NMPA
This week’s roundup of Publishing Briefs includes several signings (and a podcast) at Sony Music Publishing, a new member country for the International Confederation of Music Publishers, and a full slate of updates from the National Music Publishers’ Association’s annual meet-up in NYC.
Big Yellow Dog Music, a Nashville-based publisher and artist development company, signed singer-songwriter and producer Landon Sears. Originally from Danville, Ky, Sears began with bluegrass fiddle before shifting to hip-hop, a genre shift that helped launch his successful career in the K-pop industry. He’s earned platinum records and No. 1 hits in Korea, with credits for top acts like NCT 127, Kang Daniel and CIX. Big Yellow Dog CEO Carla Wallace called Sears’ versatility “liberating,” while senior director Nicole Rhodes added that his “energy, hard work and talent speaks for itself.”
Sony Music Publishing inked UK-born, LA-based songwriter and producer Joe Reeves to a global publishing deal. Known for his work with artists like Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, Juice Wrld, H.E.R. and Morgan Wallen, his credits include tracks on Malone’s chart-topping album F-1 Trillion and Wallen’s latest Billboard 200 No. 1 I’m The Problem. Sony’s Clark Adler praised Reeves’ genre-spanning impact and potential for continued success, adding, “Joe is an incredible songwriter who is constantly upping his game.”
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Frank Ray inked a global publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing Nashville. Known for merging his Mexican American roots with contemporary country, Ray has gained attention with tracks like “Streetlights,” “Uh-huh (Ajá),” and his breakout single “Country’d Look Good on You,” which led to his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2022. His latest release, “Miami in Tennessee,” continues blending country and Latin influences. “Frank is a one-of-a-kind talent, and his authenticity shines through in every song he writes,” said Kenley Flynn, SMPN’s vp of creative A&R. “We are thrilled to welcome Frank to the SMP family and can’t wait to see all that’s ahead for him.”
At its annual meeting yesterday (June 11), National Music Publishers’ Association president/CEO David Israelite and general counsel Danielle Aguirre emphasized the need for unity across the industry to boost songwriter compensation. Key battlegrounds for improvement include interactive streaming, general licensing and social media. Spotify’s bundling tactics and Amazon’s revenue cuts were sharply criticized, and the NMPA also highlighted licensing gaps among small and mid-sized venues while taking aim at B2B services for rights violations. Despite challenges, the event — held in NYC — celebrated achievements, honoring songwriters like Kacey Musgraves, Rhett Akins, Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner with performances and awards. Read Kristin Robinson’s full wrap of the event here.
Philip Morgan inked a global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music Nashville and The Core Entertainment. A Texas native now based in Nashville, Morgan has written songs for artists like Chase Matthew (“How You Been (Letter to the County Line Girl)”) and earned acclaim with awards including the 2024 American Songwriter Country Song of the Year with Natalie Otto for “5 O’Clock Shadow” and NSAI’s Chapter Challenge for “Gone, Gone, Gone!” Known for collaborating with industry talent and mentoring emerging artists like Austin Michael and Hunt Pipkin, Morgan is lauded by Benji Amaefule of WCMN as an “emerging force” who “brings a valuable versatility to connect and craft timeless stories in the room.”
Soundcrest Music Publishing signed a co-publishing deal with Nashville singer-songwriter Laura Sawosko. The agreement includes her current and future works, notably her 2025 independent release Not What I Do — “Her songs are real—they draw you in,” says Soundcrest vp of A&R and publishing Michael Owunnah. Soundcrest will support Sawosko through creative collaboration, sync opportunities, and strategic development. She also recently joined PLA Media’s artist roster, boosting her industry presence.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville launched Thank A Songwriter, a new podcast celebrating songwriters in country and beyond. Hosted by SMPN CEO Rusty Gaston, the debut episode — out today (June 12) — features part one of an in-depth convo with hitmaking songwriter Ashley Gorley, coinciding with his induction tonight into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The podcast will spotlight diverse SMP songwriters, exploring their stories and inspirations.
Electric Feel Publishing signed Toronto-based artist, producer and songwriter Steve Francis Richard Mastroianni. Best known for co-writing Morgan Wallen’s hit “Love Somebody,” Mastroianni has also worked with artists like Dua Lipa, Gordo and Digital Farm Animals. Founder and CEO Austin Rosen welcomed the partnership, calling it the “start of an exciting new chapter.”
MPA Iceland joined the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), becoming its 80th national member. ICMP represents the global music publishing industry, including both major and indies across 76 national associations on nearly every continent (no Antarctic publishing biz just yet). MPA Iceland advocates for the island nation’s music publishing sector. ICMP Director General John Phelan praised Iceland’s global musical influence, citing artists like Björk and Sigur Rós, and welcomed MPA Iceland to its international network.
U.S. music publishing revenue rose 17% to $7.04 billion in 2024, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) revealed at its annual meeting on Wednesday (June 11). Last year, the trade organization reported total revenue at $6.2 billion, which was up 10.71% from the previous year.
The event, held at Alice Tulley Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center, is considered a state-of-the-union for U.S. music publishers, and this year, its CEO/president, David Israelite, and general counsel, Danielle Aguirre, focused their presentation on both celebrating hitmakers — like award recipients Kacey Musgraves, Rhett Akins, Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner — and on talking about ways to grow revenue even more.
There was also a strong focus on calling on the industry, from executives to songwriters and artists, to stand together. As Israelite said, “We should all stand behind [songwriters]…There has never been a greater need to stand up for the value of songwriters.”
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Aguirre and Israelite pointed to three key battlegrounds where remuneration can improve if the industry sticks together: general licensing (licensing for bars, restaurants, venues, etc.); social media; and interactive streaming. As Aguirre noted, 72% of publishing income is under “burdensome regulations” in the U.S. — whether by consent decree or compulsory license — but there are still ways to improve that within the current system.
