Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney Jodie Griffin will testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Antitrust Subcommittee Tuesday, March 10 at 10 a.m. Her testimony in the hearing on “How Much for a Song? The Antitrust Decrees that Govern the Market for Music” will support preserving competition in music licensing through consent decrees that ensure consumers have access to a competitive music market.
The following may be attributed to Jodie Griffin, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge:
“The ASCAP and BMI consent decrees have served an important role in promoting competition and encouraging a robust music composition licensing market despite the dramatic market concentration among the PROs. Additionally, the increased market power of the largest PROs and publishers, and the recent attempt of the major publishers to partially withdraw their rights from the PROs only emphasize that the licensing market at this particular time seems especially vulnerable to anticompetitive practices. It therefore falls on our antitrust authorities to ensure any changes in the consent decrees continue to promote competition and innovation to the benefit of consumers.”
“The problems the consent decrees were designed to combat still exist today. Although many things have changed in the music marketplace since the consent decrees were first drafted, ASCAP and BMI’s substantial market power has not. Indeed, consolidation in the music publishing market has only increased since ASCAP and BMI entered into the consent decrees, making them even more necessary today. The consent decrees are therefore an important tool in place to promote competition in what is in reality a non-idealized market.”
You may view the full-length testimony here.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.