C2W Music announced today, that it will shift its business model, from music publishing to artiste management under the 360 model. The change is aimed at increasing revenue streams, at the cash strapped company, said CEO Ivan Berry, Saturday at the annual general meeting, held at the Knutsford Court Hotel, in Kingston.
“The 360 model is an all rights model. We are not in the music publishing business, we are now in the all rights business,” Berry told roughly 20 shareholders at the early morning meeting. “We are going to sign fantastic songwriters and create copyright, we are going to sign fantastic artistes and help them get global recognition and going to sign producers and make earnings from producer fees.”
C2W made a net loss of US$620,000 for 2013 which mirrored a US$602,700 loss, a year earlier and virtually wiped out the capital it raised in early 2012, leaving only US$42,000 at the end of 2013.
C2W will follow the model of global company BMG which sold its record label to Sony then immediately set-up BMG Rights Management. “It is tough operating without revenue and it will continue to be tough. As CEO we value the trust that shareholders have put in us and we will continue to grow this company,” stated Berry. “Where we need to go is to be a fluid flexible operation that can move in on the drop of a dime.”
Berry lamented that under the music publishing model the publisher is the first to spend cash and last to get paid.“As we give these artistes songs. The artiste immediately goes on tour and [earns] from our songs but we have to wait another 14 months for our royalties to be collected globally…we are the last to be paid,” explained Berry in his trademark muscle shirt and chain.
The shift actually reflects the more ‘Jamaicanised’ directorship which includes local music experts Sly Dunbar and Clyde McKenzie.
“So we are fast going into the 360 model…so that we get a piece of live shows, we get a piece of the endorsement deals, sponsorship deals and all that comes along with an artiste,” he concluded.
Advances and declines even 7:7 on JSE
Activity on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday, resulted in the prices of 7 stocks rising and 7 declining as 20 securities changed hands, resulting in 1,789,786 units trading, valued at $11,932,664.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index declined 529.66 points, to 71,857.69 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 592.25 points to close at 79,058.15.
Gains| Stocks closing with gains at their last traded price, in the main market are, Carreras with 26,708 ordinary shares trading, 5 cents higher to $34.40, Pan Jamaican Investment had 1,000 shares changing hands, one cent higher at $49.01, Proven Investments with 10,570 units, increased 0.99 US cent to 17.99 US cents, Sagicor Group put through 346,200 units with a gain of 5 cents to $9.25 and Scotia Group, had 91,798 shares changing hands, 15 cents higher at $19.40.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in the last traded price are, Cable & Wireless with 3,000 units, closing at 30 cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 60,068 ordinary shares, closed at $7 and National Commercial Bank with 55,031 shares ended at $18.
Declines| The last traded prices of stocks with losses at the end of trading in the main market are, Grace Kennedy with 19,260 shares, losing 40 cents to end at $57.60, Jamaica Broilers with 10,000 shares fell 25 cents to $4.45, Mayberry Investments with 707 shares lost 5 cents to end at $1.45 and Radio Jamaica with 42,096 shares, declined 2 cents to $1.02.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share traded 33,113 units with a cent increase, at $3.02, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 7.50% preference share traded 487,000 units at $2 and Proven Investments 8% preference share traded 371,893 units at $5.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index fell 0.50 points to close at 661.73, only 5 stocks traded, with 1 advancing and 3 declining.
Gains| Lasco Distributors was the only stock recording a gain at the end of trading in the junior market, with 49,500 units at a 1 cent gain to $1.13.
Firm Trades| C2W Music traded 15,000 units at 40 cents, to be the only stock in the junior market that traded to close without a price change.
Declines| Stocks declining in the junior market at the end of trading, are Caribbean Cream with 48,093 shares to lose 3 cents at 61 cents, General Accident with 40,000 shares, lost 4 cents to end at $1.46 and Lasco Manufacturing with 78,749 shares closed with a gain of a cent at 96 cents.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator showed 9 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
9 stocks rose & only 3 fell on JSE
In Thursday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the prices of 9 stocks rose and 3 declined as 20 securities changed hands, resulting in 2,085,438 shares trading, valued at $15,090,664.
Main Market| The JSE Market Index dropped by 81.34 points to 71,742.41 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 90.95 points to close at 78,929.24.
