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ASCAP Appeals Two Legal Rulings In Royalty Dispute With Pandora
August 5, 2014 at 3:57 AM (PT)
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ASCAP, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS, is appealing two federal court rulings in its ongoing dispute with PANDORA.
THE TENNESSEAN reports, "At stake for the music industry are two enormous issues: the federally-regulated rates that the Internet's leading radio service must pay to songwriters and publishing companies, and possibly the very future of the performance rights organizations which have collected and distributed performance royalties for over 100 years. ASCAP is seeking to overturn the lower court's ruling that publishing companies must enter into all-or-nothing licensing deals. Major publishers pursued withdrawing their digital rights in order to privately negotiate more favorable deals with PANDORA."
As part of the lawsuit, ASCAP is asking the court to overturn the ruling that PANDORA pays 1.85% of its revenue in performance rights revenues. ASCAP is seeking a higher payment of 3%.
"This is an appeal from two district court decisions that, if not reversed, threaten the viability of (ASCAP), this nation's oldest and largest performing rights organization," ASCAP argued in the brief. "Such an outcome would have a profoundly negative effect on songwriters, music publishers and music users themselves, disrupting the marketplace for the licensing of music performing rights that has functioned for many decades as a result of the well-established efficiencies provided by an ASCAP license."

