Spoken Giants, the first royalty administration company for creators of spoken word copyrights — comedians, podcasters, authors of speeches/lectures — launched today Oct. 28. The new entity is vowing to be the single, credible, transparent, and scalable collective organization for rights for creators of spoken word compositions.
Former BMI executive Jim King said after learning that many spoken word copyright holders were leaving millions of dollars in unclaimed royalties on the table, he teamed up with 800 Pound Gorilla Records co-founders Ryan Bitzer and Damion Greiman to form Spoken Giants, a collective to collect and administer those rights.
While blanket licenses from music PROs exist for music performance, BMI and ASCAP's blanket licenses do not collect on behalf of spoken word creators. Bitzer and Greiman, former comedy managers, said they discovered more than four years ago that comics weren't getting all they were owed for their work. They brought that information to King and together they worked to "build the marketplace for all spoken word creators," according to a company press release.