Gains| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with gains, at the end of trading in the main market are, Cable & Wireless with 513,155 shares to close with a gain of a cent at 32 cents, Carreras gained 15 cents to close at $34.90 with 1,648 units changing hands, followed by Pan Jamaican Investment with 100,836 shares at $48.58, after gaining 7 cents, Sagicor Group 51,878 shares resulted in 1 cent gain to $9.24, Scotia Group with 18,970 shares gained 5 cents to end at $18.82 and Seprod traded only 1,400 units to put on 25 cents at $10.75.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without a change in price with volume and last traded prices, are Berger Paints with 3,420 shares closing at $1.60, Jamaica Broilers with 4,825 traded closed at $4.70, Jamaica Money Market Brokers with 31,655 units at $6.95 and Kingston Wharves 4,000 shares closed at $5.02.
Declines| The volume and last traded prices of stocks with losses, at the at the end of trading in the main market are, Caribbean Cement with 72,438 shares in losing 42 cents, to end at $2.18, National Commercial Bank with 342,852 shares closing 51 cents down at $17.99 and Supreme Ventures losing 6 cents in trading 62,000 units, to finish at $1.80.
Preference| Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) 8.75% preference share traded 686,000 units at $3 and the JMMB 7.50% preference share, traded just 1,000 units at $2.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index gained 2.65 points to close at 647.09 as only 5 securities traded with 3 advancing and none declining.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the junior market, are C2W Music gained 2 cents with 5,759 shares to land at 40 cents, General Accident with 902 shares closed 5 cents up at $1.40 and Lasco Manufacturing with 100,000 shares was 2 cents ahead at 97 cents.
Firm Trades| Stocks in the junior market that traded to close at the same price as the day before are, Caribbean Producers that had 21,500 shares trading at $2.36 and Lasco Financial with 61,200 shares ended at $1.
Declines| No stock declined in the junior market at the end of trading.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.
Market on rebounds
In Monday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange the market rebounded when measured by the main market indices but the junior market index slipped. At the close, the IC bid-offer Indicator was flashing a strong signal of further rebound in prices. The main market indices recorded gains as the prices of 8 stocks rose and 11 declined with 28 securities traded in both markets resulting in 53,344,226 units changing hands valued at $30,050,258. C2W Music had one trade of 50,895,843 units valued at $21.37 million.
Main Market| AT the end of trading the JSE Market Index rose by 466.57 points to 72,492.60 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index gained 521.70 points to close at 79,768.08 as all 8 stocks to rise came from this market while 5 declined.
Gains| Stocks recording gains at the end of trading in the main market are Caribbean Cement, trading 54,218 shares to close with a gain of 10 cents at $3.60, Carreras gained 35 cents to close at $34 with 1,000 units changing hands, Grace Kennedy traded 2,306 units to close at $56.50 with 50 cents gain, National Commercial Bank closed with 26,424 shares changing hands as the price close at $18.10 with a 10 cents gain but it traded as low as $17.16 before recovering towards the end of trading. Sagicor Group exchanged 62,900 units in closing 15 cents higher at $9.15, Sagicor Real Estate Fund traded 42,500 units at 30 cents higher in closing at $6.30, Scotia Group put in only 14,288 shares to end a cent higher at $19.51 and Seprod gained 70 cents with 5,000 units to close at $11.25 after the company reported increased profit in the quarter to March with a 50 percent increase to $473 million or 77 cents per share from operating revenue increase, of only 4 percent.
Firm| The stocks in the main market to close without change in price are Jamaica Money Market Brokers 8.75% preference share with 160,000 units to close at $3.03, Mayberry Investments with 18,858 shares while closing at $1.71, Pan Jamaican Investment with 10,800 shares while closing at $48.06, Proven Investments 67,200 units to close at 18US cents and Proven Investments 8% preference share 1,850 units to close at $5.09.
Declines| The stocks that declined in the main market are Desnoes & Geddes with 35,559 units while losing a cent to end at $4.49, Jamaica Broilers 62,900 units in closing at $4.71, down 9 cents, Jamaica Money Market Brokers 13,113 shares to close at $7.30 with a cent off, Jamaica Stock Exchange 925 units in closing at $1.95 as the price eased 5 cents and Kingston Wharves 8,300 shares to close 24 cents lower at $5.75.
Junior Market| The JSE Junior Market Index declined by 10.60 points to close at 735.64 as 10 stocks traded with none recording a price gain and 6 declining.
Firm Trades| The stocks trading in the junior market to close at the same price as the day before are Access Financial with 121,400 units to close at $11.50, Caribbean Cream with 1,250 units to close at 79 cents, Consolidated Bakeries with 3,000 shares in closing at $1.10 and Lasco Distributors with 1,357,149 shares to close at $1.35.
