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Business News Digital Labels & Publishers
Pandora agrees temporary terms with Universal Publishing
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 3 July 2013
Universal Music Publishing Group has agreed a short-term direct deal with Pandora, though the arrangement is subject to the streaming company’s legal efforts to stop the big publishers withdrawing from the collective licensing system in the digital domain.
As previously reported, many of the big music publishers in the US, which have traditionally chosen to licence digital services via their collecting organisations ASCAP and BMI, are now looking to do direct deals with the streaming sector, believing they can get better terms as a result. Sony/ATV went first, and now Universal, BMG and Warner are following (albeit Warner, seemingly, not until 2014).
Although it did a direct deal with Sony/ATV, Pandora recently began legal action to try and have a court rule that those publishers allied with ASCAP are tied to an existing collective licensing agreement until 2016 (even though the rates to be paid under that agreement are yet to be ascertained, pending a separate court hearing).
The publishing sector disagrees with Pandora, insisting publishers retain the right to withdraw from collective licensing subject to the rules of each society. And while the digital service hopes it will prevail when the matter reaches court, it is faced with the tricky challenge that according to the big publishers, their catalogues are no longer covered by the ASCAP licence.
Hence the temporary direct deal with the Universal publishing company, which is thought to include the most favourable terms secured by a publisher from Pandora. A spokesperson for the major music firm told reporters: “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”.
