Happy Holidays From RMLC & GMR!

The holiday season was made a tad brighter with the news that a nine-month interim agreement has been struck between the formerly feuding Radio Music Licensing Committee (RMLC) and Irving Azoff‘s Global Music Rights (GMR) organization.

This positive news was delivered in the form of a festive Christmas Eve email from RMLC Chairman Ed Christian, who explained, “This interim license will provide stations that choose to accept it the ability to perform GMR compositions during the term of the interim license… GMR will make the interim license available to all stations that wish to take it (excepting those that have already entered into a license with GMR).” The term of the license runs from January 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017. Christian said, “You have until January 31, 2017 to sign the interim license agreement and pay GMR according to its terms. GMR will not initiate copyright litigation against any station before January 31, 2017.” He added, “Any station that signs the interim license agreement by January 31, 2017 and pays the applicable interim license fees will not be subject to copyright infringement claims by GMR for the term of the interim license.

In conclusion, the email read, “The license fee is an interim one; that means GMR and you each retains the right to seek a retroactive fee adjustment in future licenses or as a result of the current litigations. We encourage you to promptly contact GMR at licensing@globalmusicrights.com to ascertain your specific fee for the interim license.”