State Champ Radio Publishing
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The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has sued Pandora for allegedly failing to adequately pay and report its monthly royalties, including in its accounting for its ad-supported tier “Pandora Free” (also known as “radio” or “free Pandora”).
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In a lawsuit filed Monday (Feb. 12) in Nashville federal court, The MLC seeks to recover the royalties that Pandora allegedly owes them and all associated late fees. The MLC is particularly concerned with “unusually low royalties per stream” reported and paid out by Pandora, starting in 2021 which they say is due to the exclusion of substantial “Service Provider Revenue and TCC for Pandora Free.” (Total Content Cost or “TCC” refers to the amount paid by streaming services to record labels for the right to stream sound recordings. The TCC and Service Provider Revenue are essential to calculating the royalties due for this blanket license).
The MLC — which is tasked with administering the blanket mechanical license for musical works, created by the Music Modernization Act — also takes issue with Pandora’s lack of retroactive royalty accounting for 2021 and 2022.
In August 2023, the royalty rate for the license administered by The MLC for the years 2018-2022 was finally determined after a five year battle in which some streaming services fought to pay lower rates for music than the Copyright Royalty Board judges initially decided on. While awaiting the final rate determination, streamers, including Pandora, paid out the previous, lower royalty rate to the music business. Once the final determination was made, it set the rates higher than what the streaming services were paying previously. As a consequence, streamers were tasked to go back and retroactively pay the proper 2018-2022 rate for music.
The MLC says it “repeatedly” reminded Pandora to report its retroactive adjustments due for 2021 and 2022, and it set a deadline for Feb. 9, 2024, which it says Pandora did not reach. (The MLC did not open its doors until 2021, and thus the retroactive adjustments for 2018-2020 are not within its purview).
Pandora has made “repeated and significant underpayments of the royalties due,” says the MLC in its lawsuit.
The news comes just weeks after the MLC and its counterpart the Digital Licensee Coordinator (DLC) entered their first-ever re-designation process, a routine five year check-up to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the two organizations. The MLC has also made headlines recently for issuing its first-ever audit of streaming services. The organization is also being audited itself by Bridgeport Music, which represents George Clinton and Funkadelic.
Lately, the music business has been fighting back against what it feels are unfair or unpaid licensing rates. Universal Music Group recently pulled its catalog from TikTok, citing the app’s inability to pay “fair value” for music. Last summer, SoundExchange, which collects and distributes performance royalties for the digital transmission of sound recordings, sued SiriusXM, which owns Pandora, for an alleged $150 million in unpaid royalties, and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) sued Twitter for $250 million for “refusing to pay songwriters and music publishers.”
Representatives for Pandora and The MLC did not respond to Billboard’s request for comment at press time.
Sony Music Publishing‘s administration division in Nashville will relocate to Nashville’s Music Row area, having signed a lease to move into the 17th + Grand building (located at 1001 17th Ave.) from its current location in downtown Nashville at 424 Church Street, a source has confirmed to Billboard. The move is slated to take place […]
The recording and publishing catalogs of late country star Toby Keith continue to bring in a combined $9 million per year in streaming and sales activity, according to Billboard estimates.
Keith, who died Monday (Feb. 5) at age 62, had slowed his output considerably over the last decade, releasing just two proper studio albums over that period: 2015’s 35 MPH Town and 2021’s Peso in My Pocket. But a vast stable of past smashes over the past 30 years, including the multi-platinum albums Pull My Chain, Unleashed and Shock’n Y’all along with 20 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, including “Who’s That Man,” “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and “How Do You Like Me Now,” allowed his catalog to remain lucrative up to the present day.
Over the last three years, Keith’s catalog has averaged nearly 475,000 album consumption units per year in the United States, according to Luminate. That consists of an average of nearly 61,000 albums (CDs, LPs, downloads) per year, as well as 152,000 tracks and about 570 million on-demand streams.
While streaming has helped country music begin to gain an international audience, some artists in the genre are racking up fans outside the United States faster than others, and Keith’s audience remained largely a domestic one. As it is, Keith’s U.S. streaming accounts for about 83% of the 686 million streams his music averaged on a global basis annually over the last three years. Likewise, his U.S. song downloads make up 91% of his annual average of 167,000 downloads over the last three years.
