NMPA CEO Urges DOJ to Weigh ‘Contentious’ Consent Decrees

BMI and ASCAP consent decrees let companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix not pay songwriters what they deserve (see 1810010031), and it’s good DOJ is exploring these decrees, National Music Publishers Association CEO David Israelite said in a Technology Policy Institute podcast. Songwriters “should have a right to negotiate the price of what they create in a free market, and the consent decrees prevent them,” he said in a conversation TPI promoted this week that included RIAA President Mitch Glazier. Thursday, the Internet Association didn’t comment. The Music Modernization Act’s Mechanical Licensing Collective (see 1809180059) will revolutionize how the music industry treats data, Israelite said. The MLC establishes a royalty payment database governed by a board of 10 publishers and four songwriters with oversight from the Copyright Office. It’s unique that the industry won’t “treat the ownership information as proprietary or confidential but rather as public information that is designed to get proper payment,” Israelite said, noting sound recordings will be publicly accessible for three years when the proper owner can’t be found.