The American Society of Composers, Authors
and Publishers (ASCAP), representing over 190,000
members, and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC),
representing most of the nearly 12,000 commercial
radio stations in the U.S., today announced a new
agreement totaling in excess of 1.7 Billion dollars.
This is the largest single licensing deal in the history
of American radio. The settlement, which was approved
by Federal District Court Judge William C. Conner
on October 15, 2004, provides stations with the right
to perform ASCAP music over the air and also as part
of a simultaneous stream of their over-the-air signals
on their Internet web sites. It also provides fee
certainty to both the radio industry and ASCAP's
members. ASCAP's repertory, the largest in the
world, contains more than 7.5 million copyrighted
musical works of every style and genre, in addition
to works in the repertories of over 60 affiliated
foreign performing rights organizations.
The agreement finalizes license fees for the period
2001-2003 and establishes new ASCAP licenses for the
period 2004-2009. The negotiated settlement replaces
revenue-based license fees with a set payment schedule
for the stations that will provide significant guaranteed
income to ASCAP composers, songwriters and music publishers.
Both sides will also benefit from a simplified and
streamlined administration process.
"We are very pleased with this agreement,"
said Keith Meehan, executive director of the RMLC.
"Separating royalty fees payable from radio station
revenues has been a goal of the RMLC for many years.
With this agreement we have now accomplished that
with both of the major performing rights organizations."
"Over $1.7 Billion dollars, fixed through 2009, indicates
the true economic value of our members' music to the
radio industry," said ASCAP's SVP, Director of Licensing
Vincent Candilora. "We were pleased to have reached
an agreement that establishes significant income increases
for our members that they can count on well into the
future, and provides the radio industry with the planning
information and simplified administration it views
as critical for business success. Effective negotiation
avoided the heavy cost of litigation for both sides
and resulted in an agreement which can only serve
to strengthen the longstanding partnership between
America's leading creators of music and their most
valuable customers."
About RMLC
The RMLC is an organization comprised of broadcaster
volunteers that represents the interests of the radio
industry in their dealings with the major US performing
rights organizations and on other music licensing
matters. The principal objectives of the RMLC are
to achieve fair and reasonable music performance licenses
for radio stations that reflect the realities of the
current and changing state of the radio business and
to enable radio stations to control their music costs.
About ASCAP
2004 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of
ASCAP. As the world's largest Performing Rights
Organization, ASCAP has over 190,000 composer, lyricist
and music publisher members representing all genres
of music. ASCAP is committed to protecting the rights
of its members by licensing and collecting royalties
for the public performance of their copyrighted works,
and then distributing these fees to the Society's
members based on performances. ASCAP's Board
of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers,
elected by the membership every two years.
