Business
Page: 200
Interscope Geffen A&M chairman/CEO John Janick unveiled the newly restructured ‘West Coast’ label operation for the Universal Music Group today (March 7), under the banner Interscope Capitol Labels Group, with himself retaining the title atop the new configuration. As part of the announcement, longtime IGA vice chairman Steve Berman retains his title atop the new company, overseeing things for Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Capitol, Blue Note, Priority, Verve and Motown; and IGA CFO and longtime finance veteran Annie Lee takes on the title of chief operating officer at the new ICLG.
Under the new configuration, Capitol Music Group chief financial officer Geoff Harris will become the CFO of the new company, which is the result of the major overhaul of the Universal Music Group label structure that UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge first announced on Feb. 1. Under the new structure, UMG’s West Coast labels now fall under Janick’s purview, under the banner of ICLG, while its East Coast labels — consisting mostly of Republic, Def Jam, Island and Mercury — will be overseen by Republic co-founder and CEO Monte Lipman. News of the new East Coast structure is also expected soon.
Trending on Billboard
More details of the ICLG configuration are still to come, but Capitol Music Group’s new executive structure has come into focus this past month, with former Geffen boss Tom March as chairman/CEO and UMPG veteran Lilia Parsa as president, following the departures of prior CMG chair/CEO Michelle Jubelirer and president Arjun Pulijal. The company has been going through extensive layoffs in the past week, as IGA and Capitol formally merge together.
In a press release, Janick said that, in addition to Berman’s continued role overseeing the labels and the ICLG brand, Lee will work with Harris to “integrat[e] finance, operations and culture” and make sure that “ICLG runs efficiently and sustains a positive experience for its artists and teams.”
“Steve and Annie are both highly accomplished executives who have been critical to our company’s growth and success for more than two decades,” Janick said in a statement. “They have worked closely with me in redesigning ICLG to benefit and enhance each individual label under our umbrella and foster an entrepreneurial spirit that will set the standard for what a modern music company should be. I congratulate Steve and Annie on their well-deserved promotions, and look forward to sharing enormous success with them in the coming years.”
Berman is an Interscope legend, having joined the company in 1991 just after its founding and risen through the marketing and sales ranks to president by 2005, then vice chairman of the expanded IGA in 2010 alongside label co-founder and CEO Jimmy Iovine. Berman retained the title after Janick took over in 2014, and now takes on additional oversight of the Capitol labels under ICGL.
“Every aspect of our redesign will enable us to provide optimal support for our artists and their creativity, while securing the best and most innovative opportunities that will help expand their global brands,” Berman said in a statement. “I’ve devoted nearly my entire career to this company and its artists, and I am excited to continue working with John, Annie and the entire ICLG team on this next phase of our journey.”
Lee joined Universal in a finance role in 2005, and moved to Interscope the following year, rising through the finance ranks at the company to become CFO in 2019. In her new role, she takes on operational responsibilities for the broader label group.
“I am looking forward to working with John, Berm and our entire team as we continue to build ICLG into a modern music company that is both a powerful partner to artists and their teams and a fulfilling and creative environment in which to work,” Lee said in a statement. “We are well positioned for the future and I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Warner Music issued a formal notice on Thursday disclosing its interest in acquiring the French digital music company Believe, a surprise move that would entail outbidding an earlier effort by a consortium led by the firm’s founder and CEO. The announcement, made before the opening of the Euronext Paris stock exchange, where Believe is listed, […]
If bosses at the world’s biggest technology companies were still in any way doubting the European Union’s commitment towards regulating the digital marketplace, the 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) fine levied against Apple on Monday (March 4) by the European Commission for breaking competition laws over music streaming served as a powerful statement of intent.
This week, more new EU rules come into force governing how the largest online platforms operate in Europe, now that the deadline for complying with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has passed.
Beginning today (March 7), the six tech giants designated “gatekeepers” by the European Commission — Apple, Google parent company Alphabet, Amazon, TikTok-owner ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft – are required to comply with a raft of legislative changes designed to rein in their global dominance.