Overall, Billboard estimates that Keith’s album sales and streaming activity generated about $5.3 million in revenue on average over each of the last three years for his recorded music catalog, while his publishing has brought in about $3.7 million per year. However, since Keith has a stake in close to 50% of his songs, and because he likely owned the albums he released since he started his Show Dog Nashville label in 2005, he likely gets the bulk of that revenue as his take-home pay. Before Show Dog, he released music on Universal Music Group-distributed labels including Mercury, A&M and Dreamworks Nashville.
Keith was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2021 but didn’t publicly reveal the news until the following year. He died less than two months after he performed his final shows: a trio of December concerts at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas.
Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing deal with artist-writer Morgan Wallen. As part of his deal, Wallen will have the ability to sign songwriters in partnership with WCM.
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Wallen has earned 10 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits and has sold out arenas and stadiums on his One Night at a Time tour. But he’s also been deeply involved in writing many of his own chart-topping hits including “7 Summers,” “Chasin’ You,” “You Proof” and “Thought You Should Know.” Wallen’s third studio album, One Thing at a Time, has spent 18 weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart, and was named Luminate’s top album of 2023 in the U.S. Wallen was honored with the songwriter of the year accolade at the 2023 BMI Country Awards last year.
As a songwriter, Wallen’s prolific abilities as a songwriter have extended to writing songs that have become hits for Kane Brown, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Corey Kent and other artists.
Wallen said in a statement: “I look forward to working with Warner Chappell as my new music publishing partner and would like to thank them for also offering support in signing songwriters I believe in. In many ways, I feel like I’ve always been a songwriter first, and because of that, the publishing community is especially close to my heart. I’m honored to use this partnership as an opportunity to give other songwriters a helping hand. Thanks to Ben, Phil, Jessi, and their great team.”
Ben Vaughn, president/CEO, Warner Chappell Music Nashville, said in a statement, “When you listen to the craftsmanship of songs that Morgan is writing, such as the modern-day classics ‘7 Summers’ and ‘Thought You Should Know,’ and the impactful songs he’s written for other artists like ‘You Make It Easy’ (Jason Aldean) and ‘Wild As Her’ (Corey Kent), you start to understand that the man from East Tennessee is quickly becoming one of the most important songwriters of this generation. Our entire Warner Chappell team is so proud of the opportunity to represent his songs.”
Jessi Vaughn Stevenson, Sr. Director, A&R and Digital, Warner Chappell Music Nashville, added, “Morgan’s songwriting style has been original and distinct from the beginning and it is so exciting to get to work with someone who has seen massive commercial success built on authenticity.”
Each year during Grammy week, members of the Association of Independent Music Publishers‘ (AIMP) gather at Lawry’s steakhouse in Beverly Hills to hear a speech from David Israelite, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). In it, Israelite discussed the successes of the Music Modernization Act, the new UMG TikTok licensing feud, the viability of artificial intelligence regulation, and the more.
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He started the presentation with slides showcasing the publishing revenue for 2022, divided by categories: performance (48.29% or $2.7 billion), mechanical (20.27% or $1.1 billion), synch (26.07% or $1.4 billion), and other (5.37% or $300 million). Synch, he says, is the fastest growing source of revenue.
Israelite focused much of his time on addressing the Music Modernization Act, which was passed about five years ago. “I don’t want you to forget is just how amazing the Music Modernization Act was and is for this industry,” he said. “I believe that it is the most important legislation in the history of the music business… You’re going to start to take for granted some of the things… but we had to fight and win to get this done.” He pointed to successes of the landmark law like the change in the rate standard to a willing seller, willing buyer model and its creation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC).
Earlier this week, the MLC (and the digital licensee coordinator, DLC) began the process of its first-ever re-designation. This is a routine five-year reassessment of the organization and how well it is doing its job of administering the blanket mechanical license created by the MMA. As part of the re-designation process, songwriters, publishers and digital services are allowed to submit comments to the Copyright Office about the MLC’s performance. “Many of you will have a role in offering your opinions to the copyright office about that,” says Israelite. “The process needs to be respected and played out, but [The MLC] will be re-designated, and it is an absolute no brainer decision. There’s a lot about the MLC that I want to remind you about.”