Interactive Streaming
For interactive streaming, Aguirre reminded the crowd that Phonorecords V proceedings at the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which will determine the rate that songwriters and publishers will be paid for U.S. mechanical royalties from 2028-2032, are “fast approaching” in the next six months.
“One of the biggest challenges [for interactive streaming income] continues to come from Spotify’s mischaracterization of its music service into bundles, which forced the conversion of over 44 million subscribers into bundled platforms that those subscribers did not request,” Aguirre said. (Earlier this year, the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s lawsuit against Spotify, which claimed the company’s bundling of premium tiers and resultant cutting of payments to songwriters and publishers was unlawful, was dismissed by a judge who said the rules were “unambiguous.” However, the NMPA continues to attack the platform through various means, including sending mass takedown notices for podcasts and videos on Spotify that do not properly license music.)
Aguirre revealed that in the first year of Spotify’s new bundling change alone, publishers and writers have lost over “$230 million…and these losses will continue if we can’t reverse or correct Spotify actions,” she said. “In fact, if we don’t stop them, we are projected to lose over $3.1 billion through the next CRB period [which ends in 2032].”
Perhaps taking a cue from Spotify, Amazon has also bundled its music service with other offerings, allowing it to cut royalty rates for songwriters and publishers in the U.S. — another change Aguirre hit on in her remarks. “In just the last three months, we’ve seen a 40% decrease in music revenue from Amazon, which has hit the PROs particularly hard,” she said. Notably, the NMPA had a much more hopeful outlook on the Amazon bundle when it was announced; at the time, the organization released a statement saying it was “optimistic” about Amazon’s new offering and had “engaged” with the company in a “respectful and productive way” to find a compensation model for publishers that “will not decrease revenue for songwriters.”
Social Media
Social media is one of the rare areas of publishing where publishers and songwriters can negotiate without any government interference — and the NMPA is hopeful about capitalizing on that. To date, the income stream is still small: Aguirre reported that social sites like TikTok, Instagram, X and others only make up 2% of income for publishers in the U.S.
However, Israelite believes songwriters have the power to say no to this level of compensation and force the companies to treat them better.
“It’s important for songwriters to understand they already have the power to strike,” he said, despite the fact that songwriters do not qualify for a traditional union. “They do so when the people they entrust to license their songs, the music publishers and collecting societies, say no. There are key industries, such as social media, user-generated content, artificial intelligence training and lyric rights, where songwriters have the power to say no. But too often, when a music publisher or a PRO stands up to licensees who don’t want to pay fair rates, we run into a unique problem that plagues the songwriting industry: Songwriters don’t stick together. This is a tough conversation.”
Case in point: Just last year, Universal Music Group removed its catalog from TikTok in an effort to fight for its “fair value.” However, as Billboard reported at the time, a number of artists, including Ariana Grande, Beyonce and Olivia Rodrigo, found ways around the ban to continue using the platform for marketing purposes.
General Licensing
The final area of focus the NMPA addressed at the meeting was general licensing, or the performance license required to play music in public spaces like restaurants, bars, venues and clubs. While Aguirre noted that this only made up for 5% of total revenue last year, she said that “there is a substantial opportunity for growth.”
“One concern is the lack of licensing from many of these venues. For the first time, we have insight into just how much money is being lost to unlicensed mid-sized venues,” said Aguirre. In a recent study, she said the NMPA found that 80% of “venues that have 50 or fewer locations but are large enough to require performance licenses…misuse consumer streaming services to provide that music.” Others, she added, are using business-to-business (B2B) music services that “are not obtaining all of the necessary rights for the services that they are offering. Some provide features like offline listening, interactive music experiences and on-demand streaming without securing appropriate mechanical licenses.”
To remedy this issue, the NMPA announced it’s sending six cease and desist letters to B2B music services that are allegedly not properly paying for music. The organization did not specify the names of these B2B vendors.
The NMPA’s attack on B2B music suppliers comes on the heels of the U.S. Copyright Office’s Notice of Inquiry regarding U.S. PROs, wrapping up its first comment period. While bars, restaurants, clubs and other public spaces license music from PROs to use in their venues, some recently complained about the PROs’ alleged “lack of transparency” and the fact that there’s been a so-called “proliferation” of new PROs in the market, complicating (and perhaps increasing the cost of) the licensing process. While most countries have just one, maybe two, PRO options for writers and publishers to join, the U.S. now has six: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, AllTrack and PMR.
Overall Breakdown of Publishing Income Streams
As reported by the NMPA, the breakdown of income streams for U.S. publishers and songwriters is as follows:
Streaming services: 45%
Traditional sync: 8%
Radio: 8%
TV/Cable: 6%
Mass sync: 6%
General Licensing/Live: 5%
Social Media: 2%
Label: 2%
Sheet Music: 1%
Lyrics: 1%
Songwriters
It wasn’t all just business talk — this year’s meeting also celebrated songwriters. The honorees included Musgraves, who received the Songwriter Icon Award accompanied by a tribute from her friend, Leon Bridges, who performed the Musgraves-written song “Lonely Millionaire.” Musgraves also took the stage to perform “Architect” from her latest album, Deeper Well.
Akins received the Non-Performing Songwriter award this year, and the ceremony featured a special tribute from his son, country artist Thomas Rhett, who performed “I Lived It” (released by Blake Shelton) and “What’s Your Country Song,” which he wrote with his father.
Lastly, the NMPA showcased the winners of the Billboard Songwriter Awards. Those honors were originally set to be handed out at a separate NMPA/Billboard Grammy week event that was canceled due to the Los Angeles wildfires and rescheduled for the NMPA’s annual meeting. Abrams and Dessner, who received Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year and the Triple Threat Award, respectively, took the stage on Wednesday to perform “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” which they wrote together.
