Pandora doesn’t like signing direct licensing deals with music publishers at all, as shown by its moves to force publishers to continue licensing it through ASCAP. Yet major publishers are withdrawing their catalogues from ASCAP specifically to negotiate (higher) direct deals with Pandora, putting the streaming radio service in a spot of bother while it awaits a legal ruling on whether the publishers should be allowed to. Hence the news yesterday that Pandora HAS signed a deal with Universal Music Publishing Group. “We can confirm that UMPG has worked out an arrangement with Pandora that we believe is in the best interest of our writers while ensuring Pandora access to our music through the end of the year,” a UMPG spokesperson tells Billboard, whose sources suggest it’s “the highest rate the Internet webcaster has ever paid to the music publishing sector”. The bar there being Sony/ATV’s direct deal with Pandora earlier in the year, which is thought to be for a pro-rata share of 5% of the company’s revenues, but Billboard speculates that UMPG may be closer to the 10% rate that’s also being offered by Apple for its upcoming iTunes Radio service.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools :: Wyng
Through Music Ally’s internal marketing campaign tracking, we’ve recently discovered an interesting website by the…