The Wind of Change, Innovation and Development with a New Captain on Board
The wind of change came with the main point on the agenda that was the election of the new Chairman of FastTrack Board of Directors. After a vote the President and CEO of BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) was unanimously elected as its new Chairman. Michael O’Neill has succeeded Hein van der Ree, who stepped down from the position after a nearly three-year tenure. Eric Baptiste, who was reconfirmed as Vice-Chair of the FastTrack Board of Directors, has accurately commented this change:
"FastTrack has elected a formidable Chairman in Mike O'Neill, who I have enjoyed working with for many years, but he knows that he follows in Hein van der Ree’s deep footprints. While we are all sorry to see Hein move on, we look forward to the positive imprint that I’m certain Mike will make on our important initiative."
After this important decision the wind of development and innovation was blowing over the FastTrack Board discussing the topics of various projects to be approved by the Joint CISAC/FastTrack Board on the following day. Among the issues, the Rights Holders Access and the IPI Look up Service got special attention of the Board.
The wind of innovation came with the "CIS-Net Rights Holders Access" (the online search engine for Creators and Publishers from a single access point). This initiative would include work information from all CISAC members that agree to participate in it. Seeing the results of the analysis provided by the project team (Creators, Publishers and Societies), which after their second round of Collaborative Opt-in Feasibility study concluded that the tool could bring the expected business benefits, the FastTrack Board was ready to support the project at the Joint CISAC/FastTrack Board.
The same note of optimism struck the On-line IPI Lookup Service initiative. Following the suggestion of the Work Registration Taskforce that it would be helpful for Creators and Publishers to reach the IPI numbers in order to retrieve such data as the IP name numbers, the Board considered that the development of the On-line IPI Lookup Service, a tool facilitating the IPI data dissemination could be useful and should be validated at the Joint Board.
The wind of development accompanied the announcement of the upcoming in June 2016 release of CIS-Net 5. This upgrade of CIS-Net with its new Look and Feel Interface, enhanced security tools and some new functions, the Single Word Dashboard being the main one, is the result of a long work of various project and technical teams. This tool employing state of the art technology would certainly simplify the workflow by making it more efficient, secured and more intuitive. The Board expressed its impatience in waiting for CIS-Net 5.
The day after, the Joint CISAC/FastTrack Board approved the development and work on all both initiatives (CIS-Net for Rights Holders and the On-line IPI Lookup Service).
This fruitful and encouraging meeting shaded a bright and fresh light on the directions of FastTrack development with a new Captain on Board.
Michel Allain, Director General
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