Gracie Abrams, Thomas Rhett, Aaron Dessner and Leon Bridges are performing at this year’s National Music Publishers’ Association annual meeting on Wednesday (June 11) at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. The event, which acts as a state-of-the-union for music publishers, has continued to integrate more songwriters into the event in recent years to honor the talents that publishers serve every day.
Abrams and Dessner are part of a special segment of the meeting, dedicated to the Billboard Songwriters Awards, a collaboration between Billboard and the NMPA which was rescheduled from GRAMMY week due to the Los Angeles wildfires. Abrams is set to receive the Breakthrough Songwriter Award to account for her fast-growing career as an artist, and Dessner will be given Billboard‘s Triple Threat Award for his success as a songwriter, producer and musician. Though to pop fans Dessner might be best known for his work producing and writing with Taylor Swift, Bon Iver, Ed Sheeran and Abrams, he is also lauded in the indie rock space as a longtime member of the band The National. Both are set to perform.
Additionally, the NMPA is giving out awards of its own. It’s Non-Performing Songwriter Award this year is going to Rhett Akins, and as part of that honor, his son, Thomas Rhett, will perform a medley of his father’s vast country catalog, which includes songs like “Dirt On My Boots” by Jon Pardi, “Honeybee” by Blake Shelton, “I Don’t Want This Night To End” by Luke Bryan, “Small Town Boy” by Dustin Lynch, “Look What God Gave Her” by Rhett, and many more.
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The NMPA’s Songwriter Icon this year is Kacey Musgraves, and Bridges is flying in to pay tribute to Musgraves by performing a rendition of two of her songs.
The NMPA Annual Meeting, which is attended by a who’s who of the music publishing business, will also feature a keynote conversation with Oliver Schusser from Apple Music, and an address from the organization’s CEO/president David Israelite this year. Typically, Israelite’s speech includes a major announcement about new action the NMPA is taking to protect publishers and their writers. Last year, Israelite took on Spotify for cutting payments to publishers by about 40% that year through a multi-faceted attack plan, which is still on-going. He has also used the stage to announce lawsuits against Roblox, Twitter and more for using publishers’ copyrights without a license in previous years.
In 2024, the NMPA gave the Songwriter Icon award to Lana Del Rey and the Non-Performing Songwriter Icon award to Savan Kotecha, who has written hits like “Azizam” by Ed Sheeran, “God Is A Woman,” “Break Free” and “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” by Ariana Grande, “I Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weeknd, “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction and more.
This year, Kacey Musgraves will be honored with the Songwriter Icon award at the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) annual meeting. The NMPA will also honor longtime Nashville hitmaker Rhett Akins as its Non-Performing Songwriter Icon Award recipient this year for his three decades of contributions to country music, including songs performed by Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, Thomas Rhett, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and more. The meeting will also feature a keynote conversation with Apple Music head Oliver Schusser.
The NMPA annual meeting, which will take place at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on June 11 in New York, is known in the business as a state of the union for the music publishing sector each year and a gathering place for its top executives to mingle. Along with honoring some of the top songwriters in the industry, NMPA president/CEO David Israelite also gives a speech at each meeting, detailing how the publishing business is doing.
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Israelite has also been known to drop groundbreaking news every year in this speech. Last year, he targeted Spotify for cutting payments to songwriters and publishers by about 40% and announced his plan to send sending an official complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as letters to the attorneys general of nine states and a list of consumer groups — urging them to stop Spotify’s efforts to bundle music and audiobooks into its premium tiers. That built on top of previous news that the NMPA had sent a cease and desist notice to Spotify for alleged unlicensed lyrics, video and podcast content on the platform, and thatthe Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) had sued Spotify. (In January, the MLC’s case was dismissed by a judge who said Spotify’s move to cut payments was supported by “unambiguous” regulations. The MLC said it plans to keep fighting.)
Other previous bombshell announcements have included major copyright infringement lawsuits against Roblox, Twitter and more, and legal action against 100 different apps for allegedly skimming music from digital services without a license.
This year’s annual meeting will include a special segment dedicated to the Billboard Songwriter Awards, which were scheduled to take place during Grammy week but were postponed due to the Los Angeles wildfires. The award recipients will be announced at the event.
“We are thrilled to honor Kacey Musgraves whose music has always been driven by lyric and melody,” says Israelite. “A consummate songwriter, she is a successful solo hitmaker and renowned collaborator. Additionally, we look forward to celebrating the career of Rhett Akins whose songwriting has been central to the growth of country music.
“We are particularly excited to feature the Billboard Songwriter Awards after our GRAMMY Week event was postponed. The honorees are incredibly deserving, and it will be a phenomenal special segment of the program.
“Finally, Oliver Schusser has been an innovator throughout his career and we are eager to get his perspective on the myriad of opportunities and challenges for digital services in the streaming economy.”
National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) president/CEO David Israelite joined the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) to give his annual State of Music Publishing address on Wednesday (April 2) at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills. In his speech, Israelite discussed hot button issues for publishers, including Spotify bundling (“we are still at war”), AI concerns, PRO reform and more.
Israelite started by sharing the NMPA’s data on the revenue sources for songwriters and publishers. It found that songwriters and publishers earn 45% of revenue from streaming services, 11% from general licensing and live, 9% from traditional synchronization licensing, 8% from mass synch (licenses for UGC video platforms like YouTube), 8% from radio, 7% from TV, 4% from labels, 2% from social media, 1% from sheet music, and 1% from lyrics. The NMPA says that 75% of its income is regulated by either a compulsory license or a consent decree, while the remaining 25% is handled via free-market negotiation.
On the AI front, Israelite explained that the NMPA is actively watching and supporting pending legal action.
