Radio Group Cumulus Media Officially Delisted from NASDAQ After Repeatedly Dipping Below $1
Radio group Cumulus Media is set to be delisted from the NASDAQ after repeatedly dropping below $1 and rapidly burning through cash.
Prominent radio broadcasting group Cumulus Media is set to be delisted from the NASDAQ Global Market after a notification of noncompliance with the exchange’s listing rules. The company, which reports annual revenues of $827 million, operates with a significant debt burden of $797 million. According to data, it has rapidly been burning through cash. Cumulus opted not to appeal the decision, and the delisting takes effect at the start of business on May 2, 2025.
That said, Cumulus Media has already secured a spot on the OTCQB market tier, operated by OTC Markets Group, to ensure seamless trading of its Class A common stock. Shares will trade under the same ticker, CMLS, starting May 2.
SoundExchange And The NAB Reach A Deal On Non-Subscription Rates For Commercial Broadcasters
SoundExchange and the National Association of Broadcasters have announced an agreement on non-subscription rates for commercial broadcasters, along with details of other royalty payments.
According to the agreement, the per-performance non-subscription rate will increase from the current rate of $0.0025 to $0.0028 in 2026 and will rise by a fixed amount of $0.0001 each year through 2030, when the rate reaches $0.0032.
Additionally, the agreement shortens reporting and payment deadlines to 30 days after the end of the month, down from the previous 45 days. Other provisions reduce and cap late fees assessed to broadcasters during audits at 1% per month, starting from when the audit is first noticed through the issuance of the final audit report.
The current late fee rate of 1.5% per month for all other payments remains unchanged, although late fees on underpayments discovered during an audit will now be capped at 75% of the total amount the auditors determine is owed.
The negotiations also resulted in a new requirement for licensees to provide access to performance data held by third-party vendors, beginning January 1,
2027.
The MLC Seeking Suggestions For Board of Directors & Advisory Committee Candidates
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is accepting suggestions of Publisher candidates for its Board of Directors and Dispute Resolution, Operations Advisory and Unclaimed Royalties Oversight committees.
Under the Music Modernization Act, certain positions at The MLC are reserved for representatives of Publishers and the terms of several Publisher seats on the Board and the advisory committees are slated to end later this year. Elections to determine who will fill the open Board seats will be held this summer, with board and committee members serving three-year terms with the possibility of re-election. Seats are filled according to The MLC’s Bylaws. The MLC’s Board of Directors and advisory committees meet regularly, and all meetings allow for virtual participation. Members are expected to devote sufficient time to prepare for and participate fully in all meetings.
Suggestions should be made no later than May 22. To suggest a candidate for a Publisher representative seat to The MLC’s Board or committees, please complete the suggestion form available here.
YouTube Music adds lyric-sharing feature to rival Spotify and Apple Music
YouTube Music users will soon be able to share social-friendly lyric graphics.
YouTube Music is introducing a new lyric-sharing feature, giving users the ability to share song lyrics in a visually appealing format, complete with a customizable background and album artwork.
This new feature is currently rolling out and brings YouTube Music in line with a similar functionality already available on Spotify and Apple Music. Social platforms are an increasingly integral part of music discovery and fan engagement. Features like lyric sharing open the door to new ways to connect with listeners. With users easily able to share their favorite lyrics in a visual format, the potential for increased visibility and engagement increases, helping to extend a song’s reach.
The Wonderful World of Metaphors
(Cliff
Goldmacher)
By definition, a metaphor is simply “a thing that is representative or symbolic of something else.” That sounds simple enough but what often gets overlooked is the magic that happens when you attempt to represent your original idea or problem in with its often dry, prosaic wording with something more visual and emotionally compelling. Suddenly, new doors open and ideas, angles and solutions tend to present themselves where there were seemingly none available before. It is the unassuming metaphor that works as a skeleton key to creativity and a reimagining of your concepts or ideas. We can get so wrapped up in being efficient and productive that our focus narrows to the point of excluding alternate ideas and approaches to problems. This can be a good thing if the problems and solutions are clearly defined. When it comes to innovation or sticky, intractable problems however, this narrowness of focus can be detrimental. Metaphors and their accompanying emotional energy remind us that we’re not simply cogs in a machine but, rather, humans looking for ways to make life better for others and, ultimately ourselves. Metaphors have the power to do that. There are countless metaphors for every issue or idea and the beauty of exploring ideas and problems through their metaphorical equivalents is that there are an almost endless number metaphors for any given idea.
