Posted on 05/06/2019 2:34:51 PM PDT by Kaslin
I think it’s safe to say the entertainment industry – including the music industry - isn’t exactly friendly to conservatives and Republicans.
Indeed, since 2008, the music industry has directed at least 80 percent of its annual campaign donations to Democrats, while the entertainment crowd as a whole donated over $8 million to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, compared to less than $300,000 to Donald Trump.
And yet…
Two music industry giants – the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) are now practically camped out on President Trump’s Department of Justice doorstep, hat in hand, asking for a special favor.
If you’re not familiar how this system works, let me give you a layman’s Reader’s Digest explanation…
Let’s say you’re a recording artist ready to release a new song or album.
Now, in order for a department store, coffee shop, radio/TV station, and/or music streaming service to play your music on their station or platform, they need to pay you a fee, known in the industry as a “royalty.”
The problem for individual artists is that there are, literally, tens of thousands of services which broadcast music – including over 10,000 radio stations and 10,000 cable TV systems. And that doesn’t even include the overwhelming majority of retail stores, bars, and, in many cases, elevator companies that play music in their businesses.
Which means it would be virtually impossible for an individual artist to negotiate a royalty agreement to play their music with each one individually.
Enter ASCAP and BMI. Middlemen.
Those organizations charge an annual blanket fee to the multitude of broadcast services for the right to play the music of artists – and then pay royalties to the artists who have signed up with them.
So far, so good.
The problem is, between the two of them, ASCAP and BMI control approximately 90 percent of the music you listen to these days – a virtual monopoly. Which, of course, opens the door to price-gauging.
Now, in order to avoid anti-trust complaints and lawsuits over price-fixing, these two giants entered into “consent decrees” with the Department of Justice way back in 1941.
As part of the agreements, the blanket licensing system – allowing businesses and stations to gain access to all the songs managed by both groups at fair rates - was established, and a “rate court” was created to mediate disputes.
This “light touch” regulatory approach by the government has worked pretty darned well for almost 80 years now. Indeed, ASCAP and BMI continue to break revenue records annually.
Nevertheless, greed is a powerful motivator. And now ASCAP and BMI are lobbying Attorney General William Barr to dump the consent decrees, or at least loosen up the restrictions.
As the rock group Queen so eloquently put it: “I want it all. I want it all. I want it all. And I want it now.”
What we have here is a very difficult and very complex situation.
The “middlemen” – ASCAP and BMI – provide a valuable service, especially for small service providers and new performers trying to break into the business. However, controlling 90 percent of the market means it’s not a free market, thus necessitating government oversight and regulation.
The consent decrees that have been in place for the music industry for over seven decades now are an important anti-trust tool that cannot be understated. Keeping those decrees in place is the only sensible thing to do.
Let’s hope Attorney General Barr agrees.
Can he call the police because they are disturbing the peace?
You got 3 seconds to get it added off my doorstep.
1......2.......
Redo....you got 3 seconds to get your asses off my doorstep
1.....2.....
I guess it’s okay to harass conservatives but don’t you ever do that to a liberal because they’ll go off to their fainting couch suffering the indignity.
That would be a duopoly.
Lot of not-reading the article going on here.
[price-gauging]
And here’s what one finds, LOL.
But I hear what you’re saying.
Hope the author catches this and fixes it.
Status Quo.
Hmmmmm, after reading the article a potential solution comes to mind.....Monopoly/Duopoly, break em up.
Break them up and open up the “middleman” market to whomever wants to make deals with the individual artists and record labels. Let market competition do the rest.
Appears to be a pretty lucrative gig so one would have to surmise that many would be interested in providing the service if given the opportunity.
Confronting/harrassing Cabinet members and other Trump-tied officials ....is ongoing and will be.....they do not distinguish separating legitimate political protest from outright harassment.
Recall Maxine Waters said to bring the ‘resistance’ to a new level when she urged supporters to swarm Cabinet members..’you create a crowd and you push back on them”...protesters are “going to absolutely harass them.”
There is systematic viewpoint discrimination in the American entertainment and big tech industries.
I have zero respect for their Intellectual Property rights as they have been acquired by theft in the first place.
I use to fight for the “rule of law” on this issue, but I cannot any longer.
Consider any music, movies, or TV shows you pay for to be donations to an industry that, for the most part, hates everything you believe in and stand for. Choose well.
If I’m ever on a jury where the accused has supposedly violated IP rights of entertainment or software companies, I intend to take a close look at the “victim’s” business practices when it comes to their treatment of conservatives and Christians. If they only have liberal employees, donate only to liberal causes and political campaigns, and promote anti-Christian content, they can forget about me feeling any deep concern for their “rights.”
I shouldn’t have to pay them to have my song broadcast.
>>Those organizations charge an annual blanket fee to the multitude of broadcast services for the right to play the music of artists – and then pay royalties to the artists who have signed up with them.
WRONG
These thugs run a protection racket. They will threaten a business with legal action if you don’t pay your quarterly or annual license fee. The money you pay them goes into their coffers, if you played Bob Dylan on your CD player in your coffee shop, Bob doesn’t see a penny from that. You are not required to keep a log of all of the songs played in your business, just place a sticker showing you are paid in full otherwisee you face their shakedown wrath.
Even with streaming services the artists YOU listen to don’t receive the money YOU pay to license commercial the playback of their songs. It goes to the top charted bands.
In the 40s and 50s ASCAP wouldn’t publish hillbilly or race records (what became known as r&b).
When their bastard child “rock and roll” came out, ASCAP refused to publish it as well. Then when BMI had all of the chart hits, ASCAP alleged “payola” rather than their own shortsightedness.
they had a few good hits in the 70s, but they got kind of repetitive on their later albums
English sayings still foul others up. LOL.
How do this fers always find trump’s officials addresses and we can’t for the mediapukes?!! We should also be in front of those lying inciting pieces of violence chit homes too!!
Can we do something to break up their duopoly?
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