?
One year
What happens to the rights of all songs that the song writer wrote if they do not renew their publishing contract with Jubal?
These remain the property of Jubal
What are the four royalty types? Define each
1) Performance (live performances)
2) Mechanical (licenses for physical products, e.g. CDs)
3) Digital (streaming and downloading)
4) Synchronisation (use under license in media)
Venues that play music must have a ___ ______ ____, which creates _____ _______. These royalties are typically collected by ___ _______ _______ (PROs) and other _____ ________
Venues that play music must have a public performance license, which creates performance royalties. These royalties are typically collected by performing rights organisations (PROs) and other collection societies
What is the name of the overarching UK collection society for PROs? What are its two entities?
What do each of these entities do?
PRS for Music: PRS (Performing Right Society) and MCPS (Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society)
PRS: grants licenses for music use, collects performance royalties, distributes royalties when songs are played
MCPS: collects and distributes mechanical royalties when songs are sold in physical form (e.g., CDs)
How often does PRS and MCPS distributes royalties?
What do these distributions show?
PRS: every 3 months
MCPS: every month
Distributions come with a detailed statement showing which songs have been used, how and when
Spotify, for example, pays _____ royalties to Jubal via ______ societies, which are calculated as a share of Spotify’s own revenue by taking total streams in a month and determining the proportion that relates to Jubal’s songs.
Spotify, for example, pays digital royalties to Jubal via collection societies, which are calculated as a share of Spotify’s own revenue by taking total streams in a month and determining the proportion that relates to Jubal’s songs.
How much can songs generate from streams each year for Jubal?
£100k
What is the three-stage process for earning synchronisation royalties?
1) Licensing: company identifies songs and seeks permission from Jubal to use it, triggering negotiations for use.
2) Agreement and fees: a formal licensing agreement is signed, outlining rights granted to the company and fees payable to Jubal, along with frequency of royalty payments.
3) Reporting: to ensure accurate royalty payments, the company provides detailed reports on a song’s usage
Who collects royalties generated in other countries around the world?
Sub-publishers: they receive a share of royalties collected in their territories by the relevant local collection society
Define advances
An upfront payment against future earnings from use of the writer’s songs not yet released. The advance is recouped from the catalogue’s future revenue.
A writer is usually tied to a contract until the advance is recouped
Why are advances risky for cashflow purposes? What is Jubal’s historic stance on these?
If the songs are not used, no earnings are generated, and the writer does not have to repay the advance.
Jubal has intended to err on the side of caution and have rarely had to write off significant portions of advances
The worldwide music publishing industry has been dominated by which big three firms?
What does their vast presence in global entertainment allow them to achieve?
Universal, Sony and Warner
They can achieve significant economies of scope and scale, in particular by offering both publishing and record label services
What percentage is the UK music publishing revenue anticipated to grow by in 2024?
What is a large contributor to this growth?
3% (despite a weak economy and lower disposable incomes)
The popularity of streaming
In the year to 30 June 2023, in respect of ‘YeYeYe’, Jubal earned £87,000 of royalties revenue, with £_________ of royalty costs (amounts payable to Chester Rice, included in cost of sales”
£31,000
Define assigning
Transferring the ownership of rights
Define recoupment
Recovery of an advance through the receipt of royalty payments
Jubal is a _____-sized UK publisher co-owning the rights to and administering thousands of songs.
Jubal is a medium-sized UK publisher co-owning the rights to and administering thousands of songs.
All of Jubal’s contracts with its writers are co-publishing contracts: Jubal receives the publisher’s __% share of royalties and passes on a portion of these to the writer. The portion passed on is set out in each contract. It varies between writers and may be different for each royalty type; it currently averages around __%.
All of Jubal’s contracts with its writers are co-publishing contracts: Jubal receives the publisher’s 50% share of royalties and passes on a portion of these to the writer. The portion passed on is set out in each contract. It varies between writers and may be different for each royalty type; it currently averages around 40%.
Jubal is known for the quality of its song portfolio and its effective management of that portfolio, which covers a range of genres, including…?
Jubal is known for the quality of its song portfolio and its effective management of that portfolio, which covers a range of genres, including classical, rock, pop, jazz, country, rap and reggae
When was Jubal founded? Who by?
2001, by Vanessa Rowe
Rohan Gill is Creative Director. What are his responsibilities?
Signing and developing writers; negotiating contracts, managing song catalogues; working closely with writers to develop and promote their work
Tom Smith is Finance & Operations Director. What are his responsibilities?
Financial planning, budgeting, accounting and financial reporting; overseeing operations, including premises
Franco Armando is Publishing & Royalties Director. What are his responsibilities?
Administering copyrights and licence deals; calculating, collecting and distributing royalties; tracking song usage
Zara Tremain-Duncan is Marketing Director. What are her responsibilities?
Promoting the music by developing marketing strategies, co-ordinating promotional campaigns, managing public relations (PR) and engaging with audiences through a variety of channels; new business development
Andrea Xenophis is Legal & Compliance Director. What are her responsibilities?
Handling all legal matters, especially advising on IP and contract matters
Jubal earned nearly £__ million of global revenue for the year ended 30 June 2023, derived from four sources. These represent its share of royalties before distribution to writers.
Jubal earned nearly £55 million of global revenue for the year ended 30 June 2023, derived from four sources. These represent its share of royalties before distribution to writers.
Of the £55m earnt by Jubal in FY2023, what percentage did Digital, Performance, Synchronisation and Mechanical each make up?
Digital: 53.9%
Performance: 25.2%
Synchronisation: 16.1%
Mechanical 4.8%
What is the largest item of expenditure incurred by Jubal (at almost 50% of total expenses)?
What are the next three biggest items of expenditure incurred by Jubal (at around 40% of total total expense)?
Royalty costs
A&R, then Amortisation, impairment & depreciation, and personnel
What are the three key drivers of Jubal’s success?
Our skill in acquiring, commissioning, managing and marketing commercially popular songs. We do this by having a steady flow of new writers (whether through signing or by purchase of catalogues), retaining existing writers with attractive catalogues and the potential to write further hit songs; and not renewing contracts with writers that are unprofitable or otherwise not consistent with our strategy.
Exploiting our songs through all available channels.
Robust negotiation to optimise our share of royalties and efficient collection of these royalties.
What does Jubal find to be the best indicator of underlying operating performance?
EBITDA
Jubal KPIs for 2023: the below are Jubal’s KPIs for 2023 (including targets). Give actuals for each:
Revenue share: top ten writers (%) : 35
Average revenue per song (£) : 10,500
Average running cost per song (£) : 7,500
Portfolio growth rate (number of songs) (%) : 5.0
Sync placements in year (number) : 400
No. of streams of Jubal songs (million) : 20,000
Revenue share: top ten writers (%) : 33.9
Average revenue per song (£) : 10,594
Average running cost per song (£) : 7,830
Portfolio growth rate (number of songs) (%) : 2.1
Sync placements in year (number) : 322
No. of streams of Jubal songs (million) : 19,701
In FY2021:
Revenue was up 1.5%, driven by digital (____%) and sync (___%). Digital now accounts for over 50% of total revenue
In FY2021:
Revenue was up 1.5%, driven by digital (7.6%) and sync (2.2%). Digital now accounts for over 50% of total revenue