Copyright as a cash machine? Financial services and technology company Lyric Financial is partnering Sony/ATV to allow Sony/ATV U.S. writers and publishing clients to request advances via Sony’s SCORE royalty portal.

“We are always looking for ways to provide the highest level of service to our songwriters,” said Sony/ATV Music Publishing Senior Vice President of Worldwide Administration, Dale Esworthy. “Giving our writers the ability to see their current earnings and access them 24/7 when needed is an important innovation that we are thrilled to provide. We are excited to be the first music publisher to offer the virtual ATM.”

Lyric Financial Founder and Chief Executive Eli Ball developed the vATM to give creatives the option to access their current and projected royalties at their convenience.

"For the last two years, we have been working to automate what has historically been an extremely cumbersome manual advance process in the music industry," Ball said. "The deal we have announced today with Sony/ATV, the world's largest music publisher, is a huge validation of the platform we have worked so hard to create.”

Sony/ATV’s new SCORE royalty portal allows songwriters and copyright managers real-time access to a current royalty account. In addition, the portal’s new SCORE CARD sets out songwriters’ earnings by territory with a summary by income type, song and source for both current period and historical periods.