National Music Publishers' Association

History

First half of the 20th century

The NMPA was founded in 1917 as the Music Publishers' Protective Association, seeking to end the practice of publishers having to pay vaudeville theaters for performing their music. The payola was said to have reached $400,000. The MPPA mandate went into effect May 7, 1917. Founding firms included:

• Broadway Music Corporation
• Joseph W. Stern & Co.
• Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc.
• Al Piantadosi & Co.
• Leo Feist Co.
• T. B. Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.
• Maurice Richmond (1880–1965)
• Jos. Morris Co.
• Charles K. Harris
• Harry Von Tilzer Co.
• Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.
• M. Witmark & Sons
• James Kendis (1883–1946)
• James Brockman
• Kalmar, Puck & Abrahams Consolidated, Inc. (Bert Kalmar, Harry Puck, Maurice W. Abrahams)
• F.J.A. Forster Co.
• McCarthy & Fisher
• A. J. Stasny Music Co.
• J.H. Remick & Co.
• Church, Paxson & Co.
• Karczag Publishing Company (Wilhelm Karczag; 1859–1923)
• William Jerome

In 1927, the NMPA founded the Harry Fox Agency, a mechanical rights collecting society.

Second half of the 20th century

In 1966 the name of the Music Publishers' Protective Association was changed to the National Music Publishers Association. The NMPA lobbies federal legislators and regulators on behalf of music publishers and crafted guidelines for the Copyright Act of 1976.

21st century

In September 2001, the NMPA reached a settlement with Napster, turning the company into a fee-based service with publishers licensing music to the users. The NMPA won a judgment against peer-to-peer filing service StreamCast Networks in September 2006. In 2007, NMPA joined a lawsuit against YouTube for hosting user-generated videos containing music under copyright. The suit was dropped four years later.

Along with the Music Publishers Association (MPA), the NMPA has been responsible for taking many free guitar tablature web sites offline. NMPA President David Israelite asserted that "[u]nauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing". The NMPA also pushed for rate hikes for legal downloads of music in 2008.

In 2010, the NMPA represented EMI, Sony/ATV, Universal and Warner/Chappell, Bug, MPL Communications, Peermusic and the Richmond Organization in a lawsuit against LimeWire. The suit sought $150,000 for each song that was distributed.

NMPA is a member of the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a business alliance which amongst others publishes the Special 301 Report, a controversial list of countries that the coalition of copyright holders feel do not do enough to combat copyright infringements.

In 2015, the NMPA sold the Harry Fox Agency to SESAC.

In December 2016, the NMPA announced that it had reached an agreement with YouTube to allow the distribution of royalties for musical works used in videos on YouTube where ownership was previously unknown.

References

References

1. Plambeck, Joseph. (June 16, 2010). "Internet File-Sharing Service Is Sued by Music Publishers". The New York Times.
2. [https://www.billboard.com/pro/hipgnosis-kenny-macpherson-on-leave-sexual-assault-lawsuit/ Donahue, Bill (October 5, 2023). “Hipgnosis Exec Kenny MacPherson On Leave, Resigns From NMPA Board After Sexual Assault Lawsuit” ''Billboard'' ].
3. "NMPA".
4. "National Music Publishers Association Files Copyright Infringement Suit Against Fullscreen".
5. "About HFA". Harry Fox Agency.
6. Frankel, James. (2009). "The Teacher's Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law". Hal Leonard.
7. [http://www.moyak.com/papers/napster-history.html "Early History of Napster"], by Moya K. Mason, 2010
8. Jones, K. C.. (August 7, 2007). "Music Publishers Sue YouTube". InformationWeek.
9. (August 7, 2007). "Music Publishers to Join YouTube Suit". The New York Times.
10. Lang, Brent. (August 17, 2011). "Music Publishers Drop Copyright Suit Against YouTube". TheWrap.
11. Youngs, Ian. (December 12, 2005). "Song sites face legal crackdown". BBC News.
12. Albanesius, Chloe. (October 2, 2008). "Music-Download Royalty Rates Left Unchanged". PC Magazine.
13. Mick, Jason. (June 18, 2010). "New Suit Against Limewire Could Total 15 Times Music Industry's Yearly Income". Daily Tech.
14. Masnick, Mike. (February 24, 2010). "IIPA's Section 301 Filing Shows It's Really Not At All Interested In Reducing Copyright Infringement". Tech Dirt.
15. "SESAC Finalizes Acquisition of Harry Fox Agency".
16. Chris Cooke, [http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/nmpa-announces-deal-with-youtube-over-unpaid-song-royalties/ "NMPA announces deal with YouTube over unpaid song royalties,"] {{Webarchive. link. (2022-01-01 ''Completemusicupdate.com'', December 9, 2016)
17. Billboard]]'', April 21, 1958, pg. 3
18. [https://archive.org/stream/variety46-1917-05#page/n3/mode/2up/search/%22payments+end%22 "Song Payments End This Week,"] ''[[Variety (magazine). Variety]]'', May 4, 1917, pg. 3