Trending on Billboard
They include outlawing companies favoring in-house services at the expense of third-party providers and forcing platforms to offer other businesses, such as apps, access to the data they generate – allowing smaller services to contact their customers directly and making it easier for users to switch services.
The laws are enforceable by fines of up to 20% of total worldwide turnover (aka, gross revenue) for repeat infringers, or, in extreme cases the “last resort option” of forced divestments and the break-up of businesses.
THIS IS FINE
The changes are already having a significant impact on digital music services and, in turn, the global record business.
In January, Apple announced that it will begin allowing European users to download app stores other than the company-operated one that comes installed on iPhones. It will additionally lower the fees it charges developers for purchases made through the App Store, reducing commission from the existing 15% to 30% level to between 10% and 17% for developers using the company’s payment-processing system.
However, Apple’s plans to charge “high volume” services with over one million users a €0.50 ($0.54) “Core Technology Fee” per download, per year, for using alternatives to the App Store has been heavily criticized by a number of European businesses, including Spotify and Deezer.
“Apple’s new terms not only disregard both the spirit and letter of the law, but if left unchanged, make a mockery of the DMA,” said the streaming services in an open letter to the European Commission, sent last week and also signed by 32 other European digital companies and associations, including trade body Digital Music Europe.
The new fee structure, which only apply in the 27 EU member states, will deter app developers from opting into the revised terms “and will hamper fair competition,” say Spotify and Deezer, calling on regulators to take “swift, timely and decisive action against Apple.” (In January, Spotify stated in a company blog post that the new fees “equates for us to being the same or worse as under the old rules.”)
Similar anti-competition concerns were behind the European Commission’s decision to fine Apple 1.8 billion euros at the start of March, following longstanding complaints from Spotify over Apple’s restrictions to outside developers and the 30% fee it charges them on all purchases made through iOS apps. (Apple has said it will appeal the fine, which was issued under existing EU terms, rather the Digital Markets Act).
Defending its response to the new EU provisions, Apple estimates that less than 1% of developers will pay the Core Technology Fee and warned that the DMA brings greater risks to users and developers by compromising its ability to detect malware, fraud and illicit content in external apps.
NOT JUST APPLE
Other so-called gatekeepers – defined by policy makers as a platform with an annual turnover of more than 7.5 billion euros ($8.1 billion) and more than 45 million active monthly users in the EU region — are also making sweeping changes as a result of the DMA.
Aside from Apple, music executives will be paying most attention to how ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok responds to the law’s provisions. In November, the company launched an appeal against the EU’s classification of TikTok as a “gatekeeper” arguing that the platform is a “challenger, not an incumbent, in the digital advertising market” and that the new rules could hamper its ability to “remain competitive and grow.”
Despite the ongoing legal challenge, TikTok has already taken a number of steps to comply with the terms of the DMA, including the launch of enhanced data portability tools that allow developers to download and export data profiles, followers and posts from TikTok to other services with users’ permission. These changes are being introduced now to European users, TikTok announced in a blog post on March 4, “with plans to roll out globally in the near future.”
In January, Google and YouTube parent company Alphabet announced that it will allow users to pick their default browser and provide more links to competing sites when searching Google – although, like Apple, Alphabet’s compliance with the DMA has been questioned.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter) this month, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney criticized the tech giant for imposing a commission fee of up to 27% for any app purchases made not using Google’s payment services. (Google/Alphabet has previously been issued three major fines totaling 8.2 billion euros by the EU over antitrust issues).
Meanwhile, Meta is allowing users to separate their Facebook and Instagram accounts to prevent personal information being shared for targeted ads. Amazon is modifying its Amazon Ads service to provide stronger data protections for customers, and Microsoft is implementing changes to its Windows operating system.
