Music Business

RapGenius Makes Nice With Music Publishers

image from upload.wikimedia.orgUPDATED: The press release may win the prize for vaguest of all time, but RapGenius has apparently reached an agreement with music publishers; or at least with The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), the trade organization that represents them.

In November of last year, the NMPA named the popular lyrics annotation site to its a list of 50 unlicensed sites targeted for take down. Days later the trade group pressed pause on taking action against the site. In January, RapGenis announced a deal with Universal Music publishing.
image from upload.wikimedia.org

Today the NMPA and Rap Genius today jointly announced "a partnership" that offers NMPA’s music publisher members "the opportunity to enter into a settlement and license with Rap Genius." No further details were offered.

UPDATE: An NMPA spokesperson emailed, "The agreement allows NMPA members to receive compensation for past use of lyrics and license for use moving forward."

“Rap Genius is a unique site that allows music fans to connect with songwriters and the emotions they express through their lyrics.  That’s why today’s announcement is a welcome one, and I applaud Rap Genius for respecting the rights of songwriters and compensating them fairly for their work,” said David Israelite, NMPA president and CEO.  “As more music fans find lyrics they relate to and are curious about online, it becomes imperative that various industries form collaborative partnerships such as what NMPA and Rap Genius have accomplished today.”

“The NMPA’s members represent some of the best songwriters in the world. Rap Genius allows these songwriters to showcase their work and interact with their biggest fans in unprecedented ways – we couldn’t be more excited about this partnership,” said Rap Genius Co-Founder Ilan Zechory.

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