BMI, RIAA Respond to Copyright Office's Music Licensing Study

RIAA CEO Cary Sherman endorsed the Copyright Office’s recommendations to apply federal laws to pre-1972 sound recordings, and for terrestrial broadcasters to pay public performance royalties. The CO released a 245-page music licensing study Thursday (see 1502050055). “The office recognizes a consensus within the industry that the current system for licensing musical compositions is broken,” Sherman said in a Thursday statement. “Artists and labels behind iconic recordings made before 1972 deserve to be compensated by digital radio outlets like Pandora and Sirius.” The study confirmed Broadcast Music Inc.’s “position that music licensing, and specifically the archaic rules under which BMI must operate, is in need of change,” said CEO Mike O’Neill in a statement. He was referring to the consent decrees that govern BMI and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.