About

ICE is a music technology company built by rightsholders, for rightsholders. We simplify the complexities of the music royalty chain through an innovative suite of licensing, processing, and copyright services, enabling our customers to accurately and efficiently compensate songwriters and composers for the use of their works. 

A joint venture between PRS, STIM, and GEMA, ICE is the result of a big vision for the industry that harnesses years of combined experience in the multi-territory music market. Serving over 330,000 rightsholders and leveraging a copyright database comprising 55 million musical works, ICE’s operations touch 250+ territories to distribute more than €1bn in royalties per year, with a total of over €5bn distributed to date.  

We’re based in the UK, Germany, and Sweden.  

What makes ICE unique?

Operating at the exciting intersection of technology, music, and data, our partnership with stakeholders across the industry delivers best practice, new processes, and innovative solutions for better royalty flows. With years of experience as ICE and decades more through our parent companies, our collective industry knowledge has enabled us to develop initiatives that benefit not only our own customers, but also the wider industry. 

We build our products and services in collaboration with our partners and customers, and any profits ICE generates flow fully back into customer value – including through strategic investment in technology to improve the delivery of cost-effective, streamlined, and quality services that ensure rightsholders retain and increase royalties. 

History in brief

▷ 2010: Following extensive development based on an initiative by PRS and STIM, ICE is born as a joint copyright database. 

▷ 2012: GEMA joins the joint venture to help develop ICE’s vision. 

▷ 2015: ICE launches its integrated processing hub, including online licensing services.  

▷ 2016: ICE distributes its first royalty payments. 

▷ 2019: ICE passes €1bn in total royalties distributed to rightsholders to date. 

▷ 2020: ICE launches market-first solution Licensr, simplifying multi-territory licensing for start-up services. 

▷ 2021: ICE passes €2bn in royalty distributions. ICE’s unique, multi-stage invoicing has now benefitted more than 295,000 writers and more than 31,000 publishers, reducing market residuals by over €70m. 

▷ 2022: ICE passes €3bn in royalty distributions across 239 territories. 

▷ 2023: ICE’s copyright database exceeds 50 million musical works. 

▷ 2024: ICE distributes more than €1bn in royalties to rightsholders in a consecutive 12-month period for the first time. 

▷ 2025: ICE launches industry-first copyright database platform Cube, holding more than 55 million musical works. ICE’s operations now touch 250+ territories and serve over 330,000 rightsholders, with more than €5bn paid in royalties since 2016. 

You can read ICE’s Modern Slavery statement here.