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“We have not filed our own lawsuit yet, but I can promise you that if there is a path forward with a productive lawsuit, we will be filing it,” he said. As far as trying to regulate AI through policy, Israelite added, “We’re doing everything that can be done.” The NMPA is participating in both a White House initiative and a Copyright Office initiative, but he added, “If you are waiting for the government to protect your rights and AI models, I think that is a very bad strategy.”
Instead, Israelite said that the “most emphasis” should be placed on forming business relationships with AI companies. “When that date comes [that AI companies are willing to come to the table to license music], I believe the most important principle is that the song is just as valuable, if not more, than the sound recording in the AI model,” he continued.
During the speech, Israelite said he had a recent conversation with “the CEO of one of the major AI companies” who told him that “by far, the song [as opposed to the sound recording] is the most important input into these models. I tell you this because I am fearful that as these models develop, if we do not protect our rights, we will find ourselves in a situation where we are not getting as much or more than the sound recording when it comes to revenue…that is a responsibility of this entire community to fight for that.”
Israelite added that his “number one problem when it comes to revenue is how we are treated with these bundled plans,” pointing to publishers’ ongoing issues with Spotify. Last year, Spotify added audiobooks into its premium tier offerings and began claiming those tiers as “bundles,” a term referring to a type of subscription that qualifies for a discounted rate for music. Spotify claimed that it now had to pay to license both books and music from the same subscription price and subsequently started paying songwriters and publishers about 40% less for music, according to the NMPA. At the time, Billboard estimated that this would lead to a $150 million reduction in payments to publishers in the next year, compared to what publishers would have been paid if the tiers had never been reclassified.
In January, news broke that Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify had forged a direct deal that gave UMG’s publishing arm improved terms, effectively minimizing the harm caused by the previous year’s bundling change. Shortly after, Warner Music Group (WMG) followed suit with its own direct deal with Spotify for improved publishing remuneration. “I know in this room in particular, there is a great concern about what those market deals mean for the whole industry,” Israelite says. “I want to be very clear about this. I believe those market deals are a good thing, but until everybody benefits from the same protections about how bundles are treated, we are still at war. Nothing has changed.”
Israelite added later that UMG and WMG’s direct deals could be cited as “evidence” to support the publishers’ position during the next Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) fight, which will determine the U.S. mechanical royalty rates for publishers in the future. The CRB proceedings begin again in 10 months, and Israelite estimates his organization will spend $36 million in the next trial to fight for the publishers’ position. While he often noted that “we shouldn’t be in this system in the first place” during his address, Israelite conceded that despite his calls for a legislative proposal that would give publishers and writers the right to pull out of the 100-year-old system of government-regulated price setting for royalties, the “brilliant idea” is “next to impossible to accomplish.”
Israelite went on to detail all the ways the NMPA and others are still fighting back against Spotify over the bundling debacle. He noted that the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) “is doing a fantastic job of continuing the fight” against Spotify, adding that its lawsuit, which was dismissed earlier this year by a judge who called the federal royalty rules “unambiguous,” has “been revived.” He added, “[It’s] our best chance of getting back what we lost.”
Elsewhere in his speech, Israelite told the crowd of independent publishers that the NMPA has now sent three rounds of takedown notices to Spotify for various podcast episodes, citing copyright infringement of its members’ songs, and that “over 11,000 podcasts have been removed from Spotify” as a consequence.
The recent calls for performing rights organization (PRO) reform are also top of mind for publishers in 2025. Last year, the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, requesting an examination of PROs, citing two areas of concern: the “proliferation” of new PROs and the lack of transparency about the distribution of general licensing revenue. This spurred the Copyright Office to take action, opening a notice of inquiry that allows industry stakeholders to submit comments, sharing their point of view about what, if anything, should be reformed at American PROs. However, some fear that the notice of inquiry could lead to increased regulation at the PROs, further constraining publishing income.
Israelite addressed this by giving publishers a preview of the NMPA’s forthcoming comments. “I will tell you today exactly what our comments are going to say,” he said. “It is very simple. Music publishers and songwriters are already over-regulated by the federal government. Congress should be focused on decreasing regulation of our industry, not increasing regulation of our industry, and to the extent that any of these issues are substantive issues. This should be dealt with between the PROs and their members. It has nothing to do with the Copyright Office. It has nothing to do with Congress. It has nothing to do with the federal government.”
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) announced on Tuesday (Feb. 4) that it would issue takedown notices to Spotify for 2,500 podcast episodes on the platform that allegedly contain “unlicensed musical works” from 19 NMPA member publishers.
“Spotify has thousands of unlicensed songs in its podcasts, which it has done nothing to remedy. This takedown action comes as no surprise, we have warned of this issue for some time,” says NMPA president and CEO David Israelite of the takedown notices. According to the NMPA, this is just the start of the takedown requests, and the demands will continue to roll out.
This is the latest of many retaliatory actions the NMPA has taken against Spotify since last March, when Spotify significantly cut payments to NMPA’s members for premium subscriptions. By adding audiobooks into its premium subscription tiers, Spotify argued it qualified for a discounted royalty rate, known as “bundle,” given it would now have to pay for books and music from the same price tag that was once just for music. Israelite said at the time that he would “declare war” on Spotify for this move, and launched a number of actions to fight back.
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This included sending cease and desist notices for podcast and video content on its platform that were allegedly infringing on music IP; a legislative proposal, asking for the overhaul of the statutory license; complaints to the FTC and nine state attorneys general; and more. Around the same time, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) also fought back by filing a lawsuit against Spotify for the move to bundle premium subscriptions, calling it “unlawful.”
On Sunday, Jan. 26, the Spotify bundling issue was brought back into the headlines when Universal Music Group announced a new direct deal with Spotify which included changes both to the recorded music and publishing royalty rates. This marked the first direct deal between Spotify and a publisher since the passage of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), and sources close to the deal say that the agreement included improved remuneration for UMG’s publishing company, Universal Music Publishing Group, and its songwriters.
