Music Business Journal: Music Startups and the Licensing Drag

It is surprising that, to date, most of the conversation around the music licensing challenges faced by new music services has centered on cost rather than friction—the specific prices of royalty rates and the dollar value of advances, instead of the complexity of the process. When that complexity is addressed, it is spoken of in very general or anecdotal terms: music licensing is “complicated,” requiring a “long time,” because negotiations take place among “countless copyright owners with different perspectives.”

By

David Touve

December 1, 2012

It is surprising that, to date, most of the conversation around the music licensing challenges faced by new music services has centered on cost rather than friction—the specific prices of royalty rates and the dollar value of advances, instead of the complexity of the process. When that complexity is addressed, it is spoken of in very general or anecdotal terms: music licensing is “complicated,” requiring a “long time,” because negotiations take place among “countless copyright owners with different perspectives.” Furthermore, it is often argued only broad changes to copyright law—regardless of the impact of other factors—would be sufficient to overcome this friction.