Venue Letter
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The Honorable Makan Delrahim Assistant Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Assistant Attorney General Delrahim: We represent venues from communities across America that license music for the enjoyment of our customers and to support local musicians. Our ranks include all types of music licensees ranging from small-town taverns to big city bars, local diners to restaurant chains, rural bed and breakfasts to city hotels, family wineries to independent brewers. We write today to urge the Department of Justice to preserve and protect the consent decrees governing the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). ASCAP and BMI provide an efficient way for our businesses to play music while ensuring we compensate the songwriters and copyright holders who create it. Their blanket licenses, made possible by the decrees, underpin the music licensing system, and the termination of the decrees would result in market disfunction, jeopardizing the licensing system as we know it. This disruption would make it nearly impossible to pay for the music played for our patrons’ enjoyment. Together, ASCAP and BMI control nearly ninety percent of the music licensing business, and these decrees provide essential protections from anti-competitive behaviors by structuring the music licensing market. They prohibit ASCAP and BMI from discriminating between similarly situated music users; ensure fair prices; and require that every business — no matter how large or small — can get a license. Although many restaurants, bars, hotels, wineries, breweries, and others that regularly play and license music face ongoing challenges when working with ASCAP and BMI, the outcome of terminating the consent decrees would further exacerbate these burdens for our industries. As it stands today, venues lack access to essential, reliable information about what each performance rights license entails and as a result, cannot make rational business decisions between competing services. Given this long-standing lack of transparency, and the PROs reliance on heavy handed tactics and take-it-or-leave-it demands, many venues have dropped music altogether. Without the consent decrees, many more venues would discontinue music, resulting in fewer places across our communities for musicians to perform and decreased songwriter compensation. As the Department of Justice concluded as recently as 2016 and after a two-year review, the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees continue to be relevant and necessary today and, in the future, as much as they were years ago. We ask the Department of Justice to protect our ability to play music, host new and upcoming artists, and ensure these pro-consumer decrees are protected. Respectfully, American Beverage Licensees American Hotel and Lodging Association National Restaurant Association Bethesda, MD Washington, DC Washington, DC WineAmerica Washington, DC Page 2 of 23 A’Maurice Vellars America’s Incredible Pizza Augustino Brewing Company Walla Walla, WA Company Wichita, KS San Antonio, TX Abacus Jasper’s Restaurant Aurora Cellars 2015, LLC Group Anchor Inn and Bowling Lake Leelanau, MI Dallas, TX Corp Mt. Pleasant, WI Baba Louie’s Acme Oyster House De Pere, WI Metairie, LA Angelo’s Pizzeria & