SoundExchange has filed a lawsuit against Muzak on charges that it is underpaying artists. The suit alleges that Muzak, a subsidiary of Mood Media Corporation, has used outdated music-licensing regulations to pay for recordings at below-market rates. Continue Reading
Congress will review another piece of proposed legislation aimed at redistributing digital royalties across the range of people who create music. The Allocation for Music Producers Act, also known as AMP, devotes a share of digital royalties to a song’s producers, mixers, and engineers. Continue Reading
RAIN News has learned that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have agreed to a 17% music licensing rate increase for the 2016-2020 royalty period. The new rate anchors an agreement between the nonprofit public media outlets and SoundExchange, the royalty collection and distribution entity representing artists and record labels to webcasters. Continue Reading
SoundExchange has reached an agreement with NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that sets royalty rates for webcasting for the next five years. In doing this, both parties shortcut the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) rate-setting process which started last year, and will conclude in December when the CRB announces new webcaster music licensing rates for 2016-2020. Continue Reading
SoundExchange filed its rebuttal document with the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), part of the “Webcasting IV” proceeding which will set music licensing rates that govern online radio royalty payments to artists and labels for the 2016-2020 period. Pandora filed its… Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced two new additions to its executive ranks. Mark Eisenberg will serve as senior vice president of strategic initiatives, while Jacqueline Peterson will take on the job of senior vice president of communications. Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced that it paid recording artists and labels $773 million in 2014. The record figure is 31% greater than the $590 million it paid out the previous year. The final quarter of 2014 boosted the full-year performance with more than 38,800 payments totaling approximately $183 million, improving on the already strong payments from Q3. Continue Reading
When a reader and pureplay station operator sent us a government notice of SoundExchange’s intent to audit the streaming royalty payments made by Live365, iHeartMedia, and CBS Radio for 2011, 2012, and 2013, we turned to broadcast law attorney David Oxenford (author of the deeply informative Broadcast Law Blog) to find out how significant the action is. Continue Reading
Martin Bandier, chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV, has added his voice to the criticism of rates paid to music publishers for streaming. “We at Sony/ATV want these digital music services to be successful because they are a great way for music fans to listen to music and have the potential to generate significant new revenues for everyone,” he said. “However, this success should not come at the expense of songwriters whose songs are essential for these services to exist and thrive.” Continue Reading
SoundExchange, the performing rights organization that collects and distributes streaming royalties to labels and artists, has released three year-end top-10 and top-20 charts. The Top Streamed Breakout Artists list is based on newness to royalty collection — specifically, qualifying recording artists can not have received SoundExchange royalty payments before September 1, 2013. Continue Reading
After a flurry of letter-writing, efforts to reach a negotiation between SoundExchange and VerStandig Broadcasting have broken down. On Oct. 24, Judge Michael Urbanski gave the parties a month to resolve the issue on their own before the court stepped in to make a ruling. Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced its third-quarter financials, reporting a payment of $267 million for the three-month period. That figure was 75% higher than the $153.7 million payout from Q3 2013. The number of payees also increased between quarters, rising from 25,836 in Q3 2013 to 31,376 in Q3 2014. Continue Reading