A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

Posted in News by A2IM

In a major settlement between the music industry trade associations for record labels, music publishers and digital music providers, the Copyright Royalty Board, is expected to maintain the mechanical rate structure set forth from prior proceedings concluded in 2008 while creating new rates and terms for five new digital music service categories.

The agreement, which must still be formally approved by the CRB, maintains a song rate of 9.1 cents for downloads, CDs and other physical formats, 24 cents for ringtones, and the same formulas, with limited changes, used to determine the mechanical rate for different kinds of subscription and free interactive-streaming services.  Read the full story originally published in Billboard.biz by Ed Christman HERE.

Posted in News by A2IM

F.B.T. Productions sued Universal on behalf of the publisher’s share they control from Eminem’s compositions saying that digital downloads were not subject to the contract royalty rate but instead was licensing income subject to a 50% payout as Eminem’s contract was signed in 1998, predated the digital era, and did not address digital downloads. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled last year that the artist and his producers were entitled to be paid this 50 percent of the sale price, and, unfortunately yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that they would not review the lower court decision.  Read more here.

Universal Music Group noted in a statement, “the case has always been about one agreement with very unique language . . . as it has been made clear during this case, the ruling has no bearing on any other recording agreement and does not create any legal precedent”.

We think most music labels would agree with Universal Music Group that these are CD replacement sales and not ancillary licensing income. What to do now? A2IM does not give legal advice but we do want to share that some of our members are following Universal’s lead and taking the position that the Eminem case does not set precedent but relates to the wording in his particular contract only and that each contract needs to be interpreted individually. Then a label can negotiate a contract amendment, presuming the artist doesn’t want to go to court, and come up with an amicable solution/contract amendment. Again we will not be giving legal advice but anyone wanting to discuss this further can call us at A2IM.

Posted in Member Services, News by A2IM

If you’ve been around the music business a while – or even if you haven’t – you’re sure to run into Counterpoint’s Maestro suite of software for music labels, production music libraries, and publishers. Setting the standard for catalog management and rights and royalties administration software for over 400 customers worldwide, Counterpoint Systems has been the leading provider in the music, entertainment, and brand licensing industries for over 23 years.

Although our business has expanded over the years, we remain committed to where we started, in the independent sector of the music industry. We are a proud associate member of A2IM – and have sponsored A2IM’s hugely successful cocktail parties at MIDEM for the past three years. This year promises to be just as deliciously successful! We encourage you to stop by our booth #R34.07.

Specifically, Counterpoint’s music industry clients use Maestro software to:

• Save time and money by replacing manual tasks with automation
• Reduce the risk of manual errors from using spreadsheets
• Improve your service to songwriters, composers and artists with tools like online statement delivery
• Have a single integrated system incorporating catalogue management, client administration and royalty processing
• Use industry-standard formats for sharing data with other companies such as societies, sub-publishers, digital stores…and much, much more!

RECORD MAESTRO
Counterpoint’s Record Maestro software, developed specifically with labels in mind, helps put independents on a level playing field with the majors, providing a complete solution for label administration at an affordable price and offering industry standard interfaces for label copy data, sales data and royalty transfers.

Record Maestro gives independent labels a solution that addresses the whole business. It is the only software package that will automate your royalty processing, digital sales imports, digital store distribution and society reporting requirements. Counterpoint spends time talking to independent labels to ensure Record Maestro gives you what you need across your entire business.

Royalties are a cost to any independent label’s business, but Record Maestro can reduce those costs. It can reduce the cost of your time, replacing manual tasks with automated processes. For example, Record Maestro provides online statement delivery – compare that to the time and cost of printing and mailing paper statements. Record Maestro also removes the risk of manual errors that comes with using spreadsheets, and because Record Maestro is a complete package and not just a royalty calculation tool, you’re not just calculating contract royalties for artist or distribution statements, Record Maestro does mechanical and society reporting as well.

Music Maestro allows publishers to manage their entire publishing process, from signing new songwriters/composers; registering with societies; licensing songs; through to calculating royalties and issuing statements. It also makes it easier to work with other publishers and labels and to integrate your publishing business with a label. More publishers around the world use Counterpoint than any other solution, so don’t take our word for it, ask our publishing partners!

Using Music Maestro, publishers can:

• Register songs with societies and automatically track registration history
• Manage your song catalog database
• Quickly identify what songs are earning and performing well
• Quickly and easily exchange catalog and copyright data with sub-publishers
• Manage the entire licensing process
• Automatically load statements and match income to songs
• Calculate royalties and produce statements

Most importantly, as the industry evolves and innovates, Counterpoint Systems’ remains on the cutting edge of emerging technologies and business models. Our solutions stay up to date with digital store formats, society compliant reporting, and new royalty calculation models (i.e. subscription based revenue pool calculations). All Maestro clients are entitled to free updates to the software, so you will always be in step with the changes in the industry.

For more information on any of our Maestro solutions, please visit the Counterpoint website, email lraileanu@us.counterp.com or call Lorie Raileanu on (424) 270 8520.

We’ll see you at Midem!

Posted in News by A2IM

iTunes distributed a letter to labels on Tuesday informing them that their store intends on moving from 30 second to 90 second long free previews of tracks and that if your label leaves your music up on the iTunes store you’re agreeing to give them a gratis mechanical license for these free streams.  The risk here is that if you grant iTunes this royalty waiver it could put your label at risk for claims for mechanical royalties from publishers on tracks which you do not control the publishing rights.

A2IM is continuing to make calls, ask questions, and seek answers on behalf of our members and we will update you with anything that we learn.  As Apple is unlikely to make any switch to 90 second samples until they’ve struck a deal with publishers and as we believe that there will be a public announcement of a launch date for this switch, you might not need to take any immediate action but we did want you to at least be aware of the potential concerns.

According to reports in the press, including this item in CNET:

“Apple stated in the letter (to labels) that it would roll out longer samples soon at iTunes and that anybody who left their music up at the Web store was automatically agreeing to give Apple the right to offer the longer song samples “gratis,” or for free. The message is pretty clear: accept the longer previews for longer songs, or pull them off iTunes. An Apple representative confirmed that the note was sent but declined to comment for this story.”

We have had it confirmed to us that reports in the press are true that the NMPA (National Music Publishers Association) is negotiating with Apple to reach an agreement on this license and how it’ll pertain to mechanical royalties.  Given that there is no statutory mechanical rate set for 90 second streams of music, any agreement struck between Apple and the NMPA will be forwarded to NMPA members for opt-ins and will be reported in the press.  We’ll update our members as this agreement emerges and with anything else that we learn as it pertains to risks (if any) for independent labels who do not control the publishing rights for their music.

Until then, we’d only advise that you have conversations with any publishers you work with or that control the publishing copyrights for songs on your label to make sure that you’re aware of their position and whether or not they believe you’ll owe them a mechanical royalty for this 90 second free preview on the iTunes store.