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US: Senate antitrust hearing asks “How Much For A Song?

By  |  March 11, 2015

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights heard from six witnesses, each representing a different part of the country’s current music licensing landscape. The hearing was titled “How Much For a Song?: The Antitrust Decrees that Govern the Market for Music.”

To answer that question, parties big and small clashed over the relevance in the digital age of a couple of consent decrees issued by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1941 that regulate how songwriters get paid when their work gets played.

At Tuesday’s hearing, ASCAP, BMI, songwriters and senators all suggested that the system is breaking down as streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes replace traditional music venues as the biggest source for hearing music.

“The use of music has increased exponentially, but the payments have not followed,” said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews.

 

Full Content: Billboard

 

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