One of the issues that has always hampered negotiations with PRO’s is knowing exactly how many artists and songwriters are part of which PRO. The issue of transparency. When Irving Azoff joined the PRO club, and began demanding money from radio stations, it made the issue more complicated. In the court filing BMI states that The RMLC wants to pay less to BMI because BMI’s market share is smaller than ASCAP’s. And BMI says that’s just not the case.
BMI says The RMLC wrongly claims that BMI has lost significant radio songwriters to SESAC and GMR. “Although a PRO’s market share on radio tends to fluctuate over time due to the variation in popularity of certain songwriters and songs from year to year, BMI’s internal analyses of the most recent performance data from 2017 show that, contrary to the RMLC’s assertion, BMI has a significantly greater market share than any other domestic PRO, including ASCAP. Despite having reviewed BMI’s market share data, and despite agreeing to increase ASCAP’s rate on a final basis (indeed, perhaps because it agreed without basis to do so), the RMLC seeks to lower BMI’s rate.
BMI believes ASCAP has lost five times as many affiliates to GMR as BMI and many of those former ASCAP members generate significant radio play, including Bruno Mars, Ryan Tedder, Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, and Jon Bon Jovi. “Importantly, the brunt of that impact was only felt as of January 1, 2017, when ASCAP members who had moved their catalogues to GMR were no longer subject to ASCAP’s “licenses in effect” with RMLC Stations.22 BMI’s data shows a dramatic decline in ASCAP’s share through the first two quarters of 2017, with nearly all of that share moving to GMR.”