The terms of the Digital Markets Act only apply to companies and services operating in the 27-member state EU block, but their impact extends far afield. Following the EU’s lead, similar regulations to rein in tech companies’ dominance are being drawn up in several other nations, including Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Australia and the United Kingdom.
What meaningful impact the DMA or comparable international legislation will actually have on curbing Big Tech — and the music companies that either drive or rely upon them to reach audiences — could take years to be felt, if at all, but EU regulators say they are not shying away from the challenge.
“We are looking very carefully at how companies are complying [with the DMA]” the European Commission recently said in a statement, “and once we have full enforcement powers will not hesitate to act.”
Spotify will pass-on the music streaming tax imposed by the French government by hiking its subscription prices in that market.
As previously reported, France’s National Assembly last December approved a so-called “CNM Tax” on streaming brands, the funds from which would finance the national public body, The Centre National de la Musique (CNM), which was created in 2020 and is already partly financed by the live music industry.The tax was predictably decried by the streaming services. For platforms that earn more than 20 million euros ($22 million) in annual turnover — including Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer — a new tax charge of 1.2% would be applied on all streaming revenue generated in France in addition to their existing tax duties. Social media platforms including Facebook and TikTok, which license and feature music, would also be subject to the taxes.
Spotify, the global market leader, said it couldn’t absorb the Macron government’s new costs and would offset them one way or another.After announcing back in December that the streaming giant would pull its financial support to a number of local music festivals, Spotify today (March 7) confirms a price increase for its premium packages – applied only to subscribers in France. Reps from Spotify claim the tax doesn’t add up. This new fee “will generate approximately 15 million euros, when the CNM’s administrative budget (office fees, personnel, capital expenditure, media monitoring or professional training etc.) sits at 20.2 million euros,” reads an open statement issued today.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Our concern is that possibly less than half of its overall 146.9 million euros budget will find its way toward effectively aiding music.”Spotify, the message continues, “has proudly championed French artists for the past 15 years; we certainly didn’t wait for the CNM to be created in 2020 to help artists find success in France, and outside of France; to help promote French repertoire and grow the royalty pool for French rights holders. Spotify’s payments have totaled close to 225 million euros in 2022 alone (or about 1/4th of all the French recorded music industry revenues for that year). That is up more than 200% percent since 2017.”The price increase isn’t laid out, though Spotify promises to update its French subscribers over the coming weeks with full details.
Trending on Billboard
“To put it bluntly, all French users will see their subscription plan fee go up,” the message confirms. “French users will now pay the highest subscriptions across the European Union.”
Read Spotify’s open-letter below.
Spotify Premium subscribers in France will soon experience a price increase due to additional costs on music streaming services imposed by the government, as part of the “CNM Tax.” While we worked very hard to encourage the government to avoid adding this tax, unfortunately they decided to move forward.
Perhaps you’ve never heard of the CNM – it’s a public body that commissions studies on the French music industry, and provides financial aid to record labels and the live industry. At the end of 2023, as part of its 2024 budget, the French government decided that digital music streaming services will now have to pay a new tax in order to finance it. Our worry, on top of what would be equivalent to a double payment on our part, has been that this tax will not go directly to artists, nor will it have a tangible output visible to fans; instead, it will simply come at the expense of listeners, and create an additional middleman – the CNM. In fact, this tax will generate approximately 15 million euros, when the CNM’s administrative budget (office fees, personnel, capital expenditure, media monitoring or professional training etc.) sits at 20.2 million euros. Our concern is that possibly less than half of its overall 146.9 million euros budget will find its way toward effectively aiding music.
Spotify has proudly championed French artists for the past 15 years; we certainly didn’t wait for the CNM to be created in 2020 to help artists find success in France, and outside of France; to help promote French repertoire and grow the royalty pool for French rights holders. Spotify’s payments have totaled close to 225 million euros in 2022 alone (or about 1/4th of all the French recorded music industry revenues for that year). That is up more than 200% percent since 2017.
