Last year marked the launch of a new company called Azoff MSG Entertainment, a joint venture between the Madison Square Garden Company and Irving Azoff, former chairman of Live Nation Entertainment. This new player has an arm called Global Music Rights which aims to get a better deal on royalties for songwriters. In fact, it promises that it will collect up to 30% higher royalties from radio stations and online services than those artists would receive from ASCAP or BMI.
Global Music Rights does not fall under the same regulations as the top two PROs, which are required to provide licenses to similar music services at a similar rate. That means it has more control over the negotiated rates in at least some performance rights situations.
“I vowed when I started this company that I was going to take care of artists,” Azoff told The New York Times. “So I tried to identify places where I felt that artists were not getting a fair deal, and the performance rights area jumped out at me.” His company currently controls the catalogs of members from Journey, Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, Soundgarden, Pharrell Williams, and Ryan Tedder, as well as the estates of John Lennon and Ira Gershwin.