Israelite then highlighted the organization’s “transparency,” the lack of administration fees for publishers and that the projection of 2023 revenue from streaming for recorded music ($6.3 billion) and publishing ($1.7 billion) “the split is the closest it has ever been,” attributing this, in part, to the MLC’s work.
He also addressed Grammy week’s biggest story: the UMG TikTok licensing standoff. “I’m only going to say two things about TikTok: 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.” At that time, the NMPA can either re-up its model license with TikTok or walk away. If it were to pull a similar punch to what UMG has done, indie publishers could either negotiate with TikTok directly for their own license, or they could also walk away from the platform.
Later, in addressing artificial intelligence concerns, he pledged his support for the creation of a federal right of publicity, but he admitted “I want to be honest with you, it does not have a good chance.” Even though the music business is vying for its adoption, Israelite says that film and TV industry does not want it. “Within the copyright community we don’t agree… and guess who is bigger than music? Film and TV.”
Still, he believes there is merit in fighting for the proposed bill. “It might help with state legislative efforts and it raises the profile,” he said, but Israelite stated that his priority for AI regulation is to require transparency from AI companies and to keep records of how AI models are trained.
Primary Wave Music has partnered with Brazilian music company Nas Nuvens Catalog. The deal marks Primary Wave’s first major move into the fast-growing Brazilian music market. Nas Nuvens Catalog is the leading independent Brazilian company focusing on the acquisition, management and marketing of music catalogs, and is one of the five largest music companies in Brazil.
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BMG has signed a publishing partnership with hitmaker Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman and his company Playground Media. Known for his recent work with Victoria Monet, Jelly Roll, Jessie Murph, Mary J Blige, Hozier, Jennifer Lopez and more, Gitty’s new agreement with BMG will allow him to continue to expand his roster of new creatives at Playground Media.
Downtown Music Publishing has signed Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat to a global publishing agreement. This new deal includes future works as well as the administration of her full catalog, including “Bubbly” and “Lucky.” She is also signed to Downtown on the recorded music side.
Anthem Entertainment has acquired the catalog of songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, including her own releases “Boot”, “In This Life”, “Time”, “Weight Of The World” and “Get To You.” It also includes hits she has written for other artists, like “Feel This Moment” by Pitbull and “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani.
Warner Chappell Music has purchased the catalog of hitmaker Jenna Andrews. This includes hits like “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” by BTS as well as “Supalonely” by Benne and Gus Dapperton, “July” remix by Noah Cyrus featuring Leon Bridges, and more.
Concord Music has signed Sleeping At Last‘s Ryan O’Neal to a global publishing deal, including both his catalog and future works. Since 1999, Sleeping At Last has written, produced and released over 20 albums and EPs, including “Turning Page,” which was featured on the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1.
Warner Chappell Music and Lady Fairchild Publishing have signed Ashley Ray to a global publishing deal. Known best for penning Little Big Town’s “The Daughters,” along with other songs for Ruston Kelly, Lori McKenna, Sean McConnell, and more, Ray’s new publishing deal will have her continuing to work with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, founder of Lady Fairchild Publishing. This is a new publishing company, focused on artist development.
Concord Music Publishing has purchased selections of Cary Barlowe‘s catalog, including Chris Young’s “Famous Friends” and “Raised on Country,” as well as songs recorded by Kelsea Ballerini, Brett Kissel, Chris Tomlin, Rascal Flatts, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Mickey Guyton, and more. The company has been working with Barlowe for years and in addition to the catalog news, the company also announces that it has extended Barlowe’s publishing deal through its creative joint venture, Hang Your Hat Music, including Barlowe’s full catalog and future works.
Prescription Songs has signed songwriting-production duo BaeRose to its roster. Comprised of best friends Dana “BaeBae” Victoria and Mariah Rose “MRose” Martinez, the duo has already been in the studio with the likes of Chris Brown, Roddy Ricch, Jason Derulo and more.
