In its response to a Notice of Inquiry on Performance Rights Organizations, the NAB is warning the US Copyright Office that today’s licensing marketplace has grown overly convoluted and financially burdensome for broadcasters as BMI and ASCAP protest.
“Broadcasters support a fair, transparent, and workable music licensing system. One that ensures rightsholders are compensated while enabling broadcasters to provide the public with the content they value,” the NAB wrote. “Unfortunately, the current licensing system falls short of that goal.”
Broadcasters rely heavily on PRO licenses to lawfully air music in radio and television programming. However, the NAB argued that the rise of “fractional licensing,” where multiple PROs each control a piece of a single song, has turned licensing into a “complex and opaque” process. “Today, broadcasters are often required to pay well over 100% in licensing fees for essentially the same pool of works, reflecting structural inefficiencies rather than expanded music usage,” the filing stated.
The NAB also raised concerns about the growing influence of unregulated PROs like Global Music Rights, which are not bound by the longstanding consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI. “Even ‘smaller’ entities like GMR can still wield considerable leverage due to the strict liability nature of copyright law, their ‘must-have’ programming, the threat of substantial statutory damages, and the increasing prevalence of fractional licensing,” the NAB commented.
“Broadcasters, faced with the crippling threat of copyright infringement and statutory damages, are effectively compelled to obtain a license from PROs claiming even a fractional interest in a must-have composition, regardless of whether they know that composition is being used,” the NAB wrote. The association urged the Copyright Office to support the creation of a transparent, authoritative public database, arguing, “A fair and efficient licensing system depends on broadcasters’ ability to understand what rights they are acquiring, from whom, and on what terms. Complete and accurate transparency regarding PRO data is critical to a functioning music licensing system.”
While broadcasters are pushing for more transparency and structural reform, ASCAP and BMI, two of the largest performance rights organizations, defended the current system in their own filings. ASCAP warned that further regulation would harm songwriters and diminish royalty distributions, emphasizing that collective licensing provides critical efficiencies for both creators and licensees.
ASCAP also asserted that the current PRO system works well and that additional government intervention would be unnecessary and damaging to the very music creators copyright law is meant to protect. Similarly, BMI criticized the inquiry, characterizing the concerns raised by licensees as an attempt to lower royalty payments to songwriters and composers, and further argued that increasing regulatory burdens would only serve the interests of businesses that wish to pay less for the use of creative works.
