“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.