The National Music Publishers’ Association held its first-ever Virtual Annual Meeting on 6/10. Before updates were delivered from across the publishing industry and Garth Brooks was honored with the Songwriter Icon Award, RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier kicked things off with remarks about the need for reform in the wake of the recent U.S. Copyright Office’s report on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

NMPA EVP & General Counsel Danielle Aguirre and Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) CEO Kris Ahrend gave updates on the MLC’s growth. “Our mission is fundamentally to ensure that creators, and their partners—their publishing companies—are paid properly,” said Aguirre, who serves on the board of the MLC.

Songwriter/podcaster/producer/artist Ross Golan spoke of songwriting in quarantine. “There’s an efficiency to writing online that I think songwriters are starting to find," he pointed out. "You know a song like ‘Stuck with You’ with Justin Bieber and Ariana was recorded and released within eight days.”

NMPA President/CEO David Israelite's annual State of the Industry address, noted $3.7b in pub revenue from 2019, an 11.55% growth rate from 2018. While Performance makes up 52.3% of the revenue, Sync and Mechanical revenues have grown significantly, representing 22.69% and 18.53% respectively. With more streaming revenue categorized as Mechanical due to the success of the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), Sync revenue is also benefiting from deals publishers have made.

Concluding the virtual meeting was country icon Brooks. “The greatest thing that anybody can call you, is a songwriter," he said upon accepting his trophy. "We’re the seed, we’re the fragile, but we need to be the most protected or there is no plant.” After performing an acoustic rendition of “The River,” he accepted his award in the name of his longtime manager, Bob Doyle.