NMPA represents thousands of music publishers for purposes of royalty collection. Through a subsidiary, the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), they collect mechanical royalties for compositions. These are separate from the royalties collected by other organizations for recordings or performances.
NMPA President and CEO David Israelite called the settlement, “a positive conclusion for all parties and one that recognizes and compensates the work of songwriters and publishers going forward.”
On their official blog, YouTube explained what that means:
Going forward, the 46,000 music publishers already affiliated with HFA will be able to license the musical compositions they represent for use by the YouTube community. When these publishers allow YouTube to run ads alongside user generated videos that incorporate their compositions, the publishers, and the songwriters they represent, can make money. We’ll also be working with HFA to invite other publishers to sign up, even if they’re not affiliated with HFA.
So basically, the publishers gave in and finally decided YouTube's offer is better than nothing, which is what they were likely to get from the lawsuit.
Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 18 Aug 2011 10:36