Blue Raincoat Music has signed a new global publishing deal with songwriter-producer and Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie. The deal includes the majority of his catalog and will see him reunited with Jeremy Lascelles, CEO of Blue Raincoat, who was Broudie’s longtime publisher when he was at Chrysalis Music in the 1990s.
Warner Chappell Music has signed Sara Bares to a global publishing deal. Based in Nashville, the rising songwriter has worked with Leah Mason, Simon Jonasson, Oliver Frid, Tanner Adell, Ashley Kutcher and Camille Parker to date.
The United States Copyright Office is giving the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and the Digital Licensee Coordinator (DLC) five-year check-ups with a re-designation process to ensure both are effectively fulfilling their purposes. Though this is the first time the organizations have been through this process, it is a routine occurrence that will take place every five years.
Under the review, both organizations must show compliance with the Music Modernization Act, which was passed in 2018 to replace the old song-by-song licensing system for digital streaming services with a new blanket license for musical work mechanicals. To administer the new blanket license, the MMA called for a mechanical licensing collective to be established.
At that time two entities applied, and the MLC was chosen because it was the only one that fit the MMA’s “endorsement” criteria, which said that the organization chosen as MLC had to have the support of much of the publishers and songwriters affected by the blanket license. The endorsement was meant to be “based on market share” and “measured by applicable licensing revenue.” Among others, the MLC was notably supported by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which represents the major publishers and many of the sizable indie publishers, giving it a robust coalition of support.
Similarly, the Digital Licensee Collector was intended to represent the majority interests of digital music providers affected by the blanket license in matters related to its administration. The DLC was the sole applicant and was supported by the major music streamers and the Digital Media Association (DiMA) trade organization. Both the MLC and DLC assumed their roles in 2019.
The review process will begin with the MLC and DLC writing self-reports about their performances to date as well as developments they are planning in the future.
In their comments, the two organizations will need to address several key points, as mandated by the Copyright Office. Among them: whether they have ample endorsements for their different sectors, whether they have the administrative capabilities necessary to fulfill their roles, how they govern themselves and more. The MLC must also respond to whether it has made progress on implementing the Copyright Office’s suggestions in their ‘Unclaimed Royalties’ report, and the DLC must explain how it has participated in the Copyright Royalty Board.
This self-reporting will be made available for the public. Songwriters, publishers and digital music providers can also submit their feedback about whether or not the MLC and the DLC should continue as they have been. The MLC and the DLC will then be allowed to respond to public submissions. There could also be “informal” meetings between the copyright office and the organizations to address “discrete issues” prior to making the final re-designation determination.
Last June, Congress gave the MMA a five-year review — inviting a number of stakeholders, including the leaders of DiMA and the MLC — to speak to the strengths and weaknesses of the MMA and the MLC. The comments submitted in this proceeding will likely echo some of what was raised at this hearing.
If the MLC or DLC are rejected, the Copyright Office will ask for proposals for new offices that could handle these roles in the Federal Register. But it is not expected for either organization to be replaced.
“We welcome the announcement of the Register of Copyrights commencing the first review of The MLC’s designation as required by the MMA,” says MLC CEO Kris Ahrend about the re-designation. “We are confident that this review will confirm that The MLC continues to meet all of the criteria set out in the MMA, while affording us the opportunity to highlight the many successes our team and our stakeholders have achieved since launching The MLC’s full operations.”
Piping-hot R&B singer and songwriter Coco Jones signs with Warner Chappell Music, just days out from the 66th annual Grammy Awards where she’s nominated in five categories.
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Announced today (Jan. 30), Jones strikes an exclusive publishing agreement with the major music publisher. “Music has been a constant in my life and the motivation that has anchored me since the very beginning,” she comments in a statement. “Discovering a team at Warner Chappell that shares that same passion and understands my voice and vision is very special to me.”
Born in South Carolina and raised in Lebanon, Tennessee, Jones is all-round entertainer. At age 12, she embarked on the path to tween stardom with roles on Disney Channel shows and films like So Random! and Let It Shine; appeared in the sitcom Good Luck Charlie; and more recently, she won the role of Hilary Banks on Peacock’s Fresh Prince reboot, Bel-Air.
