BMI Seeks Rate Court Action to Maintain Existing Royalty Rates With RMLC Amid Negotiations
Broadcast Music Inc. sought an interim royalty rate from the Radio Music License Committee, in an action filed Tuesday with U.S. District Court in New York. BMI and RMLC are negotiating a new five-year fee deal to replace the previous…
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agreement, which expired Saturday. RMLC proposed an interim rate of 1.4 percent of a station's gross revenue, below the 1.7 percent rate in the broadcaster group's existing deal with BMI. The performing rights organization is asking Judge Louis Stanton to maintain the existing rate while negotiations continue. “We attempted to negotiate in good faith with the RMLC for many months, and just before the end of the year, the RMLC presented an interim rate that significantly undervalues the work of BMI’s songwriters,” said BMI Senior Vice President-Licensing Mike Steinberg in a statement. “The RMLC’s proposal falls well short of what is in the best interests of our affiliates.” The reduced interim rate is appropriate “in light of the RMLC's understanding of BMI's market share of public performances on radio relative to [the American Society of Composers. Authors and Publishers] and the new costs associated with the emergence of Global Music Rights,” RMLC said in a statement. BMI argued in its filing (in Pacer) that RMLC's analysis is “necessarily based on inaccurate information about BMI’s market share” and is “contrary to BMI's internal analyses.” This follows a temporary licensing agreement between RMLC and GMR (see 1612270052). The broadcasting group reached a five-year rate deal with ASCAP last month (see 1612160027).