Pandora signs new licensing agreement with two publishers

Pandora has reached a new licensing agreement with ASCAP and BMI, two major publishers in the music industry. 20 million songs are published between the two of those companies, so that’s a major plus for Pandora, although there aren’t any specific details about compensation rates.

This new deal also means Pandora will be withdrawing its appeal of one of the lawsuits from BMI, which presumably means their legal battles will wind down, too.

Pandora Signs Licensing Agreements with ASCAP and BMI

Pandora to drop its appeal of recent BMI rate court decision

NEW YORK & OAKLAND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 22, 2015– Pandora (NYSE:P), the world’s most powerful music discovery platform, and ASCAP and BMI, the world’s leading Performance Rights Organizations (PROs), today announced the signing of two separate multi-year licensing agreements for their combined catalogs of more than 20 million musical works. These deals create business benefits for Pandora, while modernizing compensation in the U.S. for ASCAP and BMI songwriters and publishers. In connection with the signing of the BMI agreement, Pandora has agreed to withdraw its appeal of the May 2015 order in the recent BMI rate case.

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“This agreement is good news for music fans and music creators, who are the heart and soul of ASCAP, and a sign of progress in our ongoing push for improved streaming payments for songwriters, composers and music publishers that reflect the immense value of our members’ creative contributions,” said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews.

“We’re extremely pleased to reach this deal with Pandora that benefits the songwriters, composers and publishers we are privileged to represent,” said Mike O’Neill, President and CEO, BMI. “Not only is our new agreement comparable to the other direct deals in the marketplace, but it also allows us to amicably conclude our lengthy rate court litigation and focus on what drives each of our businesses – the music.”

“At Pandora we are delivering on our commitment to ensure that music thrives,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer of Pandora. “These collaborative efforts with the leading Performance Rights Organizations, as well as our recent direct deals with several music publishers demonstrate our progress in working together to grow the music ecosystem.”

While the specific terms of both multi-year agreements are confidential, for each deal, the respective parties worked together to build an innovative approach to public performance licensing. The deals allow both ASCAP and BMI to further their goal of delivering improved performance royalties for their songwriters and publishers, while Pandora will benefit from greater rate certainty and the ability to add new flexibility to the company’s product offering over time. The public performance royalties Pandora also pays to rights holders of master recordings are not affected by this agreement.

ABOUT PANDORA

Pandora is the world’s most powerful music discovery platform – a place where artists find their fans and listeners find music they love. We are driven by a single purpose: unleashing the infinite power of music by connecting artists and fans, whether through earbuds, car speakers, live on stage or anywhere fans want to experience it. Our team of highly trained musicologists analyze hundreds of attributes for each recording which powers our proprietary Music Genome Project®, delivering billions of hours of personalized music tailored to the tastes of each music listener, full of discovery, making artist/fan connections at unprecedented scale. Founded by musicians, Pandora empowers artists with valuable data and tools to help grow their careers and connect with their fans.
www.pandora.com | Pandora Blog | Pandora LinkedIn | @PandoraPulse

ABOUT ASCAP

ASCAP is a professional membership organization serving and advocating for songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music for over 101 years. ASCAP’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world’s best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business – from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With over 555,000 members representing more than 10 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the world leader in performance royalties, advocacy and service for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter @ASCAP and on Facebook.

ABOUT BMI

Celebrating 75 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, Broadcast Music, Inc. ® (BMI®) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in more than 10.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 700,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit http://www.bmi.com follow us on Twitter @BMI or stay connected through Broadcast Music, Inc.’s Facebook page.

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Source: Pandora

Pandora
Dominic Paschel, 510-842-6960
Corporate Finance & Investor Relations
investor@pandora.com
or
Tracy Zamot, 917-579-6704
PR & Corporate Communications
tzamot@pandora.com
or
ASCAP
Cathy Halgas Nevins, 212-621-8414
cnevins@ascap.com
or
Audrey Cooling, 202-741-5568
acooling@gpg.com
or
BMI
Liz Fischer, 212-220-3160
lfischer@bmi.com