Still, all other publishers, most of which are members of the NMPA, remain on the baseline bundle rate. The NMPA told Billboard at the time that the deal was “good news for the entire industry” and that “a rising tide lifts all boats, and this signals that Spotify is coming back to the table,” but the organization also added it had no plans to stop any of the actions it had already set in motion against Spotify, and neither did the MLC.
A few days later, on Jan. 29, the MLC’s lawsuit against Spotify was dismissed, with a federal judge saying that Spotify’s move to bundling was supported by “unambiguous” regulations. The judge is not giving the MLC a chance to refile and said the law is clear. Still, if the MLC wants to, it can challenge the ruling at the federal appeals court.
These takedown requests make it clear that the NMPA is not ready to bury the hatchet with Spotify. Among the 2,500 takedown requests are podcasts that allegedly contain unlicensed musical works from publishers like ABKCO, Anthem Entertainment, Big Machine Music, BMG, Concord Music Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Kobalt, Mayimba Music, peermusic, Primary Wave Music, Reservoir, The Royalty Network, Inc., Sony Music Publishing, Spirit Music Group, Ultra Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, and Wixen Music Publishing.
Israelite adds: “Podcasts are a growing source of revenue for songwriters and publishers, and it is essential that podcasts provide lawfully produced entertainment. This is not hard to do, and Spotify knows, and has known, how to fix this problem for their users. We hope podcast hosts will stand up for their fellow creators and demand that Spotify do better. Spotify will stop at nothing to undervalue songwriters on behalf of its bottom line. Look no further than its recent bundling scheme and its ill-conceived appeal of songwriters’ rate increase in CRB III. We will not stop until the platform fixes its podcast problem, and all other areas where songwriters are not earning what they deserve.”
On Sunday (Jan. 26), news broke that Universal Music Group and Spotify had struck a direct deal affecting both the company’s recorded music and publishing royalty payments. The recorded music side of the deal marked an important step forward in UMG’s so-called “Streaming 2.0” plan, but the publishing side of it is even more noteworthy.
This agreement represented the first direct deal between a music publisher and Spotify since the passage of the Music Modernization Act in 2019, and it effectively overrides the government-regulated statutory rate for mechanical royalties in the U.S. with a private deal between the two companies. While the jointly issued press release about it was vague on details, sources close to the deal say it offers better pay to UMPG and its songwriters than before, and it signals that Spotify might be ready to bury the hatchet with U.S. publishers overall. But it’s not over yet.
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First, the context: In March 2024, Spotify added audiobooks to its platform and reclassified its premium, duo and family subscription tiers as “bundles” in the U.S., a classification streamers can use to pay discounted mechanical royalty rates for musical works. This means that Spotify started splitting the money it once only paid to U.S. music rights holders to pay for both music and books, leading to a sudden and dramatic drop in mechanical streaming royalties. (At the time, Billboard estimated a decrease of $150 million in U.S. mechanical royalties for songwriters and publishers over the first 12 months of the new classification, compared to what they would have made had the tiers never been reclassified.)
This led to a nearly year-long war between the publishers and Spotify, led vigorously by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), which launched a multi-pronged retaliation against Spotify. In the months that followed, the NMPA sent Spotify cease and desist notices for podcast and video content on its platform that were allegedly infringing on music IP; submitted a legislative proposal, asking for the overhaul of the statutory license; sent complaints to the FTC and nine state attorneys general; and more. The Mechanical Licensing Collective jumped in too, suing Spotify in May for allegedly “unlawfully” changing its subscriptions to bundles.
Then, in a surprisingly-timed announcement, the MLC’s lawsuit against Spotify was dismissed this morning (Jan. 29) with a federal judge saying that Spotify’s move to bundling was supported by “unambiguous” regulations. This timing was good for Spotify. Had the ruling come down before the direct deal with UMPG, the outcry from publishers about it would have been far worse (not to say there won’t still be some outcry). The judge is not giving the MLC a chance to refile the case, saying the law is clear and that amending the accusations would be futile, although the MLC can challenge the ruling at the federal appeals court.
But since this ruling came after the UMPG news became public, publishers now have hope for another way out of the Spotify bundle: direct deals. Although sources close to the situation say they are not aware of any other negotiations going on between Spotify and other publishers to date, the other major publishers now have precedence to argue for similar deals with Spotify. The bigger question is what happens to the small indie players. Will they be subjected to the original bundle rate while the majors get better terms? Does this further the monetary divide between indie and major publishers? UMG is the world’s largest music company and the world’s second largest publisher, after all. Not everyone has that kind of leverage.
The NMPA told Billboard at the time of the UMG-Spotify deal that it was not making any changes to the moves it had already set in motion against Spotify — and neither was the MLC. (Of course, this all came before the MLC’s lawsuit was dismissed.) The NMPA struck a somewhat hopeful tone in a statement about the UMG-Spotify deal, saying it was “good news for the entire industry” and that “a rising tide lifts all boats, and this signals that Spotify is coming back to the table.”
The question remains, however, why Spotify came back to the table with UMG for a new publishing deal in the first place. Spotify had found a way to pay less for songs. Why did Spotify make this concession?
There are a few possible answers to that. For starters, the NMPA had essentially promised that, until Spotify relented on bundling, it would make any future moves the streamer wanted to make difficult. The NMPA’s cease and desist letter cited a Wall Street Journal report that Spotify eventually wanted to offer a “remix” feature to speed up, mash up and otherwise edit sound recordings; the NMPA warned that if Spotify released “any such feature … without the proper licenses in place from our members” it “may constitute additional direct infringement.” Given the NMPA’s overall tone throughout this letter, it seems clear that this was a warning to Spotify that it needed publishers’ cooperation for remix features.
