NMPA, Warner Music Group Announce New Licensing Agreement for Music Videos

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) announced recently it has negotiated a model licensing deal with Warner Music Group (WMG) for music videos. This agreement enables songwriters and music publishers to receive a percentage of the revenue generated from WMG’s music videos in exchange for the use of their musical works in those music videos. The deal will be offered to all NMPA members on an opt-in basis through the Harry Fox Agency (HFA).

“Music videos are a growing revenue stream for music creators and agreements such as this are becoming increasingly necessary,” said David Israelite, NMPA President and CEO. “Warner Music Group has a deep understanding of the value that songwriters provide and we are working together to jointly increase the value of music and ensure that all creators are fairly compensated. 

This is the second such agreement NMPA has reached with a major record label and it is another demonstration of the benefit of a strong business partnership between labels, songwriters and music publishers. We expect more labels to follow suit.”

In addition to receiving royalties for music videos on a going-forward basis, songwriters and publishers who opt in to the WMG agreement may receive retroactive payments for past uses of music works in WMG music videos. The agreement also provides songwriters and music publishers with compensation for offerings relating to ringtones, ring back tones and dual disc, multi-session audio and locked content physical products.

Additional details are available on the NMPA and HFA websites and were sent directly to music publishers.

In other licensing news, Universal Music Publishing Group has signed an agreement with two large multi-channel networks (MCNs), MakerStudios and Fullscreen, to enable video creators working with those companies to use tracks from the Universal catalogue in their content.

“This is an important first step in compensating songwriters,” Israelite said. “But let me be clear — all MCNs must be licensed for the use of all songs. This agreement between two MCNs and one music publishing company does not solve the entirety of the problem. As the popularity of digital entertainment has grown, MCNs have significantly profited, often without compensating the songwriters whose work is being used. Those who use the works of songwriters in videos must fairly compensate those songwriters and music publishers, and NMPA is committed to finding a complete solution.”