In a move that shows the ongoing devaluation of music on the web, music library Pump Audio sent out a message to its music suppliers that has caused considerable debate. In essence, the message announces a major change in the payment Pump Audio makes to music producers. Previously, the company split upfront licence fees 50/50 with creators, while also taking 50% of the publishing rights in the highly debatable “re-titling” practice. The new split is now 35/65 in favour of Pump Audio, while maintaining the share on the publishing revenue.

Many users have noted the difficulty in actually tracing the uses and therefore of seeing any performance rights within a reasonable timespan. In fact, it is thought that Pump has realised that music publishing is far from being the automatic money-spinner it is often thought to be, as it requires considerable resources to ensure that music users provide accurate cue sheets and the performance rights companies track them and pay accordingly. So they are asking more money on the front end. Their blog, meanwhile, talks about offering “the best deal in the music business”, which is a little cheeky.

There are music publishers who consider licensing as a core of their business, part of the ongoing job of exploiting a title. There are other companies that focus on the licensing part without touching publishing income.