PRO MUSIC RIGHTS, LLC’S COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’S SOLICITATION OF PUBLIC COMMENTS REGARDING REVIEW OF THE ASCAP AND BMI CONSENT DECREES July 22, 2020 Sinead Rafferty, Esq. Richard Gora, Esq. Gora LLC Gora LLC 9 W. Broad St. 2 Corporate Dr., Suite 210 Stamford, CT 06902 Trumbull, CT 06611
[email protected] [email protected] (646) 298-8523 (203) 424-8021 Pro Music Rights, LLC (“PMR”), a performing rights organization, respectfully submits these comments, together with the annexed Exhibit A of its antitrust complaint filed in Pro Music Rights, LLC v. Apple Inc., 3:20-cv-00309, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, against world-wide streaming competitors (the “DSPs”), the self-described coordinators of horizontal competitors (such as Radio Music License Committee (“RMLC”)) and others, in response to the request of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for comment to the consent decrees against BMI and ASCAP. I. The BMI and Consent Decrees Must Be Vacated In which other industry have all of the sellers been sued by buyers for anticompetitive conduct? Not one –– except for the performance rights market. The BMI and ASCAP consent decrees must be vacated. They stifle competition. They cause buy-side corruption. They foster no competition among the performing rights organizations (“PROs”). They have erected the highest barrier for starting a business as a performing rights organization. Buyers’ use of antitrust lawsuits against PROs is a tried and true model to reduce competition. It started because of the BMI and ASCAP consent decrees.