Global music royalty collections were up for the second year in a row to $7.9 billion in 2015. At constant currency, that represented a 3.5% increased on 2014 according to the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).
CISAC is comprised of 239 member societies that represent four million creators worldwide, including US mechanical collection society Harry Fox Agency for the first time, which greatly contributed to the 13.2% rise year-on-year in the Canada/USA region.
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a $50 million tax-credit bill designed to boost music production jobs in the state. The bipartisan legislation called the Empire State Music Production Tax Credit would have provided a 25 percent tax credit for eligible music-production-related costs downstate and a 35 percent credit for those costs upstate. New York Is Music, a coalition of more than 200 music-related organizations is disappointed by the veto, but optimistic in the tax credit’s future.
• Founding member of Wu-Tang Clan U-God is reportedly suing the group over unpaid royalties. U-God claims in his suit that he hasn’t received his share of royalty payments for six years, in addition to his share of merchandising and the top secret double album purchased by Martin Shkreli for $2 million. He is requesting at least $2.5 million which covers numerous breaches of contract as well as a complete accounting of Wu-Tang’s revenue streams.