Dec. 22, 2015

ASCAP AND BMI ANNOUNCE PANDORA DEALS
DEALS DON'T CHANGE NEED FOR GOVERNMENT REVISIONS
Both ASCAP and BMI today announced that they have reached new multi-year licensing deals with the streaming music service Pandora.  According to a joint statement from ASCAP and BMI: “These deals create business benefits for Pandora, while modernizing compensation in the U.S. for ASCAP and BMI songwriters and publishers.”

“While these deals represent progress (the rates that ASCAP and BMI agreed on were not announced), this does not change the need for Congress to adopt THE SONGWRITER EQUITY ACT nor does it change the need for the U.S. Department of Justice to make significant changes in the 1941 Consent Decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI rate-setting and licensing procedures,” said NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison.

“The ASCAP/BMI joint statement references ‘improved rates’ but it is unlikely that the rates are what we believe songwriters should be receiving as a percentage of Pandora’s revenue for use of their songs if the rates were determined by a marketplace standard.”
 
“We applaud ASCAP and BMI and music publishers who similarly announced new deals with Pandora in recent days. They all have a responsibility to achieve higher rates for the songwriters they represent.   However, we don’t want Congress or the Dept. of Justice to be misled into thinking incrementally higher rates are enough for songwriters in terms of fair payment. Songwriters still need the changes we are seeking from the government to eventually achieve completely fair compensation. If Pandora uses these new agreements to diminish those arguments, Congress and DOJ should not be receptive to such a message,” Herbison continued. “Hundreds of dollars in payments for millions of listens cannot sustain the American songwriting profession.”

READ ASCAP STATEMENT
READ BMI STATEMENT