On January 15th, the Department of Justice announced it has ended its two-year review of the 80-year old consent decrees that govern the operation of the largest music performing rights organizations in the United States: ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.). The DOJ decided not to
Some Essential Facts About Music Performance Rights Organizations
1. Registration of a song with a PRO does not provide any copyright protection.
The most common misunderstanding I encounter from songwriters is that registering their songs with one of the U.S. music performance rights organizations (“PROs”), i.e. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, gives the songwriter some protection of their intellectual property rights in their
Public Performance Primer
These days, it’s hard to imagine a restaurant or bar experience that is not accompanied, in some part, by music. Music can be essential to create the personality of an establishment. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the owner of a bar or restaurant will invest a lot of energy in choosing just the right music,