I would have much rather had some transparency like "your monthly fee may increase by $X.XX because of SESAC negotiations, please vote yes or no to drop SESAC f

I would have much rather had some transparency like "your monthly fee may increase by $X.XX because of SESAC negotiations, please vote yes or no to drop SESAC from the repository". Much better negotiating tactic, and possibly worth the extra cost. On another note, if Blackstone is planning to squeeze profit out of SESAC and make it uncompetitive that's really unfortunate. I have loved having roughly equal access to all the music licensing/rights organizations for decades.