Music News 1/24/13

Pictured (L-R): Walter Campbell (AIMP board), Kerry O'Neil (AIMP board), David Cook (moderator), Scott Sellwood (Rightsflow/Google), Patrick Sullivan (Rightsflow/Google), Jill Napier (Admin Director, AIMP), David Preston (AIMP board), Eli Ball (Treasurer, AIMP), Michael Kauffman (Rightsflow/Google). Photo: Heather Cook.

The AIMP hosted Rightsflow/Google representatives on Jan. 14 in what was a second Nashville gathering to discuss monetizing published copyrights on YouTube. The sold-out presentation, titled Mo’ Money for YOUR Music, was held at BMI’s 6th floor theater as part of a series to inform and educate publishers about YouTube’s Content ID system.

Since last year, publishers have been able to elect the Harry Fox Agency to manage YouTube revenue, or enter into direct agreements with the audiovisual provider themselves. Either way, a covenant to not sue is signed upon partnering, releasing litigation rights to pending or future suits against YouTube and its owner, Google.

Potential revenue for publishers flows from advertisements surrounding videos, which are either uploaded as user-generated covers, user-generated uploads containing a sound recording or licensed music videos. Publisher revenue for licensed music videos is intended to be paid directly to labels according to VEVO and Warner agreements. As of now, Universal is the only label that has agreed to disseminate these payments, including retroactively (albeit to 2010).

“If publishers were actually getting money from labels, we think they would be more enthusiastic about partnering with us,” said Sellwood of the issue.

The presentation included an information video and is part of monthly AIMP gatherings. Find more information here.

Read MusicRow’s full feature, and  previous feature on YouTube royalties and pick up a copy of the latest Digital Toolbox print magazine, focusing on today’s music industry digital landscape.

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The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA) is working with Google Play to deliver rights management services for its digital music service for Android devices and the web.

HFA’s rights management service, Slingshot, will support Google Play as it taps into HFA’s comprehensive rights database and extensive publisher relationships to facilitate the licensing of music for use in its music locker and music store. HFA will also provide license administration and process royalty distributions to publishers.

Google Play offers digital music, movies, books, magazines, apps and games for Android devices and on the web. More than 1.3 million new Android devices are activated each day around the world.

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Sony/ATV has negotiated a 25 percent increase in the royalty rate it receives from Pandora, according to the New York Post. The deal will last 12 months. This is a coup for songwriters and publishers who have been paid nominal fees for song performances on non-interactive streaming services, such as Pandora.

It has been widely reported that as of 2013, Sony/ATV is no longer using ASCAP and BMI to collect digital performance royalties. This change allows the publishing giant to negotiate rates directly with Pandora and similar services.

Payments to songwriters and publishers for online performances have been a hot topic in recent months. In November 2012, NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison and songwriter/NSAI President Lee Miller explained the situation to MusicRow. Giving a specific example of the low payments received by songwriters, Miller explained that five hit songs collectively received 33 million spins on internet radio during the third quarter of 2012, and the songwriters were collectively paid $500 in royalties.

According to Pandora’s 2012 annual report, it paid 49.7% of its revenue in royalties to SoundExchange, which pays labels and artists, and 4.1% of its revenue in royalties to the US PROs, which in turn pay songwriters and publishers.

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Warner Music Group and The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) have negotiated a model licensing deal for music videos.

Under the agreement, songwriters and music publishers receive a percentage of the revenue generated from WMG’s music videos in exchange for the use of their musical works in these videos. The deal will be offered to all NMPA members on an opt-in basis through the Harry Fox Agency (HFA).

Additionally, songwriters and publishers who opt into the WMG agreement may receive retroactive payments for past use of musical works in WMG music videos. The agreement also provides songwriters and music publishers with compensation for offerings relating to ringtones, ring back tones and dual disc, multi-session audio and locked content physical products.

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Pictured (L-R): ASCAP's LeAnn Phelan, Jonathan Kingham, Brittany Aultman, Sarah Allison Turner, Keith Walker, Austin Smith, Ryan Plappert, Brian Burke, Jillian Arciero, Kris Hitchcock, ASCAP's Ryan Beuschel and Chris Drizen

ASCAP Senior Creative Director LeAnn Phelan and Creative Manager Ryan Bueschel have announced the names of the twelve unsigned songwriters that will make up the ASCAP GPS Project Class of 2013. Now in its third year, the program puts emphasis on getting the best of Nashville’s unsigned ASCAP songwriters in front of the city’s vibrant publishing community. Twelve writers are paired with twelve publishers for one meeting a month, along with a follow-up meeting to help develop the writer and solidify the relationship.

ASCAP’s GPS Project Class of 2013 participants are: Jillian Arciero, Brittany Aultman, Brian Burke, Chris Drizen, Kris Hitchcock, Jonathan Kingham, Anthony Olympia, Ryan Plappert, Dara Sisterhen, Austin Smith, Sarah Allison Turner and Keith Walker.

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‪Kobalt has officially launched a label services division. One of the first noteworthy releases will be Push the Sky Away, the fifteenth studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Releases from the company’s Nashville office could follow.

Kobalt Label Services (KLS) is designed to be a full-service solution for releasing and marketing records while letting artists maintain ownership of the masters. The division is providing a full spectrum of services including global distribution via digital retail, D2C, physical retail and subscription services, as well as marketing and promotion, advanced data analytics and royalty tracking, and synch licensing.

Additionally, the publishing giant has inked an exclusive, worldwide administration deal with trio Lady Antebellum providing full global creative and synch services and represent all songs written by the trio (Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood) for their highly anticipated Capitol Nashville release. Kobalt will also represent select Lady Antebellum catalog repertoire, including works on their 2011 album, Own The Night (Capitol Nashville), including the recent smash hits “We Owned The Night” and “Just A Kiss,” and the songs “Cold As Stone,” “Singing Me Home,” and “Somewhere Love Remains,” among others.

Pictured (L to R): Dave Haywood, Kobalt’s Director of Creative Jeff Skaggs, Hillary Scott, Kobalt SVP Creative Whitney Daane, Charles Kelley, Kobalt VP of Creative Stephanie Cox, and Lady Antebellum attorney Linda Edell Howard of Adams & Reese.