Snapchat Finalizes a Broad Number of Music Publisher Licensing Agreements — Very Much Unlike Twitter/X

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Snapchat owner Snap Inc. has finalized a broad number of licensing agreements with major music publishers, according to details tipped to Digital Music News.

The yellow ghost isn’t ghosting music publishers — according to signed agreement details shared with Digital Music News.

Per paperwork that somehow found its way to DMN’s place of business, Snapchat owner Snap Inc. is signing deals with a broad number of music publishers under deal terms structured by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). And for those that enjoy counting Benjamins, this is a pretty juicy pot of revenue of nearly $15 million over two years.

Even better for the biz: apparently this is simply the latest in a string of licensing agreements from Snap, a move that removes the need for those pesky, multi-year lawsuits. That hasn’t been the case with X, née Twitter, which has refused to pay for music licensing and remains locked in a legal battle with major music publishers led by Concord Music.

NMPA chief David Israelite told Digital Music News that this definitely isn’t the first deal between music publishers and Snap Inc.

Instead, this is simply the latest re-up of a longstanding licensing agreement — meaning the terms have been ironed out years ago and inked multiple times.

Shifting to the dollar amounts involved: overall, the blanket agreement covers a two-year span and a guaranteed pot of $14,660,010. The opt-in agreement window lapsed in March after a 90-day window, and participating publishers will claim their share of the purse based on a marketshare calculation.

For Snap and its collection of properties, this deal looks all-encompassing. Beyond the core Snapchat app, the licensing agreement also covers Bitmoji and Zenly, as well as associated players, pages, apps, websites, tools like Lens Studio, and Messaging products — though it looks like the Snapchat kitchen sink isn’t included.

Ted Suh, Head of Music Partnerships at Snap, appears to have been quarterbacking the deal for the social media platform. Snap declined to offer any comment on the licensing agreement, however. 

According to the contract terms, any NMPA member publisher can jump into the agreement. In terms of who isn’t part of this opt-in deal, the language strongly suggests that the biggies have already structured separate agreements, including Sony Music Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, and BMG Rights Management.

For everyone else, the deal flexes the muscle of the NMPA, which represents a broad swatch of the global music publishing industry. And what about those who aren’t members of the NMPA? According to more information spilled to DMN, non-NMPA publishers will have to strike their own agreements, though we’ve also learned that Snap isn’t doing deals with them.

The NMPA opt-in itself is global in scope, with Argentina the only exception.

And in case you think we’re making up the whole ‘sign here or we’re going to court’ vibe, it’s actually spelled out in the contract.

Indeed, the agreement acknowledges that while “the parties disagree as to whether or not, under the copyright laws, Snap is required to obtain a license for Snap’s users’ use and/or exploitation of musical compositions and/or lyrics,” the participating music publishers agree “not to sue Snap or its users for the use of musical compositions or lyrics… in order to enter into the License Agreement, Participating Publishers.” 

In other words: ‘we came to an understanding’ — unlike Elon’s X.

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