A message from Paul Williams (ASCAP) about Judge Stanton's rejection of DOJ Proposal
Dear fellow ASCAP members, Back in August, we shared the news that ASCAP and BMI had joined forces to challenge the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision on 100% licensing and modernize the outdated consent decree system. Yesterday, we celebrated an important victory in this joint strategy. As you may have heard, federal Judge Louis L. Stanton, who oversees BMI’s rate court, issued an order rejecting the DOJ’s recent interpretation of the BMI consent decree, and concluded that BMI is free to engage in the fractional licensing of musical works. As our CEO Beth Matthews said in ASCAP’s public statement on the ruling, this is terrific news for our community of songwriters, composers and music publishers. I know many of you are wondering what this means for ASCAP. As we review the potential impact of this ruling on ASCAP, we hope it will provide support for our ongoing work with BMI to modernize the regulatory system so that music creators and publishers can effectivel...