fractional interest in musical work

Copyright Office Commences an Inquiry into the Proliferation of Performing Rights Organizations – Looking at the Complexity of Licensing Musical Works in the United States

By David Oxenford|2025-02-13T11:23:28-06:00February 13th, 2025|Legal News|

In the United States, performing rights in musical compositions (or “musical works” as the Copyright Act refers to them – the words and music of a song) are generally licensed by a “performing rights organization” or a “PRO.” The U.S., unlike most countries where there is a single organization that collects these royalites, has multiple... Continue Reading…

GMR and RMLC Announce that Radio Royalty Settlement is Effective – Gives Commercial Radio Stations One Last Chance to Join Licensing Agreement by March 31

By David Oxenford|2022-02-07T11:10:13-06:00February 7th, 2022|Legal News|

In a press release issued today, the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) and performing rights organization Global Music Rights (GMR) announced that enough commercial radio stations signed the GMR licensing agreement to allow the settlement of the RMLC/GMR litigation to become effective. As we wrote when the settlement was announced early last month, enough radio... Continue Reading…

DOJ Ends its Review of ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees – For Now…What Does it Mean?

By David Oxenford|2021-01-20T11:08:42-06:00January 20th, 2021|Legal News|

In 2019, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice began a review of the court-administered antitrust consent decrees that have bound ASCAP and BMI since the 1940s. We wrote about the issues in their review here. The formal review of these decrees began as part of the DOJ’s broader review of its antitrust... Continue Reading…

DOJ Ends its Review of ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees – For Now…What Does it Mean?

By David Oxenford|2021-01-20T11:08:42-06:00January 20th, 2021|Legal News|

In 2019, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice began a review of the court-administered antitrust consent decrees that have bound ASCAP and BMI since the 1940s. We wrote about the issues in their review here. The formal review of these decrees began as part of the DOJ’s broader review of its antitrust... Continue Reading…

DOJ Starts Review of BMI and ASCAP Consent Decrees – Exploring the Background of the Issues

By David Oxenford|2019-06-06T09:54:34-05:00June 6th, 2019|Legal News|

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division yesterday announced that it was starting a review of the ASCAP and BMI antitrust consent decrees that govern the United States’ two largest performing rights organizations for musical compositions (referred to as the “musical work”). The DOJ’s announcement of the initiation of the examination of the consent decrees poses...… Continue Reading

ASCAP and BMI Consent Decrees Under Review – How Performing Rights Organizations, Antitrust Policy and Statutory Licenses Could Create a Controversy

By David Oxenford|2019-03-07T08:22:03-06:00March 7th, 2019|Legal News|

In the last few weeks, the press has been buzzing with speculation that the Department of Justice is moving toward suggesting changes in the antitrust consent decrees that govern the operations of ASCAP and BMI. Those consent decrees, which have been in place since the 1940s, among other things require that these Performing Rights Organizations...… Continue Reading

Music Modernization Act Becomes Law – Mechanical Rights To Become Easier Just As Performance Rights May Become More Difficult

By David Oxenford|2018-10-15T07:24:24-05:00October 15th, 2018|Legal News|

Last week, after passage by both chambers of Congress and signature by the President, the ‘‘Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act’’ became law. The law underwent a few changes on its journey to approval, adding new provisions in the Senate to those which we summarized here upon its initial passage by the House. The...… Continue Reading

Court of Appeals Upholds BMI Decision Allowing Fractional Music Licensing – What Are the Issues?

By David Oxenford|2017-12-20T11:22:11-06:00December 20th, 2017|Legal News|

Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a “Summary Order” that the Court said does “not have precedential effect,” upheld an even briefer decision of the US District Court Judge who oversees the BMI antitrust consent decree, determining that the Department of Justice’s was wrong in its interpretation of the consent...… Continue Reading

SoundExchange Acquires CMRRA – What Does it Mean for Music Licensing?

By David Oxenford|2017-05-18T10:37:54-05:00May 18th, 2017|Legal News|

This week SoundExchange, the non-profit rights organization that collects the royalties paid by digital music companies for the public performance in the United States of sound recordings, announced that it had acquired CMRRA (the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, Ltd). CMRRA licenses the reproduction rights to musical works in Canada. As we have written before,...… Continue Reading