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ARTICLE · 06 JUNE 2014

DOJ Revisits Music Royalty Consent Decrees

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
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Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

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From cassette tapes to CDs to Pandora and Spotify, innovations in the music field over the past two decades have drastically changed how people access music.

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law
Bruce Sokler
Bruce Sokler
Robert Kidwell
Robert Kidwell
Helen Kim
Helen Kim
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From cassette tapes to CDs to Pandora and Spotify, innovations in the music field over the past two decades have drastically changed how people access music. Songwriters, however, are paid according to a system that has been in place since 1941 and unchanged since 2001.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is now considering changing that. The agency announced yesterday that it will review the consent decrees governing the nation's largest performance rights organizations (PROs) — the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). The consent decrees were originally entered into in 1941, based on the DOJ's concerns over the market power wielded by ASCAP and BMI, which collect and redistribute licensing fees for more than 90% of music in the United States for their member songwriters and music publishers. The consent agreements currently require ASCAP and BMI to license their performance rights to any party who wants them and

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