Licensing music is a complex process that involves everything from tracking licensing requests to paying royalties to composers. When manual spreadsheet tracking at Beyond Music Library became cumbersome, time–consuming, and error–prone, the company turned to FileMaker Developer Angel City Data to create a FileMaker Pro solution that combines contact and invoicing records and integrates with iTunes. The accurate, easy–to–use royalty tracking system saves hours and ensures accurate composer payments.

Successful Solution

A tall order? Not for Angel City Data, a certified FileMaker Pro Developer. Angel City worked with Beyond to learn the special requirements unique to its business, and created a customized system to automate all of the necessary calculations. Parks explains, "FileMaker Pro is the best system available, and we knew it could be tailored to our specific needs."

FileMaker Pro is the best system available, and we knew it could be tailored to our specific needs.

— Jonathan Parks, Vice President and Music Supervisor, Beyond Music Library

The result is a comprehensive FileMaker Pro solution that combines the functions of the original invoicing system and contact database to create a detailed royalty tracking system that is easy to use and manage. The solution offers login and password–based permissions to allow different people at Beyond the appropriate database access. Through AppleScript, the solution also provides full integration with iTunes that helps staff easily search and play music in iTunes while simultaneously tracking composer information and other data contained within the FileMaker Pro database. Beyond's accounting company can also easily access payment information, run reports, and print or automatically email statements through the same FileMaker Pro database.

"We've been so happy with how the solution is working, and so busy with the business, we haven't been focused on updating it. But we're excited to update to FileMaker Pro 11 soon to take advantage of features like full–featured charting and more visual reporting," says Parks.

Customer Benefits

The new royalty tracking system saves Beyond Music Library time and resources, and helps keep track of invoices and royalty payments more effectively. The system also makes keeping up with clients and organizing client information easier with managed contacts and automated song tracking.

Running composer statement reports, which used to be done manually with Excel, now takes mere minutes versus hours, and it's accurate every time. "Running reports using our FileMaker Pro solution takes only a few minutes, and we can rely on its accuracy," says Parks. "This is a huge change from long hours working out the numbers manually in a spreadsheet. FileMaker Pro is a major improvement."

Instead of relying on manual calculations, composers are automatically paid for all of the licenses their work receives in the bi–annual payment period—a key factor in maintaining good working relationships and ongoing success in the industry. "Beyond is fortunate enough to have some of the most talented composers in the world writing for the catalog," Parks explains. "It is extremely important to us that they are paid accurately for their work, and FileMaker Pro ensures that this happens every time."