The Austin Company Putting Global Music Royalties to Rights with Wise

Navigating the intricate legal terrain of international royalties can be daunting for musicians, often leading to earnings sitting unclaimed. In fact, the royalty pool was estimated to be about $2.4 billion in 2016. This is the same year Chris Kennedy founded Austin-based neighboring rights collection company Rident Royalties, which is on a mission to solve the problem of international royalties and ensure artists worldwide receive fair compensation for their creative work.

''We search the globe and analyze copyright protection laws in every major territory worldwide to identify unpaid royalty income for our clients.''

This small but mighty business currently operates in over 45 territories to track, claim, or retroactively release royalty payments for some of the biggest artists and record labels in the world including Warner/Chappell Production Music, Steve Vai, and composers of soundtracks to series such as Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and How I Met Your Mother.

''You won’t find a better solution than Wise for your business''

Take your business to new place with Wise Business

While Rident Royalties helps artists and record labels to claim their royalties globally, Wise Business is helping Chris to overcome the high cost of moving money abroad with fast, transparent, and low fee international payments. It’s also helping the company to speed up operations; with the batch payments feature, they’re able to pay more than 1,000 clients in a single transaction in multiple currencies including GBP, EUR and USD.

"My favorite Wise Business account features are the batch payments and local account details in currencies such as GBP, CAD or USD"

Empowering Musicians Worldwide

Rident was born from a shock discovery in the music industry - a mysterious unclaimed royalty pool known as the 'black box' worth approximately 2 billion USD. Recognising the complexities that hinder artists from claiming their rightful earnings - principally due to inefficiencies in international royalty exchanges - Chris set out to empower musicians worldwide by educating them about neighboring rights and ensuring they receive their hard-earned income.

''Sending payments to all our clients used to take me close to a week, and with Wise's batch payments feature, I can accomplish this in just a few minutes.''*

Chris says at the time of founding his business, industry knowledge about neighboring rights was very low: ''My goal with Rident has been to educate musicians around the world about this important revenue stream, and ensure their hard earned income reaches them.'' He highlights that if royalties aren't claimed within a certain timeframe, often between 3-5 years, they are no longer claimable by the musicians and labels.

What are neighboring rights? Neighboring rights pertain to the compensation owed to performers and master recording owners when their works are broadcasted or performed publicly.

Navigating international payments with Wise Business

To tackle the many complexities of international royalty collection, Rident Royalties leverages cutting-edge tools and platforms. One such tool in their arsenal is their Wise Business account, which helps to keep costs low and client satisfaction high.

Wise's batch payments feature also streamlines Rident Royalties’ payment processes, significantly reducing the time spent on sending payments to clients: ''The batch payments feature has been very helpful as the business has scaled. Sending payments to all our clients used to take me close to a week, and with Wise, I can accomplish this in just a few minutes*.'' This efficiency also ensures that artists receive their payments on time *, enhancing Rident's reputation as a trusted partner in the music industry.

Batch payments explained

And payouts for Rident Royalties are truly global: Chris regularly sends earnings in a variety of currencies including GBP, CAD, USD, SEK, ILS, AUD, NZD, EUR, CHF, BRL, ZAR, BGN, INR, MXN, NOK, CZK, DKK, RON or HUF.

One of his favorite features of Wise Business is the local account details in GBP, CAD and USD, which enables Rident to get paid like a local business, without any hefty FX fees for his company or his clients.

''Some banks would require me to visit the bank in person to send money outside of the US, which was quite time consuming.''

Prior to using their Wise Business account, Rident faced limitations with traditional banking providers, especially when it came to making smaller payments. Chris explains that heavy fees often outweighed the payment amounts altogether, leading to negative balances on international transactions. Additionally, the need for physical visits to banks meant he was spending time he could have been focussing on his business in the bank.

Boosting business balances with Wise

To make the most of his money, Chris uses the Wise interest feature ** which offers eligible customers *** the ability to opt in to earn an annual percentage yield (APY **) and the benefit of added protection on their eligible balances with passthrough FDIC insurance of up to $250,000 through Wise’s Program Bank ****.

''Wise will help you and your clients keep more of what you earn.''

Rident has opted in to earn interest on their USD, GBP and EUR balances. Chris says he enjoys the ease of use, daily returns and instant access to his money while using the feature.

Chris Kennedy, Rident Royalties

What’s next for Rident Royalties?

From humble beginnings in Austin to becoming a global force in neighboring rights collection, Rident Royalties was recently acquired by Round Hill Music, and continues to champion the cause of artists worldwide, ensuring that their creative contributions are fully recognised and rewarded.

Chris says the laws related to neighboring rights are always changing: ''New territories that previously did not have an established collection infrastructure are coming online, and we stay abreast of these changes to begin collecting in new territories for our clients,” he explains. Looking to the future, Chris explains that he is intending to take Rident to new places and will continue to scale his business internationally with the Wise Business account. Asked whether he’d consider alternative providers to fuel his international growth, he replies: “You won’t find a better solution than Wise!''

Learn more about the hidden fee problem facing SMBs in the US

*Transaction speed claimed depends on individual circumstances and may not be available for all transactions.

What is the Wise interest feature?

**The interest feature is not available to residents of New York or Alaska at this time. Please see eligibility criteria.

**4.85% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on USD, USD GBP 3.22% and EUR 2.29% is current as of January, 2024 and is subject to change see Program Agreement for details

****The current Program Bank is JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., see Appendix 1 of the Program Agreement for the most updated list of Program Bank(s). Eligible customers must opt in to the interest feature. Participants will have the balance of their USD funds held in their Wise Account “swept” into a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insured interest-bearing account at one or more participating banks (each, a “Program Bank”) that will hold and pay interest on the deposit funds. For a complete list of Program Banks, please see Appendix 1 of the Program Agreement. For more information on FDIC insurance coverage, please visit FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Customers are responsible for monitoring their total assets at each of the Program Banks to determine the extent of available FDIC insurance coverage in accordance with FDIC rules. The Program is not intended to be a long-term investment option, checking or savings account, investment contract or security.

For customers opted in to receive interest on EUR and GBP balances, the FDIC passthrough insurance provided by our program bank is for up to the equivalent of $250,000 in total for your USD, EUR and GBP combined balance amounts (collectively, the “Eligible Balances”).