DoJ to review performance rights licensing agreements
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has opened a review of its consent decrees with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI).
According to a DoJ press release issued Wednesday, June 5, these decrees govern the process by which ASCAP and BMI licence the rights to publicly perform works of music. The DoJ will now determine whether they “should be maintained in their current form, modified, or terminated”.
Described by the DoJ as the “two largest performing rights organizations in the US”, both ASCAP and the BMI pool copyright held by musicians, performers and publishers in order to collectively licence them for TV and radio play, as well as public performance.
The department’s antitrust division agreed the consent decrees with the two organisations in 1941. The ASCAP decree has not been modified since 2001, while the BMI agreement was last updated in 1994.
Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, commented that the decrees “have been in existence in some form for over seventy-five years and have effectively regulated how musicians are compensated for the public performance of their musical creations”.
“There have been many changes in the music industry during this time, and the needs of music creators and music users have continued to evolve,” Delrahim added.
The two bodies have indicated their support for the review. In a statement, ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said the DoJ announcement presented a “unique opportunity to reimagine the music marketplace in today’s digital age”.
Matthews called for “more flexible framework with less government regulation” with respect to licensing of the performance rights.
“A free market would level the playing field, encourage competition and allow us to innovate on behalf of music creators and licensees alike, while ensuring fair compensation for songwriters,” she said.
The BMI, meanwhile, hailed the review as “a clear opportunity to do what BMI and ASCAP have been trying to do for years – modernize music licensing to better reflect the transformative changes in the industry”.
Echoing ASCAP’s call for a free market in the industry, the BMI said that “less government regulation is hands down the best way for music creators to be rewarded for their hard work and IP”.
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