Spotify has also teased other features that would require the platform to get new, voluntary licensing approval from the publishers. In October, Spotify began hosting music videos in 97 countries — but, notably, not in the United States. In November, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek teased the idea of a higher cost ultra-premium tier, including more offerings for top fans such as high fidelity listening and, vaguely, “a bunch of other things.” A few weeks ago, Spotify partnered with The Weeknd to stream his Billions Club Live show exclusively on the platform. By developing a solution with UMPG, and maybe other publishers in the future, Spotify is signaling that it is ready to make nice so that it can push forward with its plans for new products.
It also must be noted that all of these publishing companies, as well as Spotify, are global.
While the bundling situation is specific to the United States, UMPG and other publishers are negotiating with Spotify for licensing deals in multiple markets worldwide where publishers have room to negotiate. With UMG’s direct deal, UMPG and Spotify can move forward with their plans to grow their income and presence in emerging markets — something both Spotify and UMG shareholders are keen on — without wasting time and resources threatening each other in every new licensing conversation.
It turns out that playing nice is helpful for both parties — and the market is rewarding that. Since the announcement of their new direct deal, the share price of both companies saw a positive bump. Even Warner Music Group saw upward movement, since some analysts believe the UMG deal opens the door for other major music companies to do the same.
Though it constitutes a step in the right direction, only time will tell how, and if, other direct deals between Spotify and publishers develop, and if this might grow the chasm between majors and indies.
Amazon Music is updating its “Unlimited” subscription tier to give subscribers in the U.S., UK and Canada access to audiobooks from Audible’s library of one million-plus titles, the company announced on Tuesday (Nov. 19).
With the new perk, Amazon Music Unlimited follows in the footsteps of Spotify, which revamped its subscription offerings earlier this year to include a bundle of songs and audiobooks together. Though Spotify angered songwriters and publishers by arguing it didn’t need to pay the full mechanical royalty rate since it offered multiple royalty-earning services in one, it appears that Amazon Music will work with publishers to determine new rates privately. According to a statement by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the trade organization is “optimistic” about Amazon’s new offering and is “engaged” with the company in a “respectful and productive way” to find a compensation model for publishers that “will not decrease revenue for songwriters.”
Subscribers to AMU’s individual plan and primary holders of family plans are entitled to one audiobook of any length per month, a perk that continues even after each billing cycle. For those whose appetite for audiobooks exceeds the one-per-month offer, additional titles can be acquired through Audible via monthly subscriptions or a la carte purchases.
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The additional perk comes without an increase in price — for the time being. Steve Boom, vp of audio, Twitch and games, said Amazon’s strategy is be “to add new things to the product” that add value and later “figure out what the right pricing strategy is in the long term.” In the U.S., AMU costs $9.99 for Prime members and $10.99 for non-Prime subscribers, both less than Spotify’s $11.99 monthly fee and, for non-Prime subscribers, equal to to Apple Music’s $10.99 price.
Spoken-word content has already proven a valuable complement to music. After AMU added podcasts in 2020, subscribers embraced having both music and spoken-word content in the same app, noted Boom. “The convenience of having both music and spoken word in the same app has proven really effective. It makes logical sense to bring audio books into it as well.”
Audiobooks will not be made available to Amazon Music Prime, the tier included with a basic Prime subscription, or Amazon Music Free, a free option with playlists, radio stations and podcasts.
The concept of “bundling” multiple services together has become a hot-button issue for songwriters and publishers. At the start of March, Spotify Premium subscriptions, including family and duo tiers, were quietly reclassified as bundled offerings, with both music and audiobooks included in the plans.
According to the stipulations of Phonorecords IV — the government-regulated guidelines that dictate the mechanical royalty rates for streaming from 2023-2027 — bundled services can qualify to pay out a lower royalty rate for publishing given that subscription dollars must be split between multiple services (in this case, books and songs). As a consequence, Billboard calculated that publishers and songwriters will earn an estimated $150 million less in U.S. mechanical royalties than previously expected in the 12 months following the change.
At the time, NMPA’s CEO/president David Israelite said he would “declare war” on Spotify — and he subsequently launched a multi-pronged effort to stop the streamer. This included sending Spotify a cease and desist for unlicensed lyrics, video and podcast content; filing a legislative proposal with both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committees; and filing a Federal Trade Commission complaint. Around the same time, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC) sued Spotify for “improperly” classifying these tiers as bundles.
“We are optimistic about the new Amazon bundle,” Israelite told Billboard in a statement. “Amazon has engaged with the music publishing and songwriting industry in a respectful and productive way, unlike Spotify. We expect this new Amazon bundle will not decrease revenue for songwriters. Unlike Spotify, Amazon is looking at music creators as business partners and seeking to have a deal in place before the first round of royalty payments. This is in stark contrast to Spotify who is trying to pervert the compulsory license and slash what they pay songwriters.”
The NMPA and Amazon Music have not yet reached a final agreement.
Many in Nashville’s elite country music songwriting community were honored at the Country Music Hall of Fame on Thursday evening (Oct. 24), as the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) held its 2024 Gold and Platinum Gala, honoring many of the songwriters behind several RIAA-certified singles within the 2023-2024 eligibility period.
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Prior to the beginning of the ceremony, guests and honorees mingled during a reception, noshing on hors d’oeuvres. NMPA president/CEO David Israelite ushered in the evening in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s sixth-floor reception space overlooking downtown Nashville, calling the certifications the “most definite measurement of songwriters’ success.”
The evening feted nearly 120 multi-platinum honoree songwriters from Nashville’s songwriting community, with over 150 gold, platinum and multi-platinum-certified writers in attendance. Ninety-one songs were honored that have earned double-platinum or higher certification for the eligibility period.
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Uniquely, the evening’s honored songs spanned decades, feting new certifications for Toby Keith’s 1990s signature hit “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” while other honored songs, such as Shaboozey’s “A Bar song (Tipsy),” were released only months ago.
