By L.A. Stevens
March 30, 2022 -- Songwriters scored a victory Tuesday when the
U.S. Copyright Royalty Board rejected a proposal to extend a freeze on
royalty rate increases paid to songwriters and composers. Songwriter and
composer royalty rates for downloads and sales on vinyl records and CDs
have been frozen at 2006 rates.
The failed proposal (put forward by the major music publishers, major
record labels and backed by the National Music Publishers Association as
well as the Nashville Songwriters Association International - who purport to support songwriters) would have
continued the rate freeze through the year 2027 - leaving songwriters
and composers earning less and less for more than 20 years. Meanwhile... guess who's getting rich?
The proposal to continue the freeze of royalty rate increases for
creators drew opposition from other songwriter, composer, lyricist and
music communities. The Songwriters Guild of America, the Society of
Composers & Lyricists, the organizational members of the Music
Creators North America coalition (all of whom worked for more than a
year to protest the proposal) are hailing yesterday’s rejection by the
CRB as an enormous step forward in the protection of music creator
rights.
A copy of the CRB’s well-reasoned decision, which quotes from
the joint submissions of the SGA/SCL/MCNA as well as individual creators
-- including songwriter George Johnson -- can be accessed here.
Songwriter and SGA President Rick Carnes said,
“This rejection, which we’ve been urging in our submissions to the CRB for well over a year, is crucial to the U.S. and global music creator communities for at least two important reasons:
First, this decision scuttles a very bad royalty deal proposed by the NMPA, the NSAI and the major music publishers with their own, affiliated major record companies; and
Second, it eliminates any potential plan by digital music distributors like Spotify to have the CRB enact a similar freeze of royalty obligations to songwriters and composers. Both results could have been catastrophic to future music creator income.”
SGA outside counsel and MCNA Chair Charles J. Sanders, who has worked tirelessly on defeating the proposal, also weighed in, saying,
“SGA and its MCNA colleagues are proud to show, once again, that the independent voice of music creators can and will be heard on matters of economic and artistic importance, here and abroad. SGA has operated for nearly a century on the premise that independent creators speak for themselves, and the SGA carries out that mission armed with just a two-word credo: protect songwriters. The independent music creator community represented by the SGA and MCNA thank the CRB for recognizing the validity of their position.”
Carnes concluded by saying,
“I want to emphasize that we see this victory as a chance to strengthen the bonds with like-minded members of the music publishing industry. We're ready to work with any organization that wants to work with us toward fair results. We point to the MCNA proposal made to the CRB as reasonable alternative. The proposal would use ‘cost of living’ increases tied to the Consumer Price Index to physical and download royalty rates - now and in the future. We're more than happy to work with the music publishing community on this initiative. If not, we will continue --as always-- to work on these issues on our own.”
