Echoing Senate Democrats, Judiciary Leadership Asks DOJ to Hold Off Ending Music Decrees

DOJ should let Congress negotiate an alternative musical copyright framework before moving to terminate the BMI and ASCAP consent decrees, wrote Senate and House Judiciary Committee leadership in a recent letter to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim. The Friday letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., came a day after a similar request from Democratic senators (see 1806080034). Termination of the decrees could jeopardize music copyright progress made through House passage of the Music Modernization Act, which the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up soon (see 1805250036), said the lawmakers. Monday, DOJ didn’t comment.