Google acquires RightsFlow

Aiming to streamline payments to musicians and publishers, YouTube parent Google has acquired licensing and royalty reporting service RightsFlow.RightsFlow, launched in 2007, uses a 30-million-song database and proprietary technology to match songs to publishers and manage payment.Though featuring millions of musicvideos on its site, YouTube has occasionally had a contentious relationship with publishers over royalty payments, disbursement of which can sometimes be a Byzantine process."By combining RightsFlow's expertise and technology with YouTube's platform, we hope to more rapidly and efficiently license music on YouTube," wrote YouTube product manager David King on the company's blog, "meaning more music for you all to enjoy and more money for the talented people producing the music."Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com