Record $1.7 Billion Radio/Web Music License

On October 18, 2004, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ("ASCAP") and the Radio Music License Committee ("RMLC") announced a new licensing agreement totaling in excess of 1.7 Billion dollars.

The settlement, which was approved by Federal District Court Judge William C. Conner on October 15, 2004, reportedly provides stations with the right to perform ASCAP music over the air and also as part of a simultaneous stream of their over-the-air signals on their Internet web sites. "Over $1.7 Billion dollars, fixed through 2009, indicates the true economic value of our members' music to the radio industry," said ASCAP's Director of Licensing Vincent Candilora. "We were pleased to have reached an agreement that establishes significant income increases for our members that they can count on well into the future, and provides the radio industry with the planning information and simplified administration it views as critical for business success."

According to the RMLC website, "Eliminating the revenue-based music licensing system has been an important objective of the industry for many years, and with this agreement we have now succeeded in eliminating the revenue-based system from licenses with both of the major performing rights organizations, ASCAP and BMI. The ASCAP allocation methodology tracks the methodology that was employed in the BMI license agreement reached last year."

Click here for a fee allocation synopsis.