Israelite also recognized the essential advocacy work and support of the RIAA’s chair/CEO Mitch Glazier and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) executive director Bart Herbison in making the evening honoring songwriters possible.
Bailey Zimmerman brought his joyous energy to the stage, recalling a bit of his songwriting process, and how he merged the chorus from one song idea with the verse of another idea to form one of his breakthrough hits, his 4x platinum “Fall in Love.” “Show up every day and keep writing songs because you never know which will be the one,” Zimmerman said, before also performing “Rock and A Hard Place.”
“My first-ever platinum record, y’all!” singer-songwriter Hailey Whitters said earlier in the evening, before performing her RIAA platinum-certified song “Everything She Ain’t.”
Ashley Gorley
Tony Sarria/NMPA
Breland performed his Gold-certified “For What It’s Worth,” turning in one of the best vocals of the night. He followed with his new song “Same Work,” from his new album 2024 Project.
Throughout the evening, NMPA Exec. VP and general counsel Danielle Aguirre recognized those writers celebrating 2x platinum-certified songs, while NMPA senior vp, external affairs Charlotte Sellmyer revealed more multi-platinum songs.
Later in the evening, the late Country Music Hall of Famer Toby Keith’s longtime manager TK Kimbrell accepted on behalf of the late Keith, for Keith’s 3x platinum-honored “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and the 2x platinum “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” while Keith’s longtime song collaborator Scotty Emerick accepted for songs including the 3x platinum “As Good As I Once Was,” and the 2x platinum “Beer For My Horses,” and “I Love This Bar.”
Also celebrated was late songwriter Kyle Jacobs, for his work in crafting the 5x multi-platinum song “Rumor.” Jacobs’s parents Reed and Sheri Jacobs accepted the honor on his behalf, and drew a standing ovation from the crowd of Nashville music publishers and songwriters, many of whom have collaborated with Jacobs over the years.
The male songwriter of the year accolade went to Ashley Gorley. Notably, the prolific Gorley beat singer-songwriter Zach Bryan to win the NMPA honor by a single song certification this year.
Israelite called Gorley a “primary crafter of today’s country sound and why it’s reached unprecedented crossover appeal.” Gorley briefly thanked his co-writers, as well as publishers at Sony Music Publishing, and his Tape Room Music colleagues, saying simply and earnestly, “Thank you for this.”
The female songwriter of the year honor was awarded to Jessi Alexander, for her work on songs including Luke Combs’s “5 Leaf Clover,” Little Big Town’s “You, Me and Whiskey” and Morgan Wallen’s “The Way I Talk.”
“I thought I’d work at Subway forever, but thank you for giving me my dream job, which is writing songs,” Alexander said, before thanking her husband, songwriter Jon Randall, as well as her publishers, including Warner Chappell Music Nashville’s president/CEO Ben Vaughn and vice president, A&R and digital Jessi Vaughn Stevenson.
The evening closed with Israelite introducing Jordan Davis, who performed his double platinum-certified “Next Thing You Know” and the 4x platinum-certified “Buy Dirt.” “I always say this song was written about the three most important things in my life: my faith in Jesus, my wife, my kids-my family-and my friends,” Davis said of “Buy Dirt.”
Addressing the songwriters, publishers and other industry members in the room, Davis added, “Thank you for what you do day in and day out. I’m grateful to be in Nashville, Tennessee and get to be a songwriter alongside all of y’all.”
See the full list of the honored songwriters and songs below:
Double-platinum songs:Chase McGill and Jaren Johnston for “5 Foot 9”Blake Pendergrass for “865”Danny Orton for “19 You + Me”Jerrell Jones and Mark Williams for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”Brandon Kinney and Josh Thompson for “Ain’t Always the Cowboy”Carson Chamberlain and Wade Kirby for “All Over The Road”Hillary Lindsey and Jordan Davis for “Almost Maybes”Chris DeStefano for “Aw Naw”Chris Lane and Jacob Durrett for “Big, Big Plans”Drew Parker for “Doin’ This”Luke Laird for “Down To The Honkytonk”Ben Burgess and Mark Holman for “Flower Shops”Ben Johnson for “Give Heaven Some Hell”Barry Dean for “Heartache Medication”Jonathan Singleton for “Houston, We Got A Problem”Brett Jones and Rob Hatch for If “Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away”Chris DeStefano and Josh Hoge for “Losing Sleep”Billy Montana and Brian Davis for “Memory I Don’t Mess With”Daniel Breland, Devon Barton, Edrick Miles, Kalvin Austin, Tatiana Zeigler and Troy Taylor for “My Truck”Chase McGill, Greylan James and Jordan Davis for “Next Thing You Know”Chris DeStefano for “Nothin’ Like You”Brett James and Tony Lane for “On My Way to You”Jared Keim and Ryan Beaver for “Pretty Little Poison”Alexander Palmer, Austin Shawn, Bailey Zimmerman, Frank Romano and Marty James for “Religiously”Josh Kerr for “She Likes It”Sergio Sanchez for “Spin You Around”Ben Williams, David Fanning and Paul Jenkins for “Tennessee Orange”Gary Hannan for “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off”Andy Albert, Dustin Lynch and Will Weatherly for “Thinking ‘Bout You”Jordan Schmidt and Renee Blair for “wait in the truck”Jordan Davis and Ryan Hurd for “What My World Spins Around”Lindsay Rimes for “Whiskey on You”Paul Jenkins for “Who I Am With You”Tofer Brown for “Wine, Beer, Whiskey”
