ASCAP: Our Future is at Stake in Pandora Case

8-4-14

On Monday an unredacted version of ASCAP's appeal in its case against Pandora was unsealed in federal court, according to The Tennessean. The organization is in a bitter dispute with Pandora over rates the pure-play must pay songrwriters and publishing companies. Pandora now pays 1.85 percent of its revenue and ASCAP wants that number to be closer to 3 percent. ASCAP is also worried that a lower court ruling that allows publishers to negotiate directly with publishers will destroy the company. Here's some of what ASCAP filed in court...

"This is an appeal from two district court decisions that, if not reversed, threaten the viability of (ASCAP), this nation's oldest and largest performing rights organization," ASCAP argued in the brief. "Such an outcome would have a profoundly negative effect on songwriters, music publishers and music users themselves, disrupting the marketplace for the licensing of music performing rights that has functioned for many decades as a result of the well-established efficiencies provided by an ASCAP license."

ASCAP is arguing that the lower court misinterpreted the law and publishers should not be allowed to negotiate directly, which some believe, could lead to collusion, a claim the D.O.J is now investigating as part of its review of the ASCAP and BMU consent decrees. "The district court's ruling is also at odds with the history of ASCAP's consent decree, which shows that ASCAP and the Department of Justice deliberately removed from the decree the very prohibition on members reserving exclusive rights for themselves that the district court imposed."

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Clear Channel Sells Stake In Australian Network

2-19-14

APN News & Media is ready to pay $246 million (Australian, about $222 million U.S.) to Clear Channel to take full control of its radio assets, in which Clear Channel owns a 50 percent stake. With the deal comes an exclusive 10-year agreement to operate and broadcast the iHeartRadio digital platform in Australia and New Zealand, and an exclusive option to act as iHeart implementation partner in "a number of Asian markets."

The deal includes Clear Channel's stakes in APN and in the Radio Network Limited and will give APN 100 percent ownership of the largest network of stations in Australia and New Zealand. CEO Michael Miller said, "ARN and TRN are businesses that we know extremely well, having run them for almost 20 years. They are managed by highly competent teams and continue to deliver growth in both audience numbers and advertising revenues. We are confident that radio will continue to grow as a medium and that ARN and TRN will continue to capture a greater share of the market."

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Rubicon Advisors Takes 5.4% Stake in Entercom

5-28-2012

According to an SEC filing, Rubicon Advisors of New York City has purchased 1.69 million shares of Entercom stock. Reportedly, Rubicon, paid $5 per share giving the company a 5.40 percent stake in Entercom. The Rubicon website says the company "identifies, advises, plans and manages investments for funds and Individuals looking to build an offshore portfolio, mainly in Africa. Rubicon can manage conflict resolution issues for corporations who want to develop business in politically unstable countries and hostile environments. These include community development programs post social and environment impact studies."

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Liberty Wants Larger Stake in Sirius XM

5-8-2012

Following a rejection from the FCC, Liberty Media's John Malone is taking steps to gain more control of Sirius XM by purchasing more shares. The FCC declared Liberty's request for de facto control of Sirius XM incomplete. On Tuesday, Liberty said it will purchase 302 million shares which would raise it's stake to over 45%. Currently Liberty has a 40% stake in Sirius XM.

On the topic of taking defacto control of Sirius XM, Liberty's chief executive Greg Maffei said, "As far as de facto control, my layman's understanding would be we have a certain series of rights by contract with SiriusXM. To be able to fully exercise those rights freely, we need to have de facto control approved by the FCC. And as far as changing our application, I think there are host of things, actions we might take including this action we have taken, which will have bearing on our application and we'll weigh those, as we said, over the next 30 days and decide how to amend."

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