Pandora has signed a U.S. license agreement with music rights management company BMG for its complete catalogs of both ASCAP and BMI music. Few details about the multi-year agreement were disclosed in Pandora’s press release, but it did point to mutual business and marketing perks for all parties involved.
This is a positive development for Pandora, considering the legal hoops it jumped through in 2013 with both BMI and ASCAP in regards to collective licensing. Today’s agreement also bears some similarity to the deal Pandora struck with Universal Music Publishing Group in January. The online radio service is proving that it can successfully play ball with the music industry’s big players, but we’d be very curious to know any financial details about the BMG arrangement. ASCAP recently appealed its lost case to get increased royalty payments from Pandora, so the PRO’s leaders must have had some mixed feelings about today’s news.