How GMR Has Put Its Stamp On Classic Rock

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By Adam R Jacobson
RBR + TVBR INFOCUS


phil connorsOK, 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.

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.

FORMAT DOMINANCE

The list of artists signed to GMR isn’t as diverse as one might thing.

In fact, it’s heavy on rockers, and also includes John Mayer, Jon Bon Jovi, Journey, Boz Scaggs, Metallica, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Pete Townshend and Bruce Springsteen.

Actor Jared Leto‘s 30 Seconds To Mars is also represented by GMR.

Otherwise, some of the big acts tied to GMR are Canadian global hip-hop superstar Drake and Ziggy Marley.

This is why any station that plays some of the most popular rock music ever recorded needs to do business with GMR.

As reported by RBR + TVBR and other radio industry trade publications, the deadline for radio stations to finalize an interim licensing deal with GMR was Jan. 31.

Without a deal with GMR, RMLC-aligned stations found to be playing songs on the GMR list would be subject to royalty violations, and most likely a call from an attorney with a potentially large bill in tow.

It’s the culmination of a rough several months of negotiations between the RMLC and GMR, punctuated by the mid-November filing by RMLC of an antitrust complaint against GMR, asserting that it is engaged in anti-competitive activities that could lead to unfettered fees for all works in the GMR repertory.

In early December, GMR counter-sued the RMLC, calling it “an illegal cartel.

As the RMLC believes the availability of an interim license “is an important option to our constituents who had legitimate concern as to infringement exposure related to GMR works,” it reached just before Christmas an interim license for the period Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, 2017.

But, by Jan. 9, the “Saga” between the Radio Music License Committee and the Irving Azoff-led Global Music Rights (GMR) licensing group entered a new chapter, with RMLC Chairman and Saga Communications President/CEO Ed Christian accusing GMR of misstatements tied to the interim license agreement.

The very next day, GMR CEO Randy Grimmett distributed a response letter to RMLC stations that essentially called RMLC liars.

The overheated situation was reduced to simmer in the following days, and on Feb. 1 Grimmett confirmed that stations tied to Cumulus Media, CBS Radio, Saga Communications, Emmis and Cox Media Group inked an interim license with GMR.

Hubbard Radio currently has an interim agreement in place, company President/COO Drew Horowitz tells RBR + TVBR.

Cromwell Radio Group is also RMLC-aligned and President Bud Walters confirms, “We have signed the license and paid the money.”

And, as noted in an RBR + TVBR OBSERVATION on Jan. 24, both iHeartMedia and Townsquare Media have negotiated their own deals with GMR. The deals are confidential, giving the RMLC little clues as to what those deals involve.

Although Entercom was not mentioned by Grimmett, the company’s KQMT-FM 99.5 “The Mountain” in Denver in the 9 a.m. hour played “Life In The Fast Lane” by the Eagles, one of the songs on GMR’s repertoire list. The 8 a.m. hour included tracks from Bruce Springsteen, The Who, and Boston.

Bill Velez, Executive Director of the RMLC, could not confirm which RMLC-member radio groups had signed interim licenses with GMR, and if any had not by Tuesday night’s deadline.

“GMR has not reported to me as to who has taken an interim license,” he says. “It’s something that I do not have a list of.”

With RMLC still in litigation with GMR, Velez could only offer limited information regarding where things stand between the two organizations, and on the Jan. 31 interim license agreement deadline.

But, he tells RBR + TVBR, “We continue to get a ton of complaints from operators unable getting through to GMR.”
This has been exacerbated, he says, because GMR did not authorize RMLC to provide any contact information to radio stations. GMR’s website offers no contact number — only a contact form.

Christian referred requests for comment to Velez.

It is still not publicly known if Victoria Radioworks, led by John Barger, has an interim agreement in place. Among his stations is KVIC-FM 104.7 in Victoria, Tex., a Class C3 facility airing a Top 40 format. Local management declined to comment on the matter when reached by RBR + TVBR; Barger did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Meanwhile, it’s business as usual at Apex Broadcasting‘s Hilton Head, S.C., station group, says GM Mike Buxser. “I haven’t pulled any songs yet,” he says. “I’m waiting for instructions.”

Buxser explains that such matters are handled on the corporate management level, and would neither involve him or his local program directors.

That’s a similar situation for another local-level market manager, who requested anonymity.

“One of our executives is on the RMLC,” the market manager said. “Whatever deal has been made … at my level, I’m out of it. I don’t know what deal has been cut. Whatever is happening is happening on a corporate level.”

One thing is for certain at this cluster: Pulling songs from the Classic Rocker is out of the realm of possibilities.

“They control too much,” the market manager says of GMR. “That’s a significant part of the music library. You can’t run a Classic Rock station with those songs. So … you engage and get a license from them.”

This market manager is closely monitoring the negotiation process between the RMLC and another, more widely known music rights group — BMI. 

BMI has filed an action in Federal Rate Court to set interim fees for radio stations represented by the RMLC while the two parties negotiate the terms of a new five-year deal beginning this year.

“From 30,000 feet, what you’re seeing, and what is probably going to happen, is that broadcasters think they don’t have to spend more money to license music,” the market manager says. “The money just needs to be distributed differently. It’s not a bad point to make that those significant artists to a Classic Rock format are now assigned to GMR. Maybe they are not getting their fair share, in the scheme of the BMI/ASCAP world.”

At the end of the day, fairness to the artist is a moot point if your playlist is centered on Album-Oriented Rock hits released from the late 1960s through the 1990s.

“You can’t run a Classic Rock station and pull those titles off,” the market manager says. “It’s pretty unavoidable that if you’re in a particular rock-music format that you are going to have to deal with these guys. I don’t see any way around that.”

RBR + TVBR