Yet, with the creation of this new tax, Spotify would be required to give approximately two-thirds of every euro it generates to music to rights holders and the French government. Of course, this is a massive amount and does not allow for a sustainable business. As we have long said, we simply can’t absorb any additional taxes. Even after making the difficult decision to reduce our artist marketing budget and support of French music festivals – which is an essential vehicle for Spotify to continue to drive hundreds of millions of euros to the music industry – it still continues to impede our ability to operate in France. Accordingly, over the coming weeks and months, we’ll need to make changes to our price plan in France.
To put it bluntly, all French users will see their subscription plan fee go up. French users will now pay the highest subscriptions across the European Union.
Spotify is increasing prices in France in order to offset these new costs. We’ll come back to our French subscribers over the coming weeks with the full details on the upcoming price increase.
For more information on the global streaming economy, the players, and the process, visit our website Loud & Clear.
The Ivors Academy, a U.K.-based songwriter advocacy organization, has named Roberto Neri as its new CEO.
The organization was previously helmed by Graham Davies, who is now the leader of the Digital Media Association (DiMA) in the United States, and interim CEO Charlie Phillips.
Neri has worked in the music publishing business for over 20 years. Previously, he held C-suite roles as CEO of Believe’s publishing operation and CEO and COO of Utopia Music Services. His other previous positions include executive vp/head of business development at Downtown Music, founder/CEO of Eagle-i Music, vp of international at Bug Music and publishing relations manager at PRS for Music.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Additionally, Neri has erved as chair of the Music Publishers’ Association and director of the UK Music, PRS for Music, MCPS and PPL/PRS boards. He is the trustee of Music for My Mind, a charity that provides music therapy for dementia patients and their caretakers.
Established in 1944, The Ivors Academy — previously known as the British Academy of Songwiters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) — advocates for songwriters’ best interests in local politics and in the music business. In recent years, it has campaigned to introduce the EU copyright directive, amplified the #BrokenRecord campaign to call out unfair streaming economy practices and partnered with YouTube Music to host a songwriting camp for members. The organization is perhaps best known for its annual songwriter award ceremony, the Ivor Novello awards, one of the biggest nights in music publishing in the United Kingdom.
Trending on Billboard
“On behalf of the Board and Academy, I am thrilled to welcome Roberto Neri as our new CEO,” said Tom Gray, the Ivors Academy chair. “He brings a huge breadth of industry experience, knowledge and leadership skills. His commitment — and ours to him — is to be the most influential voice for songwriters and composers in the world.”
Neri added, “I am deeply honored and humbled to step into the role of CEO of The Ivors Academy. It is a dream job to fervently advocate for and represent songwriters and composers, who I have been fortunate enough to represent for over two decades globally. I believe now, more than ever, is the pivotal moment to ensure music creators’ interests are protected, championed, valued and recognized for their central and indispensable role in the success of the entire music business.”
GYROstream, the Australian-owned music distribution company, assembles a new-look leadership team at home and abroad, as the business pursues its goal to become the country’s No. 1 net exporter of music, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Leading the changes is Adrian Burke, former label partnerships lead at Spotify Canada, who is tapped to steer its North America activities, which include GROUP SPEED, GYROstream’s recently-launched boutique artist services company.
Based in Toronto, Burke is named GM at GROUP SPEED, with duties for guiding strategic direction for the new business in North America and liaising with the group’s team to help “elevate artist careers,” reads a statement.
Trending on Billboard
Burke completed a seven-year stint with Spotify, where he cultivated key partner relationships for the streaming giant, developed global artist campaigns and implemented data-driven strategies to help create millions of incremental streams for artists worldwide, reads a statement.
Burke is one of several new faces at GYROstream, which, across all brands, boasts 39 employees in seven countries, including company co-directors Andy Irvine (CEO), Viv Mellish (CMO) and Alex Wilson (head of distribution and customer service).
