Digital Data Exchange

Apple, Microsoft, the big four music labels, and five others have joined together to form a new organization dedicated to developing and maintaining a robust framework of communication standards to support the digital distribution of digital content. Initially, the Digital Data Exchange ("DDEX") will focus on music and music-related assets; DDEX hopes to improve the efficiency of information sharing and transaction processing in the music supply chain through use of Standards. The membership organization will include EMI Music, Sony BMG Music, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group as well as music rights societies from the US, UK and Spain, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), The Harry Fox Agency, The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited, Sociedad General de Autores y Editores. It will also be joined by the French society SACEM. Apple along with Microsoft and RealNetworks are the music service providers that have signed up.

Hoping to standardize the disparate reporting and methods of embedding song information, the consortium hopes to find a common standard.

"DEX seeks to establish a standard format and tracking system for the meta-data attached to digital music files. Once the standard is established, identification of rights owners, sales and royalty information will be relayed in the same manner for all legally distributed music," according to a CNET report. "Once the standard is established, identification of rights owners, sales and royalty information will be relayed in the same manner for all legally distributed music."

The organization said that membership is open to any business entity with an interest in digital media content but with the initial focus being on entities whose business is centered on music and music related assets, including record labels, music rights societies; producer rights organizations; digital service providers/mobile service providers; digital music aggregators; broadcasters; music publishers; technology providers; providers of business services in these areas. There are three tiers of membership; a maximum of 15 Charter members ($25,000 annual contribution required); Contributing members ($10,000) and Participating members ($2,500).

The first three-day long Technical Workshop is scheduled for May 23rd in Santa Monica.

"What we hope to accomplish is a foundation or baseline so that information about music and songs are going to be transmitted more efficiently," Chris Amenita, senior vice president of ASCAP, told CNET News.com. "Sort of like what the credit card industry did a number of years ago when they standardized their numerics."

by MacNN Staff