.MUSIC joins a consortium of major music industry players, including Deezer, LyricFind and 12 others to form BELEM. BELEM aims to build capacity and innovative services to for music publishers, songwriters, platforms, and labels to help democratize and monetize access to lyrics. It will also strive to break down cultural barriers by making human translated lyrics accessible to all listeners. The BELEM consortium will be showcased on the new .MUSIC domain name address at www.BELEM.music
BELEM is an European Union funded project that received €2 million in grant funding through the Creative Europe Programme (CREA). BELEM seeks to drive new revenue streams to the music industry by promoting and monetizing European lyrics and translations. The project will also amplify the co-creation and co-production of European lyrics, adding new economic value to European musical and linguistic heritage.
In particular, the project is placing a strong focus on online and streaming lyric translations, as well as supporting publisher capacity building and the songwriters themselves on creation and translation. BELEM will also look to benefit labels and artists through providing better accessibility for lyric videos — including translated lyrics. It will also aim to impact the live sector, via both virtual and physical lyric translation exhibitions.
BELEM has been formed in response to an increased understanding of the power of translated lyrics in helping break down cultural barriers and further support artists’ monetisation of their works. For Deezer subscribers, the on-demand multilingual translation has introduced a brand-new music experience based on innovation; with a simple click, music fans can view precise lyric translations of many of the most popular English songs in French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
“Lyrics can be a truly powerful addition to a song, and as the home of music and a French-founded company operating worldwide, we understand how challenging language barriers can be for artists with international ambitions,” said Ludovic Pouilly, SVP Institutional and Music Industry Relations at Deezer. “BELEM offers an exhilarating prospect — to help artists reach more audiences and for the listeners to better and intuitively understand the music they are listening to. Our core mission is to help music fans on Deezer find new favourites and expand their horizons; our work with BELEM will greatly help achieve this goal for the benefit of all.”
.MUSIC will host the initiative on the new .MUSIC Registry and work alongside 14 EU music publishing, technology, distribution, labels, and academic partners. This consortium of music industry firms are working together to amplify the understanding, co-creation and co-production of European lyrics to add new economic value to European musical and linguistic heritage.
Companies involved in the BELEM project include German all-audio company Zebralution and the .MUSIC domain name registry. They are joined by Canadian lyric solutions company, LyricFind, which has provided innovation in lyric licensing and data service to companies such as Amazon, Google, and Deezer.
“Lyrics are exceptionally important — they can move us, make us question our world, or conjure powerful memories and feelings. But for many artists, the language challenge means their art and their stories often don’t reach the audiences they deserve,” said Robert Singerman, EVP at .MUSIC. “But with the combined power of 15 committed partners and the resources of the EU, we can make dramatic strides towards improving the diversity and unity of artists and audiences both within the EU and beyond. We can help artists fully unleash the meaning of their songs.”
The full list of 15 companies participating in the BELEM Project include:
- .MUSIC
- AMAEI
- Bardis
- Broma 16
- Deezer
- Fleepit
- Independent Digital
- Lusitanian Music Publishing
- LyricFind
- Mars Music
- Metatron
- Nord University
- RUNDA
- Unison Rights
- Zebralution
