Keeping Tempo With Music Biz: 10 Years of MRC
KEEPING TEMPO: MRC X MUSIC BIZ INTERVIEW
Our CEO, Ali Rigby, recently sat down with Music Biz to dive into our royalty and accounting services and explore how we’ve evolved over the past 10 Years of MRC! What a decade it’s been!
Music Biz: The Music Royalty Co. was first established in 2014 to provide labels, distributors and publishers with backend services to support their royalty processing, administration and accountancy needs. How has that mission unfolded and evolved in its first decade?
Ali: We’ve certainly come a long way from a small team in a small office in London Bridge to where we are now! When Ray founded MRC in 2014, it was because he’d spotted a gap in the market: labels either don’t want to handle royalties or can’t find experienced staff to do so. It became clear that tying those royalty processing services into an accountancy service made sense, as they are so intrinsically linked. So alongside developing our Royalties team, we have also steadily increased our business’ accountancy offerings.
For many of our clients today, we’re an extension of their company and function as their full backend service. We’ve evolved from being just a service provider to a strategic partner, helping them to understand their business better than ever.
Music Biz: MRC’s founding came at a pivotal time in our industry: streaming began to make its mark on music consumption habits, and the need to process microtransactions along the royalty chain exponentially grew. Was the company’s mission in the early days to tackle these budding issues head-on?
Ali: Absolutely. The increase in streaming created a big demand for handling massive amounts of data while also producing accurate and efficient royalty reporting. We knew that we could provide a solution for those short on time, struggling to find experienced staff, or those who just didn’t want to do it themselves!
Our main goal was to handle the complex financial processes so our clients could focus on the music and creativity. And this is still the case today.
Music Biz: You were appointed as the company’s CEO last year – can you give us some insight about your first few months at the helm of the organisation?
Ali: Before entering the CEO role, I was MRC’s Financial Director, but I’ve always been pretty curious (or nosy) and found myself diving into business ops, staff management, and strategy. Having been with MRC for five years and working closely alongside Ray from day one, I felt ready to hit the ground running when I moved to CEO.
The first few months were spent fine-tuning our processes, gaining a thorough understanding of our operations, and getting feedback from both the team and our clients to see where we can improve or streamline to achieve higher efficiency.
In our fully remote setup, it’s important that my team feel like they can bring any ideas or concerns to us as managers. I’ve focused a lot on creating a collaborative and inclusive company culture. I’m also proud that MRC have always been committed to having women representing at all levels – which is not always the case in the worlds of music and finance – and it’s something that truly sets us apart.
Music Biz: Our industry is one that transforms substantially year after year. To that point, what have your partners said about how their needs have changed over the last decade? And do you feel that the company is, or has been, well-positioned to meet those changing needs?
Ali: Yes – the industry has seen some big economic shifts lately, with rising costs and tighter budgets becoming the norm. Saving time and money is more important than ever.
Staffing costs have also gone up, making it tougher for businesses to find the right team to cover all their accountancy and royalty needs. By outsourcing these functions to MRC, clients gain access to our expertise and reliability without the multitude of considerations when employing. They benefit from a wide range of skills and experience without the hassle of hiring multiple people.
In financially challenging times, accurate reporting is vital. Our finance team is experienced in cash forecasting, management reporting, producing budgets and monitoring performance. We provide clear, easy-to-understand reports. While some clients can find all the finance stuff a bit daunting, our team is on hand to make it all as painless as possible!
Music Biz: MRC hails itself as flexible as far as tailoring its services to music companies of all sizes. For some smaller operations, bringing in outside services can either conflict with existing company culture or potentially be too expensive long-term. What would you say to a company looking for the kind of support that MRC offers but who are apprehensive about bringing in an outside team?
Ali: We absolutely understand the concern companies may have in moving such vital businesses operations, and we take the trust placed in us very seriously. Our services are both flexible and transparent, creating collaborative relationships where we become an extension of their business.
For smaller businesses, teaming up with us can be a game-changer, saving time and resources in the long run. They might not have in-house experts with years of music industry experience – that’s where we come in. This allows them to focus on what they do best while we take care of the rest.
Our goal is to build strong, long-term partnerships and deliver real value. By doing what we do best, we help our clients succeed while maintaining their unique vibe and focus.