New faces at the tech business include Harry Young, who steps into the newly-created role as senior A&R manager role across the group, working alongside Burke. Young served in A&R capacities for more than a decade with Dew Process Records + Publishing, where he discovered Mallrat and worked with a roster that includes Spacey Jane, Tkay Maidza, Allday, YNG Martyr, Tyne-James Organ, Alice Ivy and more.
The fleshed-out A&R team includes Benjamin James, now appointed as global head of A&R across all brands; and Australia-based A&R and streaming partnerships coordinators Molly Jackson and Taylor Dwyer, a new recruit based in Los Angeles with a primary focus on GROUP SPEED.
Among the key arrivals at GYROstream is trailblazing digital strategist Alison Bremner, who is named as head of artist marketing strategy, a prominent music post working across both GROUP SPEED and GYROstream. Bremner is recognized for her part in @thexhan’s success on TikTok as the short-video platform’s most-followed creator in Australia with 18 million fans, and for facilitating partnerships with Gucci, Red Bull and other blue-chip clients.
(From left to right) GYROstream’s Alex Wilson, Adrian Burke, Viv Mellish and Andy Irvine.
GYROstream
Based in Brisbane, GYROstream expands its core operations team at its headquarters, adding staff in customer service, distribution operations, product development and royalty management, topped off with a fresh website.
“Expanding our artist services offering globally through GROUP SPEED and opening it up to new markets as a standalone product is the next evolution of our business and we can’t wait to see what this team achieves together,” comments group CEO Irvine. Exporting Australian and New Zealand music to the world is a critical piece. “We believe we are well on the way to becoming Australia’s leading net-exporter of recorded music within five years and this new team are determined to achieve that goal,” he continues.
Founded in the Queensland capital in 2018, GYROstream represents thousands of artists across Australia and New Zealand for artist services and global digital distribution, and delivers to upwards of 100 digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple, TikTok, Amazon and YouTube.
In 2021, GYROstream took out The Music Network’s Tinnie award for Music Distributor of the Year; the following year launched Find My ISRC, a tool to assist DIY artists, managers and labels to keep track of their recordings online; and in 2022 established the GYROrecords label.
Today, its suite of activities include royalty payment splits, publishing administration via GYROpublishing, publicity through GYROpr, digital marketing through GYROdigital, and the white-label distribution platform DistroDirect.
Key staff have made the long haul for SXSW 2024 for DistroDirect’s official showcase event next Tuesday, March 12 at Las Perlas, in Austin, TX.
Sony Music is quickly fighting back against a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former assistant to Columbia Records chief executive Ron Perry over race-conscious hiring policies, saying the allegations are “contradictory and false” and are designed to “harass her former employer.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The case, filed last week by Patria Paulino, claims that she was forced to resign after she pushed back on hiring practices that allegedly discriminated against white applicants. She claims she was “explicitly told that she could only hire Black candidates” because Perry wanted bolster the appearance of diversity.
But in a blistering motion on Wednesday – an unusually fast response for any lawsuit – attorneys for Sony and Perry called the accusations “contradictory and false” and asked a federal judge to toss them out of court.
Trending on Billboard
“She alleges … that defendants both discriminated against her because they preferred white employees but also constructively discharged her because she would not play along with their preference for non-white employees,” the label’s lawyers wrote, adding the italics themselves for emphasis. “In reality, plaintiff worked for Sony … for less than five months, performed poorly, and was a willing participant in the entirely legal hiring practices she now alleges were discriminatory.”
Sony’s response argued that far from being effectively fired, Paulino “voluntarily resigned after receiving unfavorable performance feedback.” The label said she had filed her case simply “to harass her former employer and boss, who sought only to help her succeed in her job.”
Though it sharply criticized the merits of the case, Sony’s filing actually attacked the case on simpler grounds: That the federal court where she filed the case cannot procedurally hear it. The company says there is not the required cross-state jurisdiction for the case to be handled in federal court.
In a statement to Billboard, Paulino’s attorney Erica L. Shnayder stressed that Sony’s motion “involves a procedural issue” and “has no bearing on the factual allegations which are supported by text messages.” Shnayder added: “The case will proceed forward.”
