“The Myth of Royalty Free Music” - Notes from the AMP National Performing Rights Organizations Committee Meeting

Synopsis

Jan 26, 2022- 1:00 pm PST

Attendees

Georg Bissen, Kerry Smith, Liz Myers, Edwin Cox/West One. Administrators: Digital Economics/Don Jasko;Windfall/Marisa Davis; Megan Samuellian; Manage Ad Music/Nan Wilson. Not present:; Elad Marish, David Della Santa, Megan Samuellian.

Agenda

Discussion of status of the official AMP letter presenting its stand on “The Myth of Royalty Free Music” as well as response from the quarterly calls with BMI & ASCAP.

Reports

“THE MYTH OF ROYALTY FREE MUSIC’

Georg Bissen shared that the statement that originated with the East Coast Board has now made its way through the National Board. It is presently in the hands of the PMA. A recent phone call with Joe Saba & Morgan McKnight which included Matt Miller of the AICP (AMP Consultant) brought to AMP’s attention that often the request is for Performance Free licenses. The vocabulary is being clarified.

THINGS THAT WERE DISCUSSED:

  1. “There are clients who announce themselves as ‘royalty free’ but in fact we are collecting performance royalties for them,” said Nan Wilson of Manage Ad Music.

  2. Do royalty free libraries exist? The client doesn’t want any surprise payments.

  3. Uptick in Direct Licensing. “This is an influencer,” says Edwin Cox.

  4. “Direct Licensing is 30% higher, but this doesn’t filter down to the composer in business models where they don’t participate in the sync fees,” -Kerry Smith.

  5. New advertisers and new companies who don’t have a blanket agreement with the PRO’s often prefer a direct license.

  6. So many digital companies are operating globally. There are gaps in the licensing.

  7. “Most TV networks are licensed under a program license with ASCAP, BMI & SESAC,” says Don Jasko/Digital Economics. Ambient, incidental & ad music operate under a mini-blanket , ABC, NBC. Syndicated shows like ‘The View’ use a Direct License. The stations litigated this,” he adds. “The network programming’s main revenue is local news.”

  8. “Netflix shows pay based on viewership. This can mean very little for an unsuccessful/catalog show but shows like ‘The Office’ are achieving close to network level performance income.” EC.

REPORT FROM BMI CALL

  1. Georg Bissen was on the call and came away with the feeling that BMI had nothing new to report.

  2. However, the feeling is that advertising is returning to pre-Covid levels.

  3. The numbers don’t show this. According to Don Jasko, revenue is 16% lower than March & April 2020.

  4. AMP is putting pressure on BMI to get paid for mnemonics.

  5. BMI claims they are working with Tik-Tok to establish an agreement for payments.

OBSERVATION

In September, BMI changed the way they are reporting. There is now a “blended pot” Local/Network/Cable are all in the same pot. Right now ASCAP pays more for Facebook & youtube due to the recent legal settlement.

Meeting adjourned at 2:15 pm PST. Notes taken by Liz Myers