Workspace Fit for Music Copyright Royalty
Ice Services – By songwriters, for songwriters
Motive were introduced to Ice Services fresh off the back of the move into their Devonshire Square, City Fringe, space in 2025, after a stunning fit out from Hop Interiors laid the groundwork for their sleek new HQ.
The music rights holder specialists have always prided themselves on their purpose driven ethos, culture, and tongue in cheek humour, with new tech models and campaigns often named after ice puns.
This combination of rich values, playfulness and people-centric work culture brought forward a requirement for their new space to represent those traits harmoniously in a tangible fashion.
Whilst Ice were in flux with their brand identity, they were acutely aware of what they stood for, enabling Motive to translate those pillars and emotion in a tangible manner throughout their office.
Staff submitted their favourite albums and each of those were put on display in the heart of the space, with CD cover art where artist’s names were replaced by staff names and album titles switched out for their job roles, creating Ice’s Greatest Hits wall.
From classics like Oasis’ ‘Definitely Maybe’, to Ice team members’ own albums, the display is a reflection of the widespread tastes and talents of the team as a whole and has since developed into a playful tool for conversation and debate throughout the office.
Key to their effectiveness in simplifying the complexity of music licensing is their relationships with strategic partners in the industry, these collaborators are displayed proudly outside the boardroom in ice-like resin blocks, a wink to their love of puns and all-important tech platform ‘Cube’. So pleased was Peter de Mönnink, Ice’s CEO, that he brought a block into his next company-wide meeting like a proud dad.
Motive-made bespoke artwork decorates the hallway walls as a reminder of Ice’s purpose; simplifying licensing; by song writers, for song writers. Each of these framed pieces takes reference from album ‘liner notes’, where artists have given insight into their writing process, with imagery taken from inner record sleeves, typically unseen or heard of.
The oft-forgotten reasoning behind artist’s work, their depths of rhyme and reason, are here written directly onto the glass of these framed works; a nod to the process of a licensed song typically starting from a pen in hand.
2 murals sandwich the open plan area in monochromatic style, as hand-painted undulating waves mimic audio recordings, which evolve and transform as they pass through various platforms and gates, representative of Ice’s innovative copyright tech, where songs are translated into protected data. Within the small dots towards the top of the murals are tiny hidden references to the code that these songs become with Ice’s database – a sign of the lengths Motive go to to accurately depict companies inner workings.
Finally, in Ice’s tucked away working booths are framed artwork created from the data of their most streamed songs. Hits like The Weeknd’s ‘Flashing Lights’ and Ariana Grande’s ‘We Can’t Be Friends’ are depicted as infographics according to their worldwide popularity, taking inspiration from Ice’s unique multi-regional reach.
Ice now boast a space that operates effectively for their rhythm of work, whilst telling their story of purpose in methods that provoke conversation and unity. Their inspirations and ethics are the muse for their décor, which proudly composes an orchestra of emotional belonging.
