Downtown Music Publishing, Pandora Announce Licensing Agreement

Pandora and Downtown Music Publishing announced today (Monday, Dec. 21) a multi-year licensing agreement for Downtown Music Publishing’s catalog of musical works. This direct publishing deal creates business benefits for Pandora, while modernizing compensation for Downtown and its songwriters in the U.S.

“This agreement with Pandora is a milestone in our on-going mission to deliver equitable, accurate and timely payments for our songwriters,” said Downtown founder and CEO, Justin Kalifowitz. “It also serves as a reminder that songwriter royalties are best negotiated in a free market. We’re looking forward to working more closely with Pandora in optimizing this agreement and know that, in the words of Cy Coleman, the best is yet to come!”

“I am excited for our partnership with Downtown Music Publishing,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer at Pandora. “Pandora is committed to bringing long-term growth to the music business, and working with the talented and diverse songwriters on Downtown Music Publishing’s roster will contribute to that.”

While specific terms of the multi-year agreement are confidential, the companies worked together to build an innovative approach to publisher economics. The deal allows Downtown Music Publishing to obtain its goal of delivering 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.