04 Jun Success! Congress To Begin A Review of Music Licensing Rules For ASCAP & BMI
You’ve seen me talk about the importance of the #songwritersequityact and now it appears that its finally getting some attention with this new report via NYTimes.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department plans to announce that it will review the 73-year-old regulatory agreements that govern Ascap and BMI, two groups that act as licensing clearinghouses for a range of outlets that use music, including radio stations, websites and even restaurants and doctors’ offices. Billions of dollars in royalties are at stake, and the lobbying fight that is very likely to unfold would pit Silicon Valley giants like Pandora and Google against music companies and songwriter groups.
Ascap, or the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and BMI, also known as Broadcast Music Inc., are two of the oldest licensing groups in music publishing, the side of the music business that deals with copyrights for songwriting, as opposed to recordings. These groups, known as performing rights organizations, each represent millions of songs, and together collect close to $2 billion a year in royalties. But they say that their ability to collect fair rates for their music in the digital age is undermined by the government’s regulatory agreements, known as consent decrees.
The Justice Department’s review calls for a 60-day period for public comments about the consent decrees. The department could then recommend changes to regulation, which would be reviewed by judges in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan.