UK managers have backed Sony/ATV's quest to gain permission in the US to withdraw their clients' digital rights from ASCAP and BMI - in order to negotiate directly with online 'radio' platforms such as Pandora.

But the UK managers' trade body, the Music Managers' Forum (MMF), also says it is "alarmed" by suggestions from the publisher that it is considering a withdrawal from the two PROs altogether.

The threat of a complete exit from the PROs came from Sony/ATV chairman ...