Songs: Songs publishing signs direct licensing deal with Pandora

Songs Music Publishing, one of the largest US indie co-pulishers by market share, has signed a direct, multi-year licensing agreement for Songs' catalogue of musical works with Pandora.The news comes little over a month since the world's largest publisher Sony/ATV anounced that it had done a direct deal with Pandora.While specific terms of the multi-year agreement are being kept confidential, the deal is expected to allow Songs to deliver "improved performance royalties" for its songwriters while Pandora will benefit from "greater rate certainty and the ability to add new flexibility" to the company's product offering over time.The public performance royalties Pandora also pays to rights holders of master recordings are not affected by this agreement."Now is the time to move past the over-regulation of songwriter rights and towards a market-based approach to streaming music," said Songs founder and CEO Matt Pincus. "This agreement is a big step forward in a long conversation about fair and equitable compensation for all songwriters and publishers. I value Pandora's commitment to treating all songwriters and publishers equally and look forward to a new chapter with them."Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer of Pandora added: "Pandora has a long-standing commitment to independent songwriters. This agreement with Songs underscores that commitment and demonstrates our shared belief that all publishers and songwriters should receive equal treatment. Pandora is a leader in the space and we continue to improve value to music publishers and songwriters - a positive step for the entire industry."