Bandname.com, the New York-based virtual band-name registration company, has acquired its U.K. counterpart The Band Register, which is headquartered in London. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The purpose of the acquisition is to form an authoritative international register of active solo acts and groups performing and recording today. It aims to help entertainers and artists avoid adopting an existing copyrighted name.
The Band Register was founded in the U.K. in 1994 by Peter Whitehead. It will now be fully integrated into Bandname.com. The combined venture will retain the Bandname.com brand.
“We estimate that at least 300 seriously intentioned bands or solo artists are formed each day,” said in a statement Paul Berrow, co-founder of eight-year-old Bandname.com. “Of these, many will fall by the wayside or even neglect the name and reform many years later.”
Barrow added that Bandname.com keeps an audit trail of all bands that register. “The skeletons are there to see for anyone in the industry whose task it is to find them,” he said.
According to a Bandname.com spokesperson, the search and cross-check service has a growing community of 2.5 million active users. Regular users of The Band Register include the Musicians Union, the Music Managers Forum, labels trade body the BPI and royalties collection alliance MCPS-PRS.
