Pandora has been re-thinking its licensing, inking direct deals with labels and publishers over the past two years. Despite those changes to the audio company’s licensing structures, SoundExchange will still be managing Pandora’s payouts to artists from the free tier. Continue Reading
As 2016 crawls to a close and 2017 emerges on the horizon, it’s time for that most time-honored of traditions: the year in review. Music companies of all stripes have released their assessments of top performers from the past twelve months. Here’s a collection of the high points from 2016. Continue Reading
SoundExchange shared its data for Q3 2016 royalty payments. The company paid out $263.5 million in royalties during the period. That’s growth of 29.2% from Q3 2015’s $204 million. Continue Reading
SoundExchange has filed its royalty rate request to the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) for satellite radio’s use of music recordings. This is part of the “SDARS III” proceeding, which will set music royalty rates for Sirius XM, taking effect in the 2018-2022 period. Continue Reading
SoundExchange has forecast that it will deliver $860 million in payouts this year. President and CEO Michael Huppe gave the prediction at the A2IM convention. Huppe also used his speech to discuss the organization’s policy platforms. Continue Reading
When the Copyright Royalty Board set new figures for the 2016-2020 time frame, SoundExchange was vocal in its stance that the $.0017 and $0.0023 rates were too low. Now it is preparing to mount an appeal of that decision, filing a statement to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 31. Continue Reading
Intellectual property attorney Angus MacDonald was the first to calculate that Pandora paid more than half of all SoundExchange collections of royalties to record labels. In this column, he calculates a higher percentage for 2015, noting that the growth of SoundExchange royalty collections is tied closely to Pandora, and that the pace is slowing. Continue Reading
SoundExchange is launching a new tool for seeking and finding data about international standard recording codes. The SoundExchange ISRC Search Site is a free resource for exploring the roughly 20 million ISRCs reported to the industry organization. From this new database, the ISRCs can be used for tracking and reporting use of sound recordings. Continue Reading
Royalty payments are the single biggest cost for Internet radio and audio streaming services. Guest columnist Bret Kinsella examines SoundExchange’s Q4 financial statement, and matches it up to streaming growth metrics. The two datasets don’t match, but it’s not about lower revenue to the music industry. It’s about the money taking different paths to get there.
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Garth Brooks has been recognized by SoundExchange as the first country artist to secure more than 1 billion streams on digital radio. The achievement means that Brooks received the SoundExchange Digital Radio Award for his popularity across digital radio. Continue Reading
SoundExchange released its digital radio report for Q4 2015, a publication marking growth for both the quarter and the year. The company’s royalty quarterly distributions increased 16% over the year-ago period to $211.4 million. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published its acknowledgement of SoundExchange’s intent to audio the music royalty payments of Pandora and several broadcast groups. An audit sounds alarming, but in fact is a standard annual process. Continue Reading