BMG has selected Google Cloud to build a scalable, global infrastructure as the music company grows its digital music business and forges new revenue streams.
As execs from the major labels discussed at the DCMS Committee streaming inquiry session this week, digital revenues are now around 80% of the market. And, despite some strong physical sellers, BMG has also seen soaring streaming volumes, particularly in the US.
This fundamental shift to digital means that the volume of data that BMG now manages has grown exponentially. To pay its artists, songwriters and other rights holders, BMG needs to process the billions of lines of income it receives from around the world across platforms, streaming services, radio, television and many other sources.
Following the deal, BMG will utilise Google Cloud’s BigQuery, a server-less enterprise data warehouse, and Dataproc, an open source data and analytics processing solution. The service enables BMG to easily add computing resources to scale its royalty processing, ensuring accurate and efficient payment of artist royalties, while also reducing overall operating costs.
As part of its infrastructure migration, BMG is shifting 1,500 components, servers, and databases to Google Cloud. With its modeling data in Google Cloud, the music company can then more easily explore previous data points and discover new revenue opportunities.
Data protection and privacy are provided through technological measures and a legal framework, to ensure that BMG’s data is fully protected.
“BMG is at its heart a service company for artists and songwriters, and we are constantly optimising our business to improve that service and deliver it more efficiently,” said Gaurav Mittal, VP, Group Technology, BMG. “With the move to Google Cloud, we can now tap into relevant data across the music lifecycle with smarter analytics tools, to benefit our artist and songwriter clients.”
"The rise in digital media means that content companies have to place an increasing importance in data and analytics,” said Anil Jain, MD, media & entertainment, industry solutions, Google Cloud. “We’re thrilled to work with BMG and are looking forward to collaborating on the innovative ways our data-driven solutions can help the company drive new revenue streams and scale its business.”
BMG has recently started leveraging Google Cloud’s artificial AI and machine learning technologies to better serve its artists and songwriter clients with more effective marketing campaigns. The tech will also help its media customers more easily discover the right music for commercials, films, and television.
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