How De Wolfe Music integrated its royalty system in three days
A family-run music library spanning three generations wrote its own accounting package, ran it for over a decade, and then replaced it with DataFlow — without giving up the bespoke software at the core of the business.
Last updated:
- 3 days to integrate the bespoke royalty package
- 8 businesses running on one system
- 250,000 titles in the music library
- 30 min typical support response
Inside De Wolfe Music.
De Wolfe Music may not be a household name, but there can’t be many people in the UK who don’t instantly recognise the Coronation Street theme tune. The rights to it, along with a quarter of a million other titles by over 600 composers, are owned by De Wolfe. The London-based company provides music and sound effects for TV, radio, media, commercial, web and live productions all over the world. Founded in 1908, it remains a family-run business spanning three generations, composing and recording original music at its own London studio.
- Sector
- Media and entertainment
- Founded
- 1908
- Library
- 250,000 titles, 600+ composers
- Sites
- Three London sites on leased lines
Replacing software they had written themselves.
40,000 lines of in-house accounting code had run the finance department for more than a decade.
De Wolfe has always done IT its own way. After poor equipment support from PC vendors in the mid-eighties, the company decided to build and support its own systems: today all desktops and servers are assembled by the in-house IT department, and all three London sites are linked by leased lines and managed from head office. Software followed the same philosophy — they wrote their own accounting package, some 40,000 lines of code.
When it came time to upgrade that package to something Windows-based, company secretary Mohamed Nazarali looked closely at the market. As someone who knew a thing or two about software, he recognised the limitations of many of the accounting solutions available: a lot of packages were still essentially DOS-based systems with a Windows front-end bolted on.
- A decade of in-house accounting code to replace without losing capability.
- A bespoke royalty package — the core of the business — that had to keep running.
- Eight separate businesses making up the group.
- Multi-currency transactions and consolidation across them.
- A hard-won scepticism about vendor support.
A Windows product that other software can plug into.
Not a DOS system with a front-end bolted on.
“It didn’t take long to see that DataFlow had been designed from the ground up to make the most of the Windows environment,” says Nazarali. “It was apparent from the beginning that DataFlow was going to be easy to use. It was a simple process to customise it to suit our specific business needs.” DataFlow was soon running the accounts for the eight businesses that make up De Wolfe Music.
The deciding factor was how easily other software integrates. Every time a piece of music or sound effect is played, De Wolfe earns revenue for itself and the composer — from a nominal £100 fee for a school production to £40,000 for a major commercial one, across more than 30,000 titles used every year. Royalties are collected by the Performing Rights Society and passed to De Wolfe, who then pay the composer. “Having written the royalty package, integration with DataFlow took less than three days. Now, sales, purchase and nominal transactions are posted from the royalty software to DataFlow instantly.”
- Accounts for eight group businesses on one system.
- Bespoke royalty software posting sales, purchase and nominal transactions instantly.
- Bank reconciliation, job sheets, exchange rates and the music catalogue linked in too.
- Standard and custom reports tailored to individuals across the organisation.
- Multi-currency transactions with simultaneous base-currency accounting.
- Consolidation of results from a range of local currencies into a chosen currency.
The bespoke systems stayed. The accounting got easier.
For a company that built its own computers because of bad support, support was the test.
Support was always going to be the sticking point for De Wolfe — poor vendor support is the reason they started building their own machines. “We run a number of third-party software packages from different vendors. DataFlow provides by far the best support,” says Nazarali. “When we have a query we want a quick answer. The DataFlow support team knows us and knows our business and will always get back to us within half an hour. I don’t ask for more than that and simply don’t understand why other companies tolerate poor support.”
His verdict on the software itself is shorter: “For an accounting package, DataFlow is fun to use and the more we play with it, the more we like it.”
| Outcome | Before DataFlow | With DataFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting software | 40,000 lines written in-house | A true Windows product, customised to fit |
| Royalty system | Standing alone | Posting to the ledgers instantly |
| Group companies | Eight sets of books | Eight businesses, one system |
| Currency | Handled per transaction | Simultaneous base-currency accounting |
| Support | The reason they built their own | A response inside half an hour |
We run a number of third-party software packages from different vendors. DataFlow provides by far the best support.
What De Wolfe run.
Ledgers across eight companies, with bespoke software posting into them.
Got bespoke software you can’t give up?
- No sales pitch
- 30 minutes
- We’ll ask about your business first
Thank you
Your request has been received.