Billboard and Broadjam Announce Music Search Portal

Posted on August 23, 2002

Broadjam and Billboard.com announced that they are collaborating to develop a comprehensive online music search portal. The project will offer entertainment and media professionals a source for accessing, auditioning, and licensing music. Broadjam is a provider of music publishing software tools and services and Billboard.com is the online home of Billboard, a newsweekly covering music, video and home entertainment.

The new portal, called Billboard SongSearch powered by Broadjam, will enable music professionals to search and retrieve information on repertoire authorized for inclusion in the service. The service will provide links to existing music publisher websites and catalogs. Billboard.com and Broadjam expect to launch the site in the first quarter of 2003.

"Billboard.com has established itself as in the leading Internet destination for music industry information. This new service is being planned in answer to our customers' pressing need for a central source for copyright and music licensing information," said Ken Schlager, vice president of business development for Billboard Music Group. "The Billboard SongSearch will help facilitate music searches for media and entertainment professionals worldwide who need to acquire copyrighted works for a wide variety of commercial purposes, whether for film, television, advertising, or corporate productions."

Subscribers to Billboard SongSearch will gain access to details on specific songs, including copyright ownership, publisher information, and Billboard chart history. Through Broadjam's Song Management System search engine, users will be able to locate songs based on a wide range of search options, such as genre, beats per minute, publisher, lyric content and similar artists. The Billboard SongSearch site will also integrate Billboard's music chart archive, which dates back to 1955.

Billboard.com and Broadjam aim to forge partnerships with all of the major and independent publishers to include their repertoire in the service. Additionally, independent musicians and songwriters will be able to upload their music to the site.

"The Billboard SongSearch powered by Broadjam site will provide a marquee platform for music publishers to deliver their content to the right audience," said Roy Elkins, founder and CEO of Broadjam. "The music industry's undisputed unifier is the Billboard family of news and information services. Together with Billboard, we aim to create a supersite that will serve entertainment and media professionals of all kinds."