Copyright Exchange Formed By Four Music Industry Veterans

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —

Copyright Exchange, the marketplace for the new intellectual property economy, was launched by four veterans of music industry accounting, law, and finance. Gary Smith, Dwight Wiles, Craig Benson, and Chip Petree are collaborating to form a visionary business that does for song catalogs and other intellectual property what real estate agents do for land and buildings – make finding, evaluating, and purchasing copyrights simple and trustworthy.

Through its marketing, negotiating, accounting and administrative services and its innovative Copyright Listing Service, an internet-based inventory of available catalogs, Copyright Exchange is making a market for a surprisingly attractive asset. With a revolution underway in the distribution of creative content, especially music, video, and software, Copyright Exchange believes the market for copyrights will grow increasingly active in the coming years, as traditional media companies and non-traditional investors attempt to acquire the rights to larger pools of content.

Smith and Wiles come to Copyright Exchange together as the company’s CEO and President, respectively, having partnered since 1995 in Smith, Wiles & Co., PC where they continue to provide business management services to platinum-selling artists, producers and numerous hit songwriters. Smith is a lawyer and a CPA who has been in the music business for 20 years, and Wiles is an MBA/CPA with many years of experience as a music business manager and accountant. Benson, one of the music industry’s marquee attorneys with a long and successful history of brokering copyright catalog sales, is copyright exchange’s executive vice president and general counsel. As the company’s vice president of Legal & Business Affairs, Petree brings to Copyright Exchange his diverse background from the legal departments of the RIAA, BMG and MTV Networks and private practice in the Nashville music and Silicon Valley technology industries.

Copyright Exchange invites copyright holders to consider the advantages of locking in the value of their catalogs through sale in a global marketplace. At the same time, investors are urged to discuss the prospects for diversifying their portfolios with copyright catalogs, an innovative kind of annuity that can offer tax advantages as well as the prospect for significant income through licensing and re-use.

Copyright Exchange believes that intellectual property is becoming even more than a major U.S. export and driver of the new media economy. It is rapidly maturing into an aggressive but rewarding investment opportunity as well. In the coming years, intellectual property will become a commonplace long-term holding, like stocks, bonds, or precious metals. –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner