Frequently Asked Questions
Through membership, a publisher is ensured participation and benefit of the primary trade association, public policy advocate and business resource for the songwriter and music publishing community in the U.S.
NMPA is requesting U.S. revenue data in order to determine the market share for each member, which is necessary to calculate each member’s dues. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 4. (View the NMPA By-Laws)
Publishers who report more than $100,000 in the prior calendar year (“General Members”) will be assessed a dues amount in accordance with each General Members’ market share, and such annual dues in the aggregate shall not exceed 25% of the NMPA operating budget. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 4(b).
The six members with the greatest reported gross revenue for the year prior to the election of Board of Directors (“Executive Members”) are responsible for no less than 75% of the annual NMPA operating budget. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 4(a).
Publishers who report between $50,000 and $100,000 in the prior calendar year will be assessed a flat fee dues rate of $250. The annual dues of each Publisher reporting less than $50,000 in annual U.S. revenue shall be $100. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 4(c).
Publishers must report their prior calendar year U.S. music publishing revenue annually to be assessed an NMPA membership dues amount. Submissions are held in the strictest of confidence and may be reviewed/certified for accuracy. Publishers who fail to pay the full amount of dues assessed by the start of the NMPA fiscal year shall not take part in any activities of the NMPA and will be deemed inactive. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 6.
A songwriter can join NMPA if he/she qualifies under the NMPA By-Laws. The NMPA By-Laws allow any person actively engaged in the business of publishing music to be eligible as a member of NMPA. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 1(a).
Under the NMPA By-Laws, a publishing administrator is eligible as a member of the NMPA. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 1(a).
It depends. NMPA generally discourages business management, law or accounting firms from joining NMPA because these firms typically do not engage in music publishing as their primary business. However, any person actively engaged in the business of publishing music may qualify under the NMPA By-Laws. See NMPA By-Laws, Article I, Section 1(a). Please contact Stephanie Li at the number indicated below if you have questions about whether your primary business is music publishing.
Yes. A music publisher should include the “writers share” in its U.S. revenue data so long as the “writers share” is actually received by the music publisher.
The deadline to provide the information and U.S. revenue data for the 2022 calendar year is no later than April 25, 2023. See NMPA By-Laws, Article 1, Section 3(b).
No. Providing U.S. revenue data does not commit a publisher to pay dues. A publisher does not become an NMPA member until it has paid its dues.
The NMPA shall send an invoice to each member for its dues on or about May 1. See NMPA By-Laws, Section 4(d).
The deadline for payment of dues shall be on or before June 1. See NMPA By-Laws, Section 4(d).
An NMPA member must fulfill its dues obligation in order to remain a member in good standing. ANY PUBLISHER NOT IN GOOD STANDING CANNOT OPT IN AND RECEIVE A PORTION OF AN NMPA SETTLEMENT OR PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION.
While NMPA’s prior litigation judgments and settlements are not indicators of future success, NMPA has collected over $1 billion in the aggregate on behalf of songwriters and music publishers opting-in to NMPA settlements and programs. NMPA has entered into settlement agreements with parties like YouTube and Limewire and has received judgments against parties that infringed publisher works, such as LiveUniverse. NMPA also worked with major record labels to establish the highly successful Late Fee Program, which has collected over $230 million to date from the major labels, and created default rules and best practice standards to encourage timely licensing and payment of mechanical royalties by major labels to publishers.
NMPA finalized settlement agreements with Fullscreen, Inc., Maker Studios, Inc., and Rap Genius, resulting in distributions to its members during the FY 2016 membership program. NMPA also offered model license agreements with SoundCloud and Flipagram allowing eligible publishers to take part in advances from the services.
With the exception of the NMPA Late Fee Program, market shares will be calculated using each music publisher’s submission of income data corresponding with the annual dues payment received by NMPA. Distributions to each participating publisher will be based on its relative market share as compared to all other publishers participating in a particular settlement. Please contact Stephanie Li if you have further questions.
No. A publisher does not have to join HFA to become a member in good standing with NMPA.
The purchasing publisher should include the previous calendar year revenue for that catalog in their data revenue submission. If you have further questions about acquisitions, please contact Stephanie Li.
If a publisher has additional questions, please contact Stephanie Li at NMPA: (202) 393-6672 or email her at sli@nmpa.org.