Music Publishing News Roundup 9.25.15: Streaming Milestone • BMI Bonuses • Pandora Rate Win
New reporting from the RIAA indicates a new milestone as music streaming revenue surpasses physical sales for the first time in the United States. Reporting from the first half of the year indicates that streaming makes up roughly one third of overall spending on music -this equates to over $1 billion and rising.
The current trend suggests that streaming will likely eclipse digital downloads to become the music industry's largest source of revenue by next year. RIAA chairman Cary Sherman noted "The data continues to reflect the story of a business undergoing an enormous transformation".
BMI has just implemented a new bonus payment system for the top performing songs from certain music streaming services. BMI will now provide a significant 25 percent increase to qualifying songs; needless to say, this comes as very good news to both songwriters and publishers. David Israelite of the NMPA commends BMI CEO and President Mike O'Neil on this action by saying "Streaming is not only the future, it is the present. It is visionary for Mike O'Neil and BMI to make this change."
On Monday, the U.S. Copyright Office said rates agreed upon between Pandora and Merlin Network may be considered in determining what royalties should be paid for songs streamed over the internet. This comes as great news to Pandora in awaiting a decision expected in mid-December from the Copyright Royalty Board which will settle royalties for internet radio. Much like numerous other internet radio companies, Pandora has urged for lower rates as the company experiences difficulties turning a profit. Following the announcement Monday morning, trading for the company spiked up 14.7 percent.
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