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As you know, I’ve been critical of how the PROs, especially ASCAP, handle our royalties. It’s an outdated system.
Now, Sony and other major labels are threatening to pull their catalogs from the PROs, to enter into direct licensing deals. In other words, people with a lot more clout than you or I are fed up too.
These changes could have a major impact on composers who rely on royalties for income, as the tide may turn more in the direction of direct licensing.
Not surprising. The music landscape has changed.
that link was locked – here’s a free version:
It seems to me that this article starts in an incendiary fashion with the real crux of the story in the final paragraphs:
“…Pandora’s litigation with Ascap and BMI was prompted by the publishers’ attempts to change their relationship with the licensing agencies by making “partial withdrawals” of their rights. Under this plan, Pandora would be forced to negotiate directly with publishers — and thus pay higher licensing fees — while Ascap and BMI would continue to represent the same songs for other kinds of outlets, like radio and TV.
That effort was rejected by judges, but publishers — as well as Ascap and BMI themselves — have asked the Justice Department to amend their regulatory agreements to allow them.
Stuart Rosen, BMI’s general counsel, said in response to Sony/ATV’s letter that the Justice Department should give publishers flexibility in how they use the rights agencies to license their music. “An all-or-nothing choice is not in the best interest of songwriters, composers and publishers,” Mr. Rosen said.”
It seems to me that Sony is saber rattling in an attempt to secure the ability to negotiate with Pandora and the like apart from the PROs but that the PROs would continue to function as usual in other realms such as tv. It appears that the PROS are actually in agreement with this.
Please correct me if I’m wrong but this hardly seems like a full on call for a wholesale abandonment of the PROs. Am I missing something or is the sky really falling?