BMI’s rate-court Judge has ruled against the Department of Justice’s 100% licensing decision. Judge Louis Stanton stated that “the consent decree neither bars fractional licensing nor requires full-work licensing,” exactly the opposite of what the DOJ argued in its controversial ruling earlier this summer.
NMPA president & CEO David Israelite lauded the decision, saying, “Thanks to the courage of Mike O’Neill, BMI, and the entire songwriting and music publishing community, the DOJ’s disastrous views on 100% licensing have been rejected by a federal Judge. This is a huge win for songwriters and a huge win for the rule of copyright law.”
• In an effort to create a more efficient and transparent music marketplace, ASCAP has launched a Digital Team, comprised of the Digital Product & User Experience Group and the newly created Data Strategy & Business Intelligence group. The team’s first launch is the redesigned public repertory search, ACE, and plans to re-launch a modernized, intuitive ASCAP.com and Member Access experience. ASCAP says it will harness its “rich data and other assets to [improve] ASCAP’s music licensing, royalty collection, and distribution processes.”
• Facebook is searching for a Director of Global Music Licensing Partnerships, a move that industry executives view as a sign that the social network has decided to be more engaged with the music community. Responsibilities of the role include leading music licensing strategy negotiations with global rightsholders and being a source of deep insights about the music ecosystem. Songtrust’s own Joe Conyers stated, “This is the response to Facebook realising it needs to improve its relationship with the industry. They face the eventually of our entire industry realising how much money we are losing from the cannibalisation of Youtube via Facebook Video. If they want to be a real player in video, they need to fairly treat copyright holders.”