In 2022, she signed with High Standardz/Def Jam Recordings, and the following year landed her breakthrough with the RIAA platinum-certified, Billboard Hot 100 hit single, “ICU.”
“Coco is a natural superstar,” comments Xavier Champagne, senior director, urban A&R, WCM, following the signing. “She’s a top-tier performer and has a special talent for songwriting that connects deeply with her fans.”
Now, industry plaudits await. At the 2024 Grammys this Sunday (Feb. 4), Jones will compete for best R&B song and best R&B performance (both for “ICU”), best new artist, best R&B album for What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) and best traditional R&B performance for her collaboration with Babyface, “Simple.”
“Coco Jones has one of the most unique voices out there, and it’s great to see her having her moment as both a songwriter and artist,” enthuses Ryan Press, president, North America, WCM. “She’s helping pave an entirely new era of R&B and her hustle and work ethic have led to a year of breakthroughs. Now let’s go win some Grammys.”
Anthem Entertainment has acquired select copyrights in the catalogs of hit songwriter Luke Laird and Nashville-based music company Creative Nation, which is led by Luke and music industry executive (and Luke’s wife) Beth Laird. In an Instagram post, Beth Laird noted that Anthem has acquired the released songs in the Creative Nation catalog, alongside Luke Laird’s released songs.
The Creative Nation catalog includes more than 60 radio singles, including numerous chart-topping hits such as Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget” and Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” and “Adore You,” as well as songs recorded by Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, The Highwomen, Tim McGraw, Sara Bareilles, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Jordan Davis and Kacey Musgraves.
Pennsylvania native Luke Laird is a three-time Grammy-nominated songwriter, as well as the Academy of Country Music’s songwriter of the year in 2015. He has earned 24 chart-topping songs and six CMA Triple Play awards (with each CMA Triple Play honor recognizing three No. 1 songs within a one-year span). Among his hit songs are Kacey Musgraves’ “Space Cowboy,” Eric Church’s “Drink in My Hand,” Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids,” Carrie Underwood’s “Temporary Home” and Tim McGraw’s “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools.”
Creative Nation was founded in 2011 and works in publishing, management, artist development and records. The company supports a roster that includes singer-songwriter Kassi Ashton, “Pontoon” songwriter Barry Dean, “Humble and Kind” songwriter Lori McKenna, “Riser” songwriter Steve Moakler, Travis Wood and Ben West.
“Luke and I have worked hard to sign quality people and songwriters and continue to commit to that,” Creative Nation co-founder/CEO Beth Laird said in a statement. “We are excited to announce that Anthem Music Publishing purchased Creative Nation’s exploited songs from the past 11 years. I’m grateful to Jason Klein, Sal Fazzari, Andrew Jamal, Adrian Battiston, and Gilles Godard, and everyone at Anthem who worked with our team (Derek Crownover, Megan Pekar, John Rolfe, Chris King and Kella Farris) for making this such a smooth and transparent process. It’s great to know our past copyrights are being taken care of by a great publisher and we are excited to continue building Creative Nation.”
Luke Laird added in a statement, “Over the years I have been fortunate to have songs recorded by so many incredible artists. I’m grateful that a company as renowned as Anthem sees the value in these songs, and I’m excited my exploited copyrights have been sold to Anthem alongside the Creative Nation songs.”
Anthem Music Publishing Nashville president Gilles Godard added, “I have watched Luke and Beth build a world class catalog over the last decade with iconic copyrights and amazing diversity from country to global pop hits. It is an honor and a privilege to now represent this impressive legacy body of work.”
Anthem Entertainment has deepened its country music interests in recent years, including acquiring a majority share of singer-songwriter Jordan Davis’s publishing catalog last year.
Warner Chappell Music has promoted Lázaro Hernández to senior vice president, A&R, U.S. Latin & Latin America. The Miami-based executive — who most recently helped sign Maria Becerra, Chencho Corleone and Gabito Ballesteros — will lead the U.S. Latin A&R team while expanding his responsibilities to shape the company’s overall A&R strategy in Latin America. He […]
