Horizon Media Productions, creators of documentary and educational content, faced mounting complexity in royalty tracking as their catalogue grew, with manual processes causing payment delays, calculation errors, and strained relationships with contributors.
The Challenge: Manual Royalty Calculations Creating Administrative Burden
With over 500 productions licensed across broadcast, streaming, and educational platforms, each with complex royalty agreements involving multiple contributors, the company's spreadsheet-based tracking system was collapsing under the complexity.nnThe core operational issues were:
The Solution: Automated Royalty Management System
Edderton Scott implemented a specialised royalty management system that automated calculation, distribution, and reporting based on digitised agreement terms and automated data ingestion from distributors.nnEnd-to-end automation of complex royalty calculations based on digitised agreement terms and automated data ingestion.nnWe worked with legal and production teams to digitise every royalty agreement, creating calculation rules that could be executed automatically based on licence type, territory, and revenue source.nnWe implemented a royalty management platform with integrations to distributor reporting systems and automated payment processing capabilities.
End-to-end automation of complex royalty calculations based on digitised agreement terms and automated data ingestion.
"The automated system has transformed our royalty operations. What used to take weeks now happens in days with complete accuracy. Our contributors are happier, and we've recovered significant revenue that was previously lost in manual calculation errors."
— Thomas Reed, Finance Director at Horizon Media ProductionsThe Result
The automated royalty system reduced processing time by 85%, enabling monthly rather than quarterly royalty distributions. Accuracy reached 100%, eliminating contributor disputes and recovering £75k in previously underpaid royalties in the first year. The contributor portal reduced administrative queries by 70%, while automated reporting improved transparency and strengthened relationships with creative talent.