We heard from US publishing body the NMPA on Friday evening as news of the Copyright Royalty Board’s final ‘Phonorecords III’ ruling broke. Yesterday two of the most active acquirers of publishing copyrights, Hipgnosis Songs Fund and Round Hill Music, offered their views too.
“We still have plenty of room for improvement before we have a rate that’s genuinely fair and equitable but this is an important step on the road to finally, properly recognising the value that songwriters bring to the industry and the lives of the billions of people all over the world,” said Hipgnosis CEO Merck Mercuriadis.
He also alluded to what we suggested yesterday: that attention may now focus towards the respective shares of the streaming pie taken by songs and recordings. A topic that Mercuriadis has made waves with in the recent past, causing tensions with the NMPA.
“The CRB has delivered a strong message not only to the digital service providers like Spotify but also to the recorded music companies about the importance of the songwriter in our industry,” as he put it yesterday.
Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss left the labels out of his response, choosing a diplomatic path of congratulating the NMPA for its lobbying efforts, and looking ahead to the next ‘Phonorecords IV’ process.
“The Company has been acutely aware for some time that songwriters and publishers have been disproportionately paid by streaming services in the USA and this ruling goes some way to address the imbalance,” said Gruss.
“The CRB IV negotiations for the next five year period from 2023 to December 2027 have now commenced, with the writers publishers asking for a mechanical streaming royalty rate of 20%, something that we hope will come to pass when the times comes.”
As two prominent, publicly-listed companies focused on acquiring publishing rights, Hipgnosis and Round Hill will be hoping for a boost from the CRB decision: for their revenues; their share price; and any future fundraising plans to bolster their investment pipelines.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools :: We Are Giant
With “fan communities” being on every artist’s team’s mind, we’re fans of the fact that…