ASCAP has added information about the share of public performance rights it controls to its publicly available online ACE Database. It is the first PRO to disclose this licensable share information for its entire repertory. According to the press release announcing the update, the database changes will support ASCAP’s request to the Justice Department for its members to have greater choice to withdraw certain digital rights.
“If public performance rights societies are going to survive and thrive in a global music economy driven by data, then we must be willing to be fully transparent regarding what shares of songs we are licensing,” ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said. “ASCAP is willing to lead the fight for greater transparency in this sector to support fair market value payments to our songwriter and publisher members and we urge other stakeholders to follow suit.”
In April, we saw early hints that the Department of Justice could be leaning toward allowing publishers partial withdrawal from bundled consent decree licenses. The final decisions about the future of consent decrees has not landed yet, but the case has been under consideration at the department for more than a year.