After careful consideration, CMRRA has commenced legal proceedings against Entertainment One (eOne) to enforce both a prior legal settlement agreement and a mechanical licensing agreement. We have decided to take this action following years of unsuccessful negotiations, and after considering all possible options to resolve our concerns with eOne. Unfortunately, after expending significant efforts to resolve this matter, we find ourselves with no reasonable alternative that would sufficiently protect the interests of our music publisher clients.
CMRRA’s aim is always to grant mechanical licences to entities that reproduce our clients’ songs for the purpose of sale or other distribution of sound recordings in Canada. eOne is one of the largest distributors of independent music labels in North America and also operates its own record company. Each year eOne releases and distributes a vast catalogue of music products in Canada, much of which contains musical works owned or administered by CMRRA’s music publisher clients. CMRRA has worked for years to license eOne under acceptable terms and conditions and, in 2014, these efforts culminated in a settlement that covered various historical releases and also established a licensing agreement for sound recordings released and distributed in Canada from 2009 onwards. We have since come to the determination, however, that eOne is either unable or unwilling to meet the terms of that 2014 agreement, which has left us with no other choice but to put this matter before the courts.
We ask that our clients appreciate that this is now a legal matter and that we will be limited in our ability to communicate about it.
