[BC] Music rights: the industry vs Pandora?

[Mike McCarthy]

Not really.  Clear Channel just signed a deal with Taylor Swift's label 
(both composing and performance) rights and that has set the bar for the 
going rate these days. Most notably the performance rate for streaming. 
There are a LOT of composers and artists who have retained their own 
rights and have negotiated deals separate from the big three and Sound 
Exchange as well.  CC's move along with the latest ASCAP and BMI deals 
will certainly influence SE's and SESAC's coming negotiations.

Of note, broadcasters still enjoy the performance royalty exemption for 
their OTA broadcasts, including the HD transmissions as they are still 
available for free. This would extend to the HD-2 signals as well.

There was a fairly serious move by the labels in this past Congressional 
session to statutorily eliminate the exemption.  A number of groups and 
the NAB fought it tooth and nail. But it's going to come back...just 
watch. This is also where the FM in cell phones concept got started.  
Broadcasters would have gone along with the performance royalty if 
broadcast receivers were made compulsory in cell phones.  We can thank 
Jeff Schmulyn for that concept which seems to be gathering steam on it's 
own and would leave the labels in a lurch.  HAH...

MM

On 6/30/2012 9:35 PM, Rob Landry wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Jun 2012, James B. Potter wrote:
>
>> Know what the larger fear is? That Pandora is buying-up all the music
>> licenses from ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC -- just a rumor now -- so if they own
>> the songs we play, will we be paying royalties to Pandora also?
> My understanding is that ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC merely represent the copyright holders, which are various composers, publishers, etc. Pandora would have to buy the rights from myriad individual owners, and I imagine that would trigger some action by the antitrust watchdogs.
>
> Does Pandora make any money? The last I heard, they were running in the red.
>
> Rob
>