Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Senate subcommittee hearing planned on compulsory music copyright licenses, (Mar 4, 2015)

The Senate Judiciary antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights subcommittee has scheduled a March 10 hearing, titled "How Much for a Song?: The Antitrust Decrees that Govern the Market for Music." Broadcasters, Internet music streaming services, and others pay government-set fees to rights holders under compulsory performance copyright licenses established by antitrust consent decrees that date back to 1941.

The scheduled witnesses at the March 10 hearing are Mike Dowdle, vice president–business affairs and general counsel for Bonneville International; Jodie Griffin, senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge; Chris Harrison, VP–business affairs at Pandora Media, Inc.; Beth Matthews, chief executive officer of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); Lee Thomas Miller, president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International; and SONGS Music Publishing CEO Matt Pincus.

The hearing is slated to begin at 10 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

News: Antitrust