US radio giant iHeartMedia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US yesterday – and we now know which music companies it owes serious money.
A filing made in Texas earlier today (March 15) reveals that the radio network owes millions in unpaid royalty and licensing fees to a host of music rights owners and distributors.
The debt totals $38.4m and includes the following itemised creditors:
- SoundExchange $6.4m
- ASCAP $1.4m
- BMI $1.4m
- Universal Music Group $1.3m
- Warner Music Group $3.9m
- Global Music Rights $2m
- Nielsen (which provides charts to Billboard and other data services) $20.8m
- Spotify $2m
It also has outstanding debt of $5.6m owed to radio broadcasting rival Cumulus Media.
The company is struggling under the weight of a total of $20bn in debt, but told investors Wednesday (March 14) that it had agreed a restructuring deal with the holders of more than $10bn of this figure.
See below for screenshot from the creditors’ filing in Texas, which you can read in full through here (creditors are displayed on the final pages).
Music Business Worldwide
