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Publication

DiMA President & CEO: Critics of ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees Are Missing the Point

"The decrees are not broken," writes Garrett Levin, president and CEO of digital services trade group DiMA.

Billboard
Garrett Levin

The U.S. Department of Justice recently convened a series of workshops to review “competition in licensing in public performance rights.” For a government agency considering seismic changes to music licensing laws, it was well-intentioned and an appropriate exercise. Regrettably, however, the conversation lacked the critical perspective of numerous voices, including the music streaming services and…

Publication

How a new law aimed at streaming music brought the industry and Congress together

CBS News
Common Ground

In Washington, the Music Modernization Act aims to help by streamlining music licensing and closing a loophole in copyright law so it better fits the digital era. President Trump signed the landmark bill in October 2018, after it passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate.

Publication

Moving Forward with the Copyright Office

Library of Congress
Karyn A. Temple

It is an honor and pleasure to reintroduce myself to you as the United States Register of Copyrights. As the Supreme Court has said, copyright is intended to be the “engine of free expression.” The copyright system provides a critical framework to support creativity, culture, innovation and, yes, “free expression,” to the benefit of the…

Publication

Published Works Enter the Public Domain in the United States for First Time in Twenty Years

Library of Congress
Anandashankar Mazumdar

New Year’s Day 2019 was a landmark for American copyright law. For the first time in twenty years, published works of expression—including books, music, and films—started moving out of copyright protection and into the public domain.

Publication

Year in Music 2018: Making the Music Modernization Act Happen

Nashville Scene
Marissa Ross

In today’s fraught political environment, it’s hard to imagine a consensus on anything — let alone on an arts-related bill that ended up being signed into law by none other than consumer-of-all-joy Donald Trump. But that’s what happened with the federal Music Modernization Act.

Publication

The Spectacular Existential Crisis of Pandora

Rolling Stone
Amy X. Wang

By the time Roger Lynch took over as the company’s fourth CEO in four years, the chances of rising from the ashes were slim. “Everyone wants to feel like they’re on a winning team, and employees really loved the company but felt like it was losing,” Lynch tells Rolling Stonenow, almost exactly one year after he…

Publication

What does the Music Modernization Act mean for your streaming subscriptions?

Mashable
Alison Foreman

The Music Modernization Act (MMA) is officially law. And, as evidenced by the musician-packed Oval Office from earlier this afternoon, that means a lot of things for a lot of different people. The former bill turned law ensures artists receive the compensation they are owed, encourages fair industry competition, and protects the intellectual property rights of studios nationwide—among other…

Publication

Music Licensing: A History

NRB Music Licensing Committee
NRB Music Licensing Committee

There are a number of separate copyrights in music, but the history of ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and the broadcast industry involves only one, the “small” or “non-dramatic” public performance right.

Publication

Songwriters, music executives urge Congress to pass first music copyright reform in decades

USA Today
Michael Collins

Music legend Smokey Robinson and Nashville-based songwriter Josh Kear urged Congress on Tuesday to pass the first major music copyright reform law in decades, saying that many songwriters are struggling financially because they are not being adequately paid for use of their songs.

Publication

Music industry settles a big fight ahead of Grammys

Axios
Sara Fischer

The music industry may be close to an agreement on how to pay musicians fairly for their work — just in time for Sunday’s Grammys. Members of Congress will hold a hearing Friday in New York City to discuss a bipartisan bill to rewrite music licensing and copyright laws, featuring testimony from celebrity artists like…