NMPA, NSAI FLOAT PROPOSAL FOR NEW STREAMING RATE STRUCTURE

You may have read about the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) submitting a proposal to the Copyright Royalty Board with a three-part formula for digital rates for the next rate period, 2018-22. NMPA head David Israelite is quick to point out that what was submitted was a broad outline for "discovery" purposes and that the final proposal isn't due until October.

That said, the formula in question involves a minimum per-stream rate of .0015, $1+ per subscriber per month and either 15% of revenue or 33% of revenue paid for masters licensing minus performance royalty. Again, though, this is very broad strokes.

You'll recall that Apple raised eyebrows with a provocative proposal of its own involving a rate commensurate with download royalties, which was seen, at least in part, as an attempt to disadvantage Spotify due to its free tier.

Israelite notes that publishers are dealing with a roughly decade-old model with respect to streaming, and clearly the rapid maturation of the streaming marketplace in the last year means an adjusted structure is well past due.

Meanwhile, he says, we're seeing the beginning of "a long and bloody fight to escape the consent decrees." Stay tuned.