Paulino sued on Friday (March 1), claiming that after she was hired by Sony in late 2022, she was repeatedly told she could not hire white candidates for a vacant assistant role in Perry’s office. She says that Perry had been hit with “multiple racial discrimination complaints by former employees” and that he and the company wanted to “have more color in his office.”
“Although numerous Caucasian candidates were qualified for the position, they were removed from consideration because of their race,” Paulino’s lawyers wrote in their complaint.
The lawsuit came in the wake of a high-profile Supreme Court ruling last year that outlawed the use of race-conscious admissions in higher education, commonly known as “affirmative action.” Though that ruling didn’t directly deal with hiring or with the state laws at issue in Paulino’s case, it has led to overall increased scrutiny of corporate practices aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion. Last week, CBS and Paramount were hit with a similar lawsuit, claiming they had broken the law by using diversity quotas that discriminated against white men.
Despite the directives to aim for diversity, Paulino’s lawsuit claims she “continued to recommend qualified Caucasian applicants” for the role. At one point, when she advanced a particular white candidate, she says that another Sony employee told her in writing: “We can’t hire another white Jewish girl unfortunately.” Her lawyers say Sony conducted “sham” interviews with candidates of all backgrounds, but in reality was determined to only hire a Black candidate.
In March 2023, Paulino says she was effectively forced to resign from her job. A Sony employee allegedly told her to do so because she “was not really working out,” but she says the move was made “in retaliation for plaintiff’s opposition to defendants’ discriminatory hiring practices.”
As noted in Sony’s response, the lawsuit also includes other allegations beyond the hiring policies. In addition to claiming the company discriminated against white job seekers, Paulino (who says she is Hispanic) also claims that the company also discriminated against her on the basis of her race.
A spokesperson for Sony Music declined to comment on the lawsuit’s allegations, citing the pending nature of the case.
Attorneys for Linkin Park are pushing to end a lawsuit that accuses the band of refusing to pay royalties to an ex-bassist who briefly played with the band in the late 1990s, saying such claims have been repudiated for “over two decades.”
In a motion to dismiss the case filed Tuesday (Mar. 5), lawyers for Mike Shinoda and other Linkin Park members say Kyle Christner’s lawsuit is “rife with defects.” Among them, they say, is that the statute of limitations on such claims has “long since passed.”
“Plaintiff claims that defendants … owe him money because he was a member of the band for, at most, eight months, 25 years ago, and was not paid for his ‘contributions’,” writes the band’s lead counsel, prominent music litigator Edwin F. McPherson. “He asserts three claims, each of which fails.”
Trending on Billboard
Christner sued Linkin Park in November, claiming he had been a member of the band for several months in 1999 until he was “abruptly informed” that he had been fired shortly before the band signed a record deal with Warner Records. He accused the band of continuing to profit from songs he helped create, while effectively erasing his involvement.
“Christner has never been paid a penny for his work with Linkin Park, nor has he been properly credited, even as defendants have benefitted from his creative efforts,” his lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
In addition to Shinoda, the lawsuit also named Linkin Park’s other living members (Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson and Joseph Hahn), as well as its business entity, Machine Shop Entertainment, and the band’s label, Warner Records.
The dispute was seemingly triggered by an anniversary re-release of the band’s smash hit 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory, which holds the lofty distinction of being the best-selling rock album of the 21st century. Christener claims the special 2020 box set included several songs to which he had contributed, including a never-before-released demo track that has amassed 949,000 views on YouTube.
But in Tuesday’s response, the band’s lawyers say those allegations are deeply flawed. Among other issues, they say the lawsuit failed to clearly identify what songs Christener was involved with and instead relies on “open-ended” statements like that he’d “likely” been involved in “numerous” songs. “Defendants cannot reasonably be expected to know how to respond to the [lawsuit] without knowing which copyrights are being addressed,” the complaint reads.
