Music Consent Decrees and Compulsory Licenses: The Right to Say No
The debate over consent decrees and compulsory licenses is heating up, raising questions about creators’ rights to control their own music…
Consent Decrees and Compulsory Licenses: The Right to Say No
by Chris Castle via Music Tech Solutions [This post first appeared on Artist Rights Institute’s Artist Rights Watch blog]
“I remember you, you’re the one who made my dreams come true…”
written by Johnny Mercer
Careful What You Wish For
Remember the sales pitch for how wonderful the Music Modernization Act was going to be? An even broader compulsory mechanical license for songwriters combined with yet another safe harbor for music users (with new and improved retroactivity) was going to solve all our problems. A solution for unlicensed songs, black box, unpaid royalties, a stop for “inefficient” litigation. The new musical works database would succeed where all other efforts had failed, not to worry and now back to sleep. Good thing it didn’t make the already complex music licensing regime even more convoluted.
There is, of course, a very simple way to clean up at least some complexities in the music licensing system. Digital services don’t use a track if they don’t clear the publishing. Radio stations certainly can block tracks when they blacklist a particular song. That would, of course, require not just accepting responsibility for licensing but also for doing an effective job of licensing so the platform did not get sued. The whole point of the civil law system is to encourage honest behavior and to empower individuals to unleash hell. Don’t mistake “holding up” a license for standing up and fighting back. Those noisy smallfolk may get in the way but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong.
Who Made Them Special?
It doesn’t seem like it’s working out quite as advertised. We were told before the MMA that you just can’t ask the digital services to actually confirm they have the rights to sell their products. Why do we ask it of other commercial actors in complex rights situations but not digital services? We ask grocers, car dealers, doctors, bankers or even lawyers to know who they are