Photo credit: Joe Mabel / CC from 3.0
The company has generated more than $10 billion in revenue since its debut as a standalone organization in 2003, according to SoundExchange.
The Washington, DC-based company, which collects royalties from non-interactive digital music platforms like SiriusXM, recently unveiled the distribution benchmark. According to SoundExchange – which announced in late March 2022 that it had paid out a total of $9 billion – the 162nd payout two months ago hit the $10 billion milestone.
“Breaking the $10 billion mark and celebrating our 20th anniversary demonstrates our commitment to the entire music industry,” said Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange with more than 12 years of experience, of the total payout figure.
“Over the past 20 years, we have grown into a global music technology organization that distributes approximately $1 billion annually to a creator community of more than 650,000 people,” concluded the former RIAA executive. “I’m incredibly proud of our achievements and the team we’ve built, and I look forward to more innovations that will propel the music industry for many years to come.”
Contrasting with the blunt proclamation messages typically associated with sales disclosures, SoundExchange used a paragraph to explain that Huppe is accepting the Music Business Association’s first Impact Award for Technological Excellence on its behalf today at Music will be business 2023.
Also included are The Roots’ Black Thought and Questlove (who is credited with directing a live-action reimagining of The Aristocats for Disney) led the way in their own remarks, hailing SoundExchange as “an important partner in the success of the music industry.”
“Her unwavering commitment to innovation, fairness and transparency sets her apart from the rest,” the two enthused in part. “With SoundExchange, I know my hard work as an artist will be recognized and rewarded, and that my rights will be tightly protected. Her dedication to the well-being of creators is truly unparalleled and I am proud to be part of a community that benefits from her incredible work.”
In the meantime, Train Lead singer Pat Monahan also praised the “game-changer” SoundExchange, which according to the “Hey, Soul Sister” songwriter “advocates for artists and makes navigating at least part of this industry easier.”
SoundExchange previously said it distributed $255.6 million in the last quarter of 2022 — a 2.5 percent increase from the same three-month period in 2021. And in April, the founding member of the Human Artistry Campaign announced a “data partnership.” known to French music history that has done so has been called the “world’s leading provider of music metadata”.