For the songs that were properly identified, the band’s attorneys say the lawsuit is clearly barred by the statute of limitations. Copyright ownership disputes must be filed within three years, they say, adding that the band has obviously refused to acknowledge his claims for far longer than that.
“Defendants repudiated Plaintiff’s purported ownership in any and all of the works mentioned in the [lawsuit] more than three years before Plaintiff filed this lawsuit — and indeed for over two decades,” the band’s lawyers wrote.
Even for the never-before-released songs, Linkin Park says Christener missed his window: “The Box Set was released in October, 2020; this action was filed on November 8, 2023 — over three years later.”
Christener’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment.
Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) founder Willie “Prophet” Stiggers has joined the founders board of the Neil Lasher Music Fund at Caron Treatment Centers, which provides financial assistance to music workers for drug and alcohol addiction treatment. With Stiggers in the fold, BMAC and the fund will work together to help address the stigma of […]
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) warned some of its members on Tuesday that the organizations’ license with TikTok ends April 30 and it “do[es] not anticipate” to renew, extend or form a new license with the platform, according to a letter obtained by Billboard.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This means that a lot more music could be removed from TikTok come May, spreading the reach of recent music takedowns far beyond what users have already experienced since Universal Music Group began pulling its recorded music and publishing catalogs off the platform in the last month. The NMPA license is used by a number of independent music publishers, but the organization has previously declined to specify which ones.
“Recently, the press has highlighted concerns around TikTok’s licensing practices, concerns that NMPA has heard directly from many of our members,” says the organization in its letter to members.
Trending on Billboard
If publishers wish to continue to license their works to TikTok, the NMPA’s letter urges publishers using its license to “engage directly with TikTok to negotiate a license beyond April 30.” For those that wish to let the license lapse at the end of April, the NMPA says its attorneys are available to “discuss enforcement options.”
“It is important that all NMPA members understand that without a license in place, TikTok should not be using your musical works on its platform,” the organization wrote.
The NMPA negotiates its TikTok license an optional offering for its membership, allowing them to bypass the strain and cost of negotiating directly with the short-form video app. Though the major music publishers are part of the NMPA’s membership, they do not use the NMPA model license for TikTok and, instead, negotiate their deals directly.
David Israelite, the NMPA’s CEO and president, previously announced that the NMPA license was up for renewal in April, but this is the first time the organization has acknowledged that it will not be pursuing that renewal. “I’m only going to say two things about TikTok,” Israelite said at an Association of Independent Music Publishers’ event in Los Angels on Feb. 1. “The first is I think music is tremendously important to the business model of TikTok, and, secondly, I am just stating the fact that the NMPA model license, which many of you are using, with TikTok expires in April.”
The NMPA is known for its aggressive approach to licensing negotiations with social media sites, streaming services and gaming platforms. On Tuesday, it was announced that a federal judge will allow the NMPA’s multi-million dollar lawsuit against X to go forward, although it tossed some significant elements of the case. The NMPA has also similarly fought back against Twitch, Roblox, and Pandora in recent years.
Read the full letter to NMPA members below:
If you are receiving this Member Alert you are currently participating in a license with TikTok through NMPA’s 2022 model license opt-in.
NMPA is notifying all participants that these two-year licenses are set to expire on April 30, 2024.
Recently, the press has highlighted concerns around TikTok’s licensing practices, concerns that NMPA has heard directly from many of our members.
At this time, we do not anticipate that there will be an option to renew or extend the current NMPA licenses or participate in a new license with TikTok through NMPA.
NMPA members should make their own business determination whether to engage directly with TikTok to negotiate a license beyond April 30, 2024.
It is important that all NMPA members understand that without a license in place, TikTok should not be using your musical works on its platform.
Starting May 1, 2024, any members who are not licensed with TikTok and would like to discuss enforcement options can contact attorneys at NMPA.
If circumstances change prior to the expiration of the current TikTok licenses, NMPA will promptly notify members.
We are here to answer your questions.