Who is GMR? What do they license? Do we have to pay them?
by Elizabeth Brennan
GMR (Global Music Rights) is a relative new-comer to the music licensing landscape. When they first came on the scene, some of our members wondered if they would need to pay licensing fees to them and also inquired as to whether CRA would seek a discount arrangement with GMR. At that time, I took a look at the library and only found new, secular pop artists and determined that this was likely a non-issue for our stations.
However, last December, some changes to their library were brought to my attention. GMR had, at some point in the recent past, acquired the licensing for several classic Christmas recordings by various artists that many of us know and love. This change forced me to dig into the issue much deeper. What I found was that GMR had previously petitioned the Copyright Royalty Board to be included in the standard blanket license agreements. This request was dismissed by the CRB. Additionally, the Section 112 non-commercial standard agreement, which most of the CRA stations license under, contains a provision whereby, “other licensed music,” is covered. I therefore provisionally concluded that the Catholic radio stations licensed under Section 112 could play whatever Christmas favorites they liked without further worry.
While at the NAB show earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend a session on music licensing and gain further clarification. Luckily, senior legal counsel to NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) were in attendance and I was able to confirm my previous conclusions. However, there are a couple of caveats. Stations participating in the non-commercial standard licensing may in fact play whatever they like over the air but this relative freedom does not translate to the digital realm. Those streaming their broadcast, and playing music which may be licensed by GMR, would need to arrange to pay for those performance royalties. Also, the CRB revisits the non-commercial standard agreement and recalculates rates every five years. It is reasonable to expect that GMR will again seek to be included and if allowed, rates would be set for FOUR PROs instead of the current three (ASCAP, BMI & SESAC). The next iteration would begin in 2022 and apply to 2023-2027.
Of course, we at CRA will continue to monitor the situation and inform the membership. If you have any questions about your stations programming, streaming, and what you need to ensure your licensing needs are covered, you can always contact us.