Pandora inks performance royalty deals with trade groups ASCAP and BMI
Pandora (P +0.8%) has struck
multi-year licensing deals with ASCAP and BMI, two trade groups that
own music publishing rights to 20M+ songs between them. In tandem with
the deals, Pandora is withdrawing its appeal of an adverse May ruling from a New York rate court regarding a dispute with BMI.
Terms
are undisclosed, though Pandora says the deals "allow both ASCAP and
BMI to further their goal of delivering improved performance royalties
for their songwriters and publishers," while allowing Pandora to benefit
from greater rate certainty and product flexibility.
As of earlier this year, Pandora paid 1.85% of its revenue to ASCAP and 1.75% to BMI. The company recently bought a South Dakota radio station in an attempt to lower its performance royalty payments.
The agreements follow direct deals
with music publishers Warner/Chappell and Sony/ATV. They're separate
from Pandora's recording royalty payments to SoundExchange (much
larger), the 2016-2020 rates for which were set last week by the Copyright Royalty Board in a much-anticipated ruling.
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