Declines| Stocks declining in the junior market at the end of trading are AMG Packaging trading 1,000 units at $3.49 as the price slipped a cent, C2W Music with 50,895,843 shares as the price lost 3 cents to end at 42 cents, KLE Group with 138,703 as the price eased by a cent for a new 52 weeks low of 93 cents, Lasco Financial 69,751 shares at 12 cents lower to end at $1.08, Lasco Manufacturing 102,884 shares as it closed at $1.14 for a 6 cents decline and Medical Disposables with 65,105 units to close with a cent off at $2.04.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 12 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 7 stocks with offers that were lower.
C2W Music receives US$21K income
C2W Music, which has earned virtually no income since it raised funds in an IPO in 2012 is reporting what appears to be a breakthrough in the last quarter of 2013 with royalty collections.
According to the company in a recent release to the stock exchange, “We are proud to announce that during the 4th quarter of 2013, we have started to see royalty driven earnings deriving out of Barbados. These earnings have come out of the exploitation of copyrights and more specifically have been earned through the “Performing Right” collections of radio broadcast. The amount received thus far totalled USD$20,643.”
“We would also like to add, and as mentioned in a previous press release, that we continue to work closely with all Caribbean performing rights societies in creating proper integration of our systems to show an accurate collection of our royalties from the territory. Other than our own music catalogue, we sub-publish two of the world’s largest music publishers, BMG Chrysalis and Warner Chappell. We are hopeful that our collective efforts would be recognized by the 2nd quarter of 2014 and onwards, resulting in more royalty collections,” a release from the company said.
Related posts | C2W says it’s not dead | Is C2W doomed?
C2W says it’s not dead
A statement from C2W | “In light of the recent release of our financial statements for the nine months ending September, it is necessary to inform our shareholders what the plans for C2W are. The IPO funds raised in 2012 were mostly spent on operating expenses, with a significant percentage on the creation of the company’s valuable assets. To date we own a significant percentage of over 900 copyrights (our assets) that were co-written with some of the World’s most successful songwriters/producers. C2W executed agreements to sub-publish BMG Chrysalis and Warner Chappell within the region. We will collect their royalties derived from the active songs in their catalogues, while retaining a percentage of these revenues.
“As we are first of it’s kind in the region, we are working closely with the region’s performing rights societies (broadcast, live and other associated rights) to import our robust catalogues and decipher what our rightful earnings are. From an administration and reconciliation point of view, this is new and challenging ground for all involved, an action plan is in place and new systems will prove to be successful at collecting our royalties within the region.
“We expect revenue for the company from both the sub-publishing agreements and from our exploitation of our own catalogue to begin by the second quarter of 2014. While C2W has very low cash reserves, the Company does not require as much operating cash as it did in the past, as it now awaits expected earnings on its intangible portfolio of assets and sub-publishing agreements.
“As a way forward, and until revenues are recognized, we are in communication with various interested, and strategic, outside investors. Once we feel we have the right strategic partner, we will then go through the legal procedures in bringing a proposal to our current shareholders for consideration, via an Extraordinary General Meeting.”
Is C2W doomed?
After almost two years, C2W Music, which promised that they would be making profits by now is yet to show the income, much less profits.
In its prospectus for the IPO to raise $129 million on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the company made this statement about profitability, “As a start-up, the Company is expected to post a Pre-Tax Loss for 2012 of approximately US$241,849. The Directors expect earnings to stabilize from 2013 onwards, with a projected profit before tax of US$668,100 in that year, increasing threefold to a projected Profit before Tax of US$2.36 million in 2016.”
The results to June indicates that those projections were just a pipe dream as the company not only reported a loss of US$345,855 for the six months to June 2013, but for the similar period in 2012 when the loss was US$131,284, and there was just US$1,803 income for the six months. While it is not impossible to win contracts for songs that could change the picture, one would need to see a steady, if even small, flow of income but that is not the case with a year and a half now gone.
Shareholder equity now stands at US$377,257 down from US$1.2 million at June last year. Cash is almost gone entirely with just US$14,335 left of the sum raised in the IPO. C2W has assets in the form of advances to song writers of more than US$300,000 but that is not income and only $24,000 are due within a year.
The company needs a knight in shining armour and FAST if it is to avoid the burial ground. Crunch time is nigh.
