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(L) to (R): Richard Perna, CEO/EverGreen -- Connie Bradley, Senior VP/ASCAP -- Steve Diamond, Teri Diamond,
-- Chip Hardy, VP A&R Nashville/EverGreen, John Barker President/ICG

 

Emmy Award winning and Grammy® nominated songwriter Steve Diamond
has become the newest member of the ICG/EverGreen family. “ICG/EverGreen feels like the perfect place for me,” said Diamond, whose long list of celebrated hits includes Faith Hill’s Let Me Let Go, and I Can Love You Like That, cut by John Michael Montgomery and All-4-One. “They really understand the value of songs and are passionate about the writers they believe in.”

Diamond’s career has successfully spanned many genres with cuts by artists such as Brooks & Dunn, Joe Cocker, Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana), Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Reba McEntire, Nick Lachey and Vince Gill.

-- Welcome Steve.

 

 

Legislative News

CRB Nixes DiMA Request for Ruling on Streaming

On February 5, the Copyright Royalty Board rejected a request by DiMA (Digital Media Assn.) to have the Register of Copyrights decide whether interactive streams should fall under a compulsory license.

Rates expected to be set by the CRB include mechanical royalties for physical units (such as CDs and enhanced CD singles that include more than an audio-only version of a recorded song) as well as digital phonorecord delivery (DPD) royalties for permanent downloads, limited downloads and streams that may involve reproduction and performance rights.

The issues surrounding streaming prompted DiMA’s request that Register Marybeth Peters decide whether or not they should be part of a compulsory license. Specifically, DiMA asked whether an interactive stream is a DPD under section 115 of the Copyright Law.

The judges noted that the Copyright Act does not include a definition of "interactive" and that there is no general agreement as to its meaning. As a result, whether a transmission is interactive is a factual question to be decided by judges rather than a legal question to be decided by the Register.

This decision is a victory for publishers, many of whom believed that DiMA-member companies were, by this request, trying to renege on old contractual commitments to pay publishers a royalty for the right to reproduce compositions via streams.

On Monday, January 28, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) began the hearings that will determine mechanical rates for songwriters and music publishers. In addition to setting rates for physical products, rates will be set for digital downloads, subscription services and ringtones.

The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) will be representing the interests of songwriters and music publishers and will be fighting vigorously to protect those interests to ensure that musical compositions are compensated fairly.

In opposition to the NMPA, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Music Association (DiMA) have proposed significant reductions in mechanical royalty rates that would be disastrous for songwriters and music publishers.

NMPA President & CEO David Israelite has informed us that the NMPA is proposing an increase to 12.5 cents per song from the current rate of 9.1 cents for physical phonorecords. The RIAA, however, has proposed slashing the rate to approximately 6 cents a song, a cut of more than one-third the current rate.

For permanent digital downloads, the NMPA is proposing a rate of 15 cents per track, as the costs involved are much less than for physical products, while the RIAA has proposed the rate of approximately 5 - 5.5 cents per track, and DiMA is proposing even less.

For interactive streaming services, the NMPA is proposing a rate of the greatest of 12.5% of revenue, 27.5% of content costs, or a micro-penny calculation based on usage. The RIAA actually proposed that songwriters and music publishers should get the equivalent of .58% of revenue — less than 1%. And DiMA is taking the position that songwriters' and music publishers' mechanical rights should be zero, because DiMA does not believe they have any such rights.

The initial hearing will last four weeks, with the three permanent Copyright Royalty Judges hearing arguments Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. each day. At the conclusion of the initial hearing, there will be more discovery, followed by a rebuttal hearing in May, and a final decision expected on October 2.