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Media
Another US indie does direct licensing deal with Clear Channel
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 7 June 2013
Clear Channel Radio has announced yet another direct licensing deal with a US independent, this time Nashville-based rock label Dualtone Music Group. According to Billboard, it means the radio giant now has such deals in place with ten indies.
As much previously reported, radio broadcasters in the US are not obliged to pay any royalties to record labels when they play their tracks on traditional FM and AM stations, because under American copyright law a public performance royalty is only due to the publishers (though the labels are trying to get that law changed). However, with online radio services a royalty does have to be paid to the label as well as the publisher, though this is generally done via the statutory rights agency SoundExchange.
But Clear Channel, which has been putting lots of effort and resource in the last couple of years into its Pandora rival iHeartRadio, has been doing deals directly with sizable indies in America, under which it gets more favourable digital rates than those offered via the SoundExchange framework, in return for pledging to give said labels a share of revenue when their music is used on the broadcaster’s conventional radio networks.
The first deal of this kind was with Big Machine Records, and since then Fearless Records, Glass Note Entertainment Group, DashGo, rpm Entertainment, Robbins Entertainment, Naxos, eOne and Wind-up have also signed up to similar arrangements.
Dualtone is the latest, the CEO of which, Scott Robinson, said: “Dualtone is dedicated to the long term career development of each artist on our roster, and radio plays an essential role in their success. We will do whatever we can to help ensure a vibrant future for internet radio as well as recognising the continuing importance of broadcast radio. This is how our artists can reach as many of their fans as possible – wherever they are, on whatever device they’re using – and is an invaluable factor in their success”.
