As part of The Department of Justice's ongoing review of legacy antitrust judgments, the Antitrust division has opened a review of its consent decrees with The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI). For more than seventy-five years, these decrees have governed the process by which these two organizations license rights to publicly perform musical works. DOJ says the purpose of the division's review is to determine whether the decrees should be maintained in their current form, modified or terminated.
ASCAP and BMI are the two largest performing rights organizations in the U.S. Their primary function is to pool the copyrights held by their composer, songwriter and publisher members or affiliates and collectively license public performance rights to music users such as radio and television stations, streaming services, concert venues, bars, restaurants and retail establishments.
