OpenPlay Partners with S4 Capital's Monks as OpenPlay Signature, Accelerating Innovation from Years to Months and Expanding Beyond Music

09 December 2024 - Press release

OpenPlay, provider of the music industry’s leading platform for asset and catalog management, today announced a new partnership with Monks, the operating brand of S4 Capital and a leading digital-first, data-driven, advertising, marketing, and technology services company. The partnership brings together OpenPlay’s proven content and rights management capabilities with Monks’ expertise in scaling enterprise-grade platforms, opening up new customization opportunities that will empower media organizations to accelerate digital transformation.

Under the partnership, known as OpenPlay Signature, OpenPlay will work with Monks’ growing Media & Entertainment Technology practice to enable rapid deployment of cutting-edge technologies across the media, entertainment, games, and sports industries. Such tech deployments include AI-driven workflows, fan engagement experiences, ecommerce, and Web3 integration, thereby streamlining operations for clients and cutting implementation times from years to months for new and custom solutions. This unique combination of platform-specific knowledge and broad industry experience, supported by a team of specialists across marketing and technology services, will enable OpenPlay clients to drive efficiency, unlock new revenue streams, and further improve the accuracy of content and rights data, ensuring that artists, creators, and rights-holders receive the credit and payments they deserve while maximizing the exploitation of their IP globally.

“Yesterday’s technology should never hold back today’s media enterprises. That’s why our clients choose OpenPlay: we work with them to simplify complex rights and content management,” said Edward Ginis, Co-Founder and Chief Client Officer of OpenPlay. “Now with Monks onboard, OpenPlay Signature will build on that history of success while providing a foundation for further innovation at breakneck speed, allowing us to create and implement customized solutions in a matter of months, not years, benefitting our full client roster.”

OpenPlay Signature also marks a major step in OpenPlay’s expansion from its foundation in recorded music into global music publishing and the broader media industry, with Monks building out OpenPlay’s API-driven content management and rights administration platform to allow companies beyond the music industry to ensure accurate data and get creators paid faster and more accurately. Monks’ deep knowledge of media technology, with past successes in developing streaming platforms for HBO, Hulu, and PlayStation, will enable OpenPlay to deliver rapid solutions and custom applications to clients globally — transforming what was once a multi-year process into a matter of months.

“Through OpenPlay Signature, we’re working to expand the fight to address one of the music industry’s most significant pain points — outdated, complex data infrastructure — to the wider media industry,” said Adonya Ourshalimian, Partner at Monks. “Together with OpenPlay, we’re freeing global media organizations to focus on what matters most: creating compelling content and engaging experiences for their audiences.”