Category: Sneaky Services

Frozen Mechanicals Crisis: Monica Corton Tells Copyright Royalty Board that Without Parity, the Music Ecosystem Will Fail

Honorable Judges:

My name is Monica Corton, and I am the CEO and Founder of Go to ElevenEntertainment, a newly formed independent music publishing company that is funded. I have been in the music publishing business for over thirty years, twenty- seven of which were spent as the Senior Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs & Licensing at Next Decade Entertainment. My experience is in all areas of music licensing, registrations, and royalty payments, and my former clients included the catalogs of the band Boston, Harry Belafonte, Vic Mizzy (the “Addams Family Theme” and “Green Acres Theme”), Sammy Hagar, and many more.

It is my understanding that the CRB judges are being asked to accept a Motion to Adopt a freeze or a non-rate increase for all mechanical licensing uses for physical phonorecords, i.e., CDs and vinyl, permanent digital downloads, ringtones and music bundles (whenmultiple songs are downloaded in groups) for the Rate Period of 2023 to 2027. The rates for these types of uses have been frozen and have not increased for any music publisher or songwriter since 2006. In the past, the National Music Publishers Association (“NMPA”) has explained these freezes as a necessary component to their negotiation for an increase in the digital streaming rates for mechanical licenses. For many years (2006-2021), I have gone along with this explanation, but after fifteen (“15”) years of having noincrease on any physical product or digital downloads, I now believe it is completely unfair and no longer justifiable for music publishers and songwriters, particularly the

independents and DIY creators (do-it-yourself), to have been denied an increase in these rates after fifteen (15) years of allowing record labels to get away without paying any increase whatsoever, and now face being blocked from a raise for another five (“5”) years.

I originally wrote comments to you on July 26, 2021, and I have included thosecomments below. As there was an extension provided, I felt I should augment my former submission to you with a practical reason for why I believe that physical and digital download mechanical royalty rates should increase, at least by a cost of living, forsongwriters and publishers for the Rate Period 2023-2027.

The one format in physical product that seems to be surging now is vinyl. If one visitsthe Amazon.com shop, new releases of vinyl are selling anywhere from

$24.98 to $49.99 at retail. Generally, the wholesale selling price for a label is half of the retail selling price. Therefore, in this scenario, the labels are making anywhere from $12.49 to $24.99 per unit. Under the current physical mechanical rate which would stay the same if you decide not to increase the royalty rate for physical copies and digital downloads, a publisher would be paid $.91 per record with a ten (10) song cap (standard practice) for the right to use all the songs on that release. However, most singer/songwriters have what is called a controlled composition clause in their recording agreement which requires that they agree to a reduced rate of 75% of the statutory rate with a cap of ten (10) songs. This means that the real rate for most singer/songwriters onan album is $.6825 for all the songs on any given album.

Therefore, the label is making anywhere from $11.8075 to $24.3075 of which a small portion will be paid to the artist for artist royalties and some portion will be paid for the expense of making the record and distributing it. The songwriter and the publisher will thereafter, divide the $.6825 in half so that the songwriter will eventually receive $.3412 for the ENTIRE ALBUM of songs, often recording and releasing more than ten songs because creatives tend to release 12-14 songs on any given album which further reducesthe mechanical rate per song.

I ask you, does it seem fare to you that the record label should make $11.875 to

$24.3075 per record and the singer/songwriter who wrote EVERY SONG ON THE ALBUM will make $.3412?

Songwriters rarely get a say in any of these hearings. Digital rates have devastated whole swaths of our creative songwriter community. Please consider that after fifteen (15) years,it’s time to increase the physical mechanical rate and the digital

download rate for songwriters and publishers. We must create some kind of parity for songwriters in the sale of physical product and digital downloads, or our musicecosystem will begin to fail.

Best wishes, 

Monica Corton CEO & Founder

Go to Eleven Entertainment

[Read the original comment here]

by thetrichordist

Frozen Mechanicals Crisis: Independent Publisher Lynn Robin Green Tells Copyright Royalty Judges how they threaten Survival

President Lynn Robin Green
LANSDOWNE MUSIC-WINSTON MUSIC PUBLISHERS
BLOOR MUSIC-HOFFMAN HOUSE MUSIC

PO BOX 1415 BURBANK, CA 91507

I have been a Music Publisher 45 years and the FREEZING of the statutory mechanical rate which hasn’t been raised in many many years CAUSES us undue continual financial hardship.

The low streaming rates have decimated our earnings for my Writers and Administrated Publisher Clients for the last six years and have have forced us into a corner financially to try to make up for this deep loss of revenue. I administrate also 39 Publishing firms here and these streaming losses are continual.

The Mechanical sales and Sync licensing fees are our only solid source of revenue to try to compensate for these deep losses. Its imperative that THE MECHANICAL RATES BE unfrozen asap and REMADE for REALISTIC FACTUAL inflation considerations of 2021 and for a willing seller/buyer in todays actual market.

We can’t survive if this RATE of 9.1 cts IS NOT raised and adjusted FAIRLY by the CRB for these very urgently important considerations. The Parties who are trying to freeze the rates here are highly conflicted and their sole interests are purely as Parties to Technology deals- and are self projected- and they SIMPLY violate any FAIRNESS OF MECH RATES FOR ALL PUBLISHERS AND SONGWRITERS concerned.

Please listen, please consider the Creators and the Independent Music Publishers who would suffer undue catastrophe level FURTHER financial loss if that RATE is DEEMED frozen for any more additional years whatsoever. WE absolutely URGENTLY need this rate increase NOW, its beyond crucial to our way of business and I implore the CRB to listen to the Independents and Creators and KNOW the truth and hard reality of what THIS important decision represents for our future. 

WE MUST RAISE the mechanical rates, and help save this business of publishing from being plundered for large Corporate interests, WITHOUT FAIR or competitive compensation for small independent businesses.

Sincerely 

LR Green

[Read original comment as filed]

by Trichordist Editor

Sneaky Services Use Frozen Mechanicals Public Comments by Songwriters and Independent Publishers–to LOWER Streaming Mechanicals

Only drug dealers and Big Tech refer to their “customers” as “users.”

We really appreciate how Trichordist readers have stuck with the story we have been telling about the treachery afoot at the Copyright Royalty Board in the current review of statutory mechanical royalty rates. This is kind of dry stuff but it sure has resulted in a lot of passion from the songwriting community.

That passion is directed at the frozen mechanical–the collaboration between the big publishers and big record companies to “freeze” the statutory mechanical royalty for physical goods at 2006 levels despite the current inflationary crises and debasement of the value of even the frozen rate itself. We will have more to publish on that subject to call your attention to the voices of songwriters and publishers opposing the freeze.

Ask yourself this question: Is there any reason that a songwriter who opposes a freeze on mechanicals–the only question they were asked to respond to by the Copyright Royalty Board–would ever support a reduction in the streaming mechanical? Would anyone say, oh, well if Spotify is asking for a reduction, then by all means? If you thought the passion against frozen mechanicals ran high, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

But in one of the great acts of self-sabatoge that they are so good at, that passion is currently being hijacked by some of the biggest companies in commercial history to somehow convince us that less is more. Remember–these are the same people who benefit from the sick mass manipulation and addiction practiced and normalized by the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab.

And now they are trying to use that trickery and psychology on songwriters to gaslight them into ignoring reality and supporting the chaos at the Copyright Royalty Board.

We will be posting a series of excerpts from public filings in coming days. If you want to skip ahead, you can read this letter from Chris Castle to the Copyright Royalty Board roasting the services for twisting the words of Helienne Lindvall, David Lowery and Blake Morgan.

by Trichordist Editor