Sony Music Settles Months Long Dispute With Songwriting Community
A joint agreement filed with the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board effectively ends a months long dispute between songwriters and Sony Music Entertainment.
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The National Music Publishers’ Association, the Nashville Songwriters Association International and Sony Music Entertainment have all submitted a joint agreement with the Copyright Royalty Board that will settle ongoing disagreements over the proposed new statutory mechanical royalty rates from 2018-2022.
Similar to NMPA’s previously announced settlement with record labels Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, the agreement includes a roll-forward of rates covering physical products, digital downloads, and ringtones.
The deal will also see Sony withdraw its input on proceedings about rates for on-demand streaming.
In a joint statement commenting on the deal, NMPA, NSAI and Sony Music said:
“The parties are pleased to have reached a mutually beneficial settlement in this matter. Sony Music and the music publishing community value their relationship, and as the music marketplace continues to evolve it is more important than ever that the music community stands united to demand fair market pay for songwriters and artists from all digital music services. We look forward to working together to pursue that shared objective.”
Before Sony and the associations reached an agreement, there had been some public infighting between the stakeholders, with David Israelite, CEO of the NMPA accusing Sony of trying to reduce songwriter income from on-demand streaming.
His sentiments were echoed by NSAI's executive director Bart Herbison who, in an open letter to Doug Morris, suggested that Sony was seeking to lower royalty rates while mask the reduction behind an increase in headline rates.
"embarrassingly disingenuous"
"It is embarrassingly disingenuous that Sony would attempt to hide behind its claim to “increase the headline rate” when in fact its proposal to the CRB would actually lower the rates songwriters currently receive from digital interactive streaming services. Warner Brothers, Universal and other record labels have chosen not to attempt to suppress the rates digital interactive services pay to songwriters. Perhaps they understand that ultimately their profits really rest on the great songs we create," Herbison wrote in August.
via Celebrity Access
Yeh right, Songwriters do not get paid, we get robbed. Then a crook with the label comes in and puts together a composition of our song and calls himself the writer. The song is then handed to the performers or recording artist and they play it/record it and the label sells it. The song was originally stolen from a musician/songwriter in public via spy espionage into our homes through television and radio. Universal Music Group, Warner, and Sony groups are all organized crime in action protected by paid off government personnel who use the railroad as a terrorist weapon against anyone of us who object to being their robbed for life enslaved hostage. No, we did no wrong. They do this to us from birth and continue it for our entire lives. We never knew freedom, only tyranny from a people who picked us to sell for their gain. Since we object, they use it to turn others against us and the law threatens our lives if we seek justice. All truth which I am living and have lived for as long as I recall, even unto childhood.