Pandora Signs Music Rights Deal With BMG
Pandora Media announced that it struck a direct deal for music rights with the world’s fourth-largest music publisher, BMG.
BMG’s deal with Pandora is for the portion of its catalog that has been represented by BMI and Ascap. Ascap and BMI are the two huge licensing groups that have been handling performing rights…the royalty payments whenever music is played on the radio, in concert, or online for millions of songs in the US.
BMG is still part of BMI and Ascap, but it bypassed them by making the direct deal with Pandora. Analysts believe they did this to obtain higher royalty rates than those organizations provided.
According to a statement issued Thursday by Pandora, the deal gives BMG and its songwriters unspecified “marketing and business benefits.”
As the music industry continues to go digital and turns to streaming services like YouTube and Spotify, the desire to have higher royalty rates is likely going to continue to be an ongoing issue, one that direct deals may help resolve.
0 Comments