Following an investigation brought on by a complaint from several jukebox operators in the US, the Recording Industry Association of America has found NSM Music has approval from record labels to conduct a pilot programme consisting of 25 digital downloading machines.

According to national trade press, NSM Music "sent shockwaves" across the US jukebox industry when, in December of last year, it announced plans to begin marketing and operating its own digital jukebox music platform. Its new business model also included selling music services and a new jukebox model directly to locations that want to self-operate. NSM said its own network serving the US has been up and running for testing purposes and would officially go live in the first quarter of this year. NSM is offering the Icon 2, a wall-mounting model, in its direct sales programme.

Up until this point, NSM America only provided hardware and support, providing jukeboxes for Ecast’s music network. The recent complaint brought to the RIAA involved a location-owned NSM jukebox in Port Jervis, New York, and some of the music on that jukebox was exclusive to TouchTunes jukeboxes, according to reports from US trade press Vending Times, creating some suspicion about its music source.

This news hits just weeks after NSM in the UK found itself in a royalties battle with PRS for Music.

On May 23, Donovan Fremin, president of the Amusement and Music Operators Association, the national organisation of jukebox operators, and Ken Goldberg, president of the Amusement and Music Owners Association of New York, met with high-ranking RIAA officials to discuss NSM and the greater problem of music piracy.

Following the meeting, RIAA sent a letter to NSM asking the company to address grievances that it might be dealing in jukeboxes containing unauthorised sound recordings. Through its lawyers, NSM told the RIAA that the jukeboxes it had recently sold directly to locations are part of a 25-unit trial and it is in the process of negotiating licences with the labels. The RIAA confirmed NSM’s authorisation for the pilot programme with label officials.

The RIAA has said it does not "currently" recommend legal action because "good faith licensing discussions are in progress" between NSM and labels.

Source: Vending Times