Important Update: The Group II phase of the NMPA Late Fee Program is now closed. The Program Administrator has issued Group II payments for Assigned Shares and resolved Contested Shares, and commenced additional distributions of P&U Royalties under Section 5.11 of the MOU.
The Group III phase of the Program has commenced. Please visit the MOU 2 site for more information.
Group II Overview
On November 10, 2009, the National Music Publishers’ Association (“NMPA”) and The Harry Fox Agency LLC (“HFA”) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (the “MOU”) with the Recording Industry Association of America establishing the NMPA Late Fee Program (the “Late Fee Program”). Through the cooperative efforts of the four major Record Companies (the “Participating Record Companies”) and music publishers to improve licensing practices and encourage prompt dispute resolution, and in exchange for waivers of certain late fees that otherwise may be due from the major Record Companies to music publishers, the Record Companies will distribute to participating music publishers and foreign societies their respective market shares of accrued pending and unmatched royalties (“P&U Royalties”). Registration for distribution of P&U Royalties accrued for products released on or before December 31, 2006 (“Group I”) has ended. If you previously opted in for Group I, you have agreed to participate in the Group II phase of the program described below. However, music publishers and foreign societies that did not participate in Group I had the opportunity to register no later than December 15, 2010 for the second phase of the Late Fee Program, which will distribute P&U Royalties accrued for product released between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008. This phase of the Late Fee Program is referred to as "Group II" and could distribute P&U Royalties currently estimated by the Record Companies to be approximately $36 million. The actual amount could be more or less.
For more details, please consult the NMPA Late Fee Program Group II Overview or the Frequently Asked Questions on this website.
Who was Eligible to Participate in Group II of the Late Fee Program?
Group II of the Late Fee Program was open to music publishers and foreign societies with musical compositions
initially distributed by one or more Record Companies in the United States during the years 2007 and 2008. Publishers and foreign
societies that had already opted into the Late Fee Program had already agreed to participate in Group II. Publishers who did not
participate in Group I were able to participate in Group II by registering no later than December 15, 2010. A registered publisher then had the option
of opting into the Group II program. A Participating Music Publisher (but not a foreign society) must have been a member of the NMPA on or before
the date of the submission of the Opt-In Enrollment Form. Independent Record Companies will have the opportunity to participate in the Late
Fee Program in the near future as Participating Record Companies on substantially the same terms as in the MOU.
For those music publishers who chose not to participate in the Late Fee Program, their respective shares of P&U Royalties have been excluded from the NMPA Late Fee Program and remained with the Record Companies.
What Did I Need To Do to Participate
in Group II of the Late Fee Program?
Publishers that participated in Group I
To receive a payment from the Group II fund, all interested music publishers and foreign societies who previously opted into Group I ("Group I Participating Publishers and Foreign Societies") had to complete and submit the preprinted Group II Confirmation Form no later than December 15, 2010.
The Program Administrator processed all Confirmation Forms and calculated an estimated Publisher Share distribution for the entities claimed in Group II. Only those entities with a Group II publisher share were listed on the Confirmation Update Form. Your completed Confirmation Update Form had to be received no later than March 4, 2011.
New Registrants
There were 3 steps required for participation in the Group II phase of the Late Fee Program, if you did not participate in Group I.
- First Step: To participate in Group II, all interested music publishers and foreign societies who did not participate in Group I had to complete and submit the Group II Registration Form either in hard copy or on-line via this website no later than December 15, 2010. Registering did not commit publishers/foreign societies to participate in Group II, but registration was required to receive further information, such as the Opt-In Enrollment Form and the eligible publisher's Group II estimated publisher market share calculation.
- Second Step: The Program Administrator calculated the Group II estimated "Publisher-Market Share" for each newly registered publisher and Foreign Society, and sent each newly registered publisher and foreign society an Opt-In Form containing an estimate of the amount the publisher can expect to receive from Group II.
- Third Step: A registered publisher who decided to participate in the Late Fee Program had to submit a completed Opt-In Form before March 4, 2011. Publishers who opted in by sending the Opt-In Form to the Program Administrator became "Group II Participating Publishers" under the MOU, and became eligible to receive their share of the Group II distributed royalties.
