BMI
BMI and RMLC Reach New License
August 19, 2025
Dear Broadcasters:
I am pleased to inform you that the RMLC has settled longstanding litigation with BMI and ASCAP that has led to new license agreements which you should be receiving soon from each organization. Both agreements are retroactive to January 1, 2022, and run through December 31, 2029. The RMLC’s Executive Committee unanimously approved these new licenses, and the RMLC Board of Directors voted unanimously (among all members present) to support each of the new licenses – which were negotiated by a sub-committee of our RMLC Executive Committee and outside counsel at King & Spalding.
Each of the new BMI and ASCAP licenses maintain the percentage-of-revenue license fee structure of the prior deals and continue to provide for broad coverage of your over-the-air (and HD multicasting) programming, as well as your simulcast/website transmissions of podcasts/archived content. Each of the new licenses also continues to provide stations with alternative per program (or program period) licenses applicable to talk-formatted stations. As in the past, they do not cover transmissions of music programming that is customized or provided on-demand to the listener – e.g., Pandora or Spotify-like music programming.
While the percentage rates in the new deals are higher than the old rates, they are nowhere near the much-higher rates sought by each of BMI and ASCAP in the now-resolved rate court litigations. While the RMLC certainly would have preferred to report rate decreases, our constituents need to bear several things in mind which motivated our support for these settlements. First, during these litigations, each licensing organization sought to benefit from the existing performance royalty rates paid to other music licensing organizations which arguments, if credited, could have resulted in a drastically higher rate result for the industry compared to what was achieved via the RMLC’s settlements. Given, as well, the rate increases associated with music rights licensing more generally across multiple platforms during the last several years (including certain non-RMLC negotiated agreements with BMI/ASCAP applicable to radio), coupled with the fact that the broadcast radio industry revenue base has declined significantly resulting in lower royalties to BMI and ASCAP absent an increase in the underlying revenue base, the RMLC is pleased to have come to the arrangements just signed with each of BMI and ASCAP. And by retaining the percentage-of-revenue license structure in each of these licenses, this means that fees will adjust along with station revenues during these uncertain economic times.
We (and no doubt BMI and ASCAP) will be communicating with you separately regarding the specific terms and mechanics associated with the new BMI and ASCAP licenses. Please be on the lookout for those communications. Finally, as we reported last year, the RMLC fared well in a rate arbitration with SESAC for the license period January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026. The arbitrator’s decision nominally increased SESAC’s former blanket revenue-based license rates while rejecting SESAC’s efforts to effectively double the prior percentage rates. We expect you will be receiving the new SESAC license forms (retroactive to January 1, 2023) soon – and will be communicating with you separately about that when the new licenses are available.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not express thanks to our RMLC negotiation sub-committee as well as Kenny Steinthal, David Mattern, and the legal team at King & Spalding.
Should you have any questions concerning this matter, please feel free to contact the RMLC c/o Bill Velez, Executive Director. Phone: (615) 844-6260 or e-mail info@radiomlc.org.
Best regards,
Ed Atsinger
RMLC Chairman
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BMI AND THE RMLC SETTLE RATE COURT PROCEEDINGS
For Immediate Release
New York, NY, August 19, 2025. BMI and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) today announced a settlement of their rate court proceeding. The new agreement, which is retroactive to January 1, 2022, represents a historic rate increase for BMI that reflects the company’s superior market share in the radio industry.
“BMI sought a rate that reflected our market-leading share of the music performed on radio stations across the country, and I’m pleased to say we achieved our largest rate increase ever for the radio industry,” said Mike O’Neill, President & CEO, BMI. “This new deal ensures BMI’s songwriters will be more fairly compensated for the performance of their music on this incredibly important platform. Negotiation is always better than litigation, and we’re pleased to have worked together with the RMLC to achieve this outcome.”
Asked for comment, the RMLC’s Chairman, Ed Atsinger, said: “We are pleased to have reached an amicable agreement with BMI, which is indicative of how strongly the radio industry values its partnerships with songwriters. Furthermore, we feel that this agreement provides the radio industry with the ability to plan for the long-term while avoiding substantial litigation costs and uncertainties associated with the rate court process.”
About BMI
Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, 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 over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million 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 bmi.com, follow us on X and Instagram @BMI or stay connected through BMI’s Facebook page. Sign up for BMI’s The Weekly™ and receive our e-newsletter every week to stay up to date on all things music.
About the RMLC
The RMLC is a non-profit corporation that represents the commercial radio industry with respect to music licensing matters involving performing rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. For additional information, visit https://www.radiomlc.org.
Media Contacts:
Liz Fischer
BMI
lfischer@bmi.com
212-220-3160
Bill Velez
RMLC
bill@radiomlc.org
615-844-6260