3x platinum songs:Johnny Bulford, Jon Stone and Phil Barton for ‘A Woman Like You”Jordan Reynolds and Nicolle Galyon for “All To Myself”Wayne Kirkpatrick for “Boondocks”Dave Barnes and Julian Bunetta for “Craving You”Eric Paslay for “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”Chris DeStefano for “From the Ground Up”Brock Berryhill, Shy Carter, Taylor Phillips and Will Weatherly for “Good As You”Brock Berryhill, Matt McGinn and Taylor Phillips for “Homesick”Chase McGill and Will Weatherly for “Lose It”Billy Montana and Tofer Brown for “Night Shift”Hillary Lindsey and Jake Mitchell for “One Beer”Brad Warren, Brett Warren and Jim Beavers for “Red Solo Cup”Mark Sanders and Tim Nichols for “She Had Me At Heads Carolina”Jacob Durrett for “Somebody’s Problem”Christian Stalnecker and Josh Hoge for “Thank God”Dan Isbell, Reid Isbell and Jamie Davis for “The Kind of Love We Make”Ben Hayslip, Chase McGill and Jessi Alexander for “The Way I Talk”Charlie Handsome and Taylor Phillips for “Thinkin’ Bout Me”Anthony Smith for “Tomorrow”Brian White, Rodney Atkins and Steve Dean for “Watching You”
4x platinum songs:Jacob Davis, Jordan Davis and Joshua Jenkins for “Buy Dirt”Austin Shawn, Bailey Zimmerman and Gavin Lucas for “Fall In Love”Rachel Thibodeau for “Good Directions”Bart Butler for “Heartache On The Dancefloor”Ben Hayslip and Rhett Akins for “Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ Every Day”Corey Crowder and Josh Hoge for “I’m Comin’ Over”Jason Matthews and Marty Dodson and for “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right”Ben Johnson for “One Of Them Girls”Nicolle Galyon for “Thought You Should Know”Charlie Handsome for “You Proof”
5x platinum songs:Ben Glover, Billy Montana and John Ozier for “Hard to Love”Sammy Mitchell and Steven Battey for “One Number Away”Heath Warren and Jet Harvey for “Rock and a Hard Place”Kyle Jacobs for “Rumor”Brad Clawson for “Up Down”
6x platinum songs:Jonathan Singleton for “Beer Never Broke My Heart”Jamie Moore for “Chasin’ You”Joshua Jenkins and Shane Stevens for “Fancy Like”Charlie Handsome for “More Than My Hometown”
7x platinum songs:Charlie Handsome and Ryan Hurd for “Heartless”Charlie Handsome for “Last Night”Channing Wilson and Rob Snyder for “She Got The Best of Me”Jordan Reynolds and Laura Veltz for “Speechless”
8x platinum song:Charlie Handsome and Josh Thompson for “Wasted On You”
9x platinum songs:Taylor Phillips and Thomas Archer for “Hurricane”Jordan Schmidt and Matthew McGinn for “What Ifs”Ben Burgess and Kevin Kadish for “Whiskey Glasses”
10x platinum songs:Lindsay Rimes, Matthew McGinn and Shy Carter for “Platinum Heaven”Trent Tomlinson and Tyler Reeve for “In Case You Didn’t Know”
12x platinum Song:Charles Kelley for “Need You Now”
During the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) annual meeting on Wednesday (June 12), the trade organization said it had calculated total U.S. publishing revenue at $6.2 billion in 2023, up 10.74% from the previous year.
The event, held at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, is thought of as a state of the union for the U.S. music publishing business. During the presentation, it’s also common for NMPA president/CEO David Israelite to announce major actions it’s taking against tech companies on behalf of publishers. This year, he targeted Spotify, sending an official complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as letters to the attorneys general of nine states and a list of consumer groups — urging them to stop Spotify’s efforts to bundle music and audiobooks into its premium tiers. It’s the first time the NMPA has involved the FTC in its fight with a tech company.
For publishers and songwriters, Spotify’s decision to include audiobooks in its premium tiers and categorize those tiers as “bundles” — a type of plan that qualifies for a discounted rate on U.S. mechanical royalties given that multiple products are offered under one price tag — means a lower royalty rate for music given that both music and audiobooks must now be paid out from the same royalty pool. In May, the NMPA launched its war with Spotify by sending a cease and desist letter to the streamer for allegedly hosting lyrics, music videos and podcast content that contain their members’ copyrighted musical works without proper licenses.
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In Wednesday’s FTC complaint, the NMPA says Spotify “has deceived consumers by converting millions of its subscribers without their consent from music-only subscriptions into ‘bundled’ audiobook-and-music subscriptions, publicly announcing increased prices for those subscriptions, failing to offer an option for subscribers to revert to a music-only subscription, and thwarting attempts to cancel through dark patterns and confusing website interfaces.” (For more on this, check out Billboard‘s full coverage of the FTC complaint here.)
Aside from Israelite’s big announcement, the event also honored top songwriters for their contributions to the music business — including an opening tribute to songwriter and outgoing NMPA board member Ross Golan. The NMPA also issued awards to Lana Del Rey, this year’s Songwriter Icon recipient, and Savan Kotecha, winner of the Non-Performing Songwriter Icon award. Elsewhere, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” was honored with NMPA’s Iconic Song award, featuring a performance of the song by Ingrid Michaelson.
The event additionally featured fireside chats with Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group, and Shira Perlmutter, register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
NMPA’s annual meeting comes amidst a busy year in the music publishing business. At the start of 2024, the MLC, which collects and distributes U.S. mechanicals, began its first-ever redesignation process — a routine five-year review of its operations to determine if any changes need to be made to the organization.
The same month, UMG pulled its music catalog from TikTok, including its publishing interests, alleging that the short-form app did not pay the “fair value” of music while also raising concerns regarding AI and artist safety. The NMPA showed its support for UMG regarding the move and even joined the music giant by letting the NMPA’s model license with TikTok, used by a number of indie publishers, lapse at the end of April. (UMG and TikTok eventually made a deal.)