“There is a narrowing of success where there should be a big pool of possibility” President of CD Baby, Molly Neuman
A simplified history of the record business, certainly at the major label level, holds that the lawyers took over in the 1960s and 1970s, marketing took over in the 1980s and 1990s and by the 2000s, external technologists started to run things remotely (except the labels refused to believe or admit this). It is a reductive and simplistic history, of course, but, barring the odd executive appointment here and there, it is fair to say that musicians themselves never took over the top tiers of major music companies. We start by discussing how to bridge the gap between recorded and live music to help emerging artists thrive, but it soon accelerates into deeper, more complex topics such as Marxist attitudes to musical creation and how to retain ideological purity when selling out is a) easy and b) lucrative. The margins from live are, she confirms, “very thin” for most despite the headlines about a booming live business in toto. “When you start to segment it out, it’s still mostly those very successful artists who are making that money.”
To her mind, this begs a multitude of questions. “How do you actually create a more sustainable business that supports the middle class, the aspirational side of the music creation community, which is where I’m living mostly right now? There’s heavy lifting work to do.”
ASCAP, BMI,
GMR, and SESAC have their say in US Copyright Office’s PRO inquiry…
The United States Copyright Office (USCO) has the PRO market in its crosshairs.
In February, the USCO launched a significant inquiry into the Performance Rights sector aimed at exploring “questions related to the increase in the number of PROs and the licensing revenue distribution practices of
PROs”. The modern US business now counts six PROs, including the ‘traditional’ organizations (ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC) alongside three newer entrants: Global Music Rights (founded in 2013), PRO Music Rights (2018), and AllTrack (2019). The launch of the PRO inquiry follows significant activity in the US PRO landscape in recent months, including the news of GMR’s majority acquisition by US-based private equity company Hellman & Friedman, valuing it at USD $3.3 billion.
Blackstone was also reported in January to be exploring a potential $3 billion+ sale of
SESAC. As part of the investigation, the USCO launched a call for written submissions from the public, with a deadline of Friday last week (April 11). ASCAP, BMI, GMR, and SESAC all responded at length.
Tariff-proof, recession-proof music industry will thrive despite global uncertainty, TD Cowen analysts say
Amid the tariff wars and other uncertainties in the global economy, the music industry is proving to be an oasis of stability that holds out the promise of continued earnings growth in the quarters to come.
That’s according to analysts at New York-headquartered investment bank TD Cowen, in their latest music earnings preview. “Digital goods are unaffected by tariffs.”
They noted that the majority of revenue at Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Spotify comes from subscription streaming, which “are unlikely to see meaningful increases in churn” even if the economy goes into recession. The resilience to a potential recession is thanks to music’s “high value/price proposition, particularly compared to other entertainment options… Music fundamentals should generally remain strong regardless of macro turbulence.”
Should I Hire a Producer?
It’s one of the most familiar credits in the record business, yet if you asked various people what “produced by” actually means, you’re likely to get a range of answers. While the role of producer has certainly evolved over the years, nowadays it can include anything from directing the session to offering songwriting, arranging and even instrumental contributions, not to mention helping with technical detail (i.e., the “producer-engineer”).
Above all, a producer acts as a kind of referee, maintaining a sense of discipline throughout the recording project, and also strives not for perfection but feel (since any minor miscues can usually be tended to after the fact). This can be particularly important when paying for a studio facility—without someone telling you when a guitar solo or lead vocal is good enough, you could easily spend many hours (and dollars) aimlessly overdubbing to no avail.
Here is some brief background on record production, and why enlisting the support of such a third party for your own material can help keep the music flowing.
ASCAP Responds to US Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry and Warns Against Further Regulation of Music Creators’ Income
ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, submitted a comprehensive response on Friday, April 11 to the US Copyright Office’s February Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in response to licensees seeking to pay less to songwriters and composers for the public performance of their music. Representing over one million members, ASCAP’s response warns that further regulation of the performance rights marketplace would cause immeasurable harm to music creators. The full text can be viewed
here.
“Licensees are seeking more regulation of PROs because they want to pay songwriters less,” said ASCAP Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Matthews. “If transparency, efficiency and innovation are the goals, more free market competition among PROs is the answer – not unnecessary government intervention.” ASCAP and its members will continue to engage with the Copyright Office advocating on behalf of music creators.
Songs Are Getting Shorter & The Surprising Reasons Why
Popular songs are getting shorter, with Grammy-winning hits and Spotify chart-toppers all shrinking in length. But is streaming really to blame? The answer is more complex, with history, genre, and evolving songwriting trends all playing a role. It may be tempting to blame shrinking song lengths on the short attention spans of listeners in the streaming age. But music journalist, NYU music professor, and co-host of the podcast Switched on Pop, Charlie Harding, believes there are more factors at play than one might expect. “This trend is multi-variant, with lots of influences,” he told Chartmetric. “It’s not just technology, it’s not just culture.” Can Writing Shorter Songs Actually Make You More Money?
“If you are already a huge star, perhaps one could say that,” says Harding per the above. “If you write 40 songs that are two minutes long, it’s possible [people will listen more frequently] because it takes up less time.”
