By Adam R Jacobson
RBR + TVBR INFOCUS
OK, campers! Rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties because it’s cold out there!
It’s Groundhog Day. But, rest assured. You won’t be repeating this day over and over and over with your alarm clock going off at 6 a.m. to Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”
In fact, you may be hearing tunes from Steve Miller Band, Soundgarden, Boston, Bob Seger, Foreigner, OneRepublic, country hits written by Shane McNally, and Billy Idol.
The same goes for any song tied to Lindsay Buckingham, Pharrell Williams, and much of the Eagles catalog of classic hits — in addition to Don Henley solo gems including “The Boys of Summer.”
John Lennon‘s “Imagine” may also be on your radio, and anything written by country music artist Paul Overstreet.
A Bruno Mars song could be coming out of your tuner’s speakers, too.
But, what if all of those acts were suddenly silenced from a radio station you listen to — in particular a station that does not have an interim licensing deal with the Irving Azoff-controlled Global Music Rights (GMR)?
That scenario seems unlikely, based on an RBR + TVBR query of radio stations tied to the Radio Music Licensing Committee (RMLC).
That being said, there are exactly 23,973 songs that are covered by GMR. Of the radio formats that seems to be impacted the most, Classic Rock and Classic Hits appear to be the two biggest.
RBR + TVBR‘s investigation concludes that the vast majority of stations tied to the RMLC haven’t slashed away at their playlists.
But, that doesn’t necessarily confirm that every RMLC station has an interim license in place.
Given the artists GMR is tied with, however, it’s all but impossible to have a successful Classic Rocker without a license agreement in place.
