Sony/ATV Music Publishing has announced it will remain a part of the BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) blanket license, which means its entire catalog as well as the EMI Music Publishing catalog songs can be played as part of the hundreds of thousands of licenses granted by BMI. Sony/ATV and its administered EMI Music Publishing catalog was the first to withdraw digital rights from the two largest U.S. performance rights societies, BMI and ASCAP.
In two court rulings involving Pandora and the PROs, BMI and ASCAP rate-court judges decided that partial withdrawal––such as only taking out digital rights––violated the consent decree. Both rulings said that publishers have to be all-in or all-out with rights to all their songs.
In re-upping with BMI, Sony/ATV gets to keep the efficiencies that the PRO provides while still maneuvering for the ability to achieve market rates from digital services.
See www.sonyatv.com for more details.
