Naim CD Look-Up – Rovi Bulletin

Rovi have informed Naim that Sony Music Entertainment (SME) Album Cover Art & Clips will be removed from their service, effective July 2016 

What’s the Background?

Rovi has traditionally maintained a partnership with SME that has allowed them to distribute SME album cover art and 30-second music clips as part of our Rovi Music metadata products.

SME and Rovi have been unable to come to an agreement during their extensive renewal discussions.

As a result, we have been informed as a customer of their service, that Rovi is preparing to cease distribution of SME album cover art and music clips to music metadata customers effective immediately.

How will this impact Rovi Music metadata service to Naim customers?

Rovi say 

“We estimate that this change will affect approximately 7% of the total number of music records in our catalog. We will continue to provide the entire metadata record, less any SME album cover art and music clips.   In other words, Rovi Music metadata products will continue to include an extensive offering of proprietary metadata, including Rovi IDs, biographies, reviews, track-level coverage, etc. related to SME releases.

Further, Rovi estimate that the removal of SME album cover art and 30 second clips will affect only a small percentage of the music catalog currently provided by Rovi.“ 

What next?

At Naim we understand that this will have an impact on our customers and are looking into the options before available. We will endeavor to keep you informed on the matter.

FAQ.

Rovi is not obligated to provide content for which it can’t secure the rights.

Rovi’s Music metadata products will continue to supply the most comprehensive catalog available in the market today and we will continue to work to secure the most comprehensive collection of images in the world.

Naim are currently investigating the impact and possible solutions to this news. We are currently reviewing this announcement and its impact to us and our customers.

Artist images and all of Rovi’s proprietary metadata, biographies, reviews, track-level coverage, etc. will continue to be available for SME tracks, and coverage for non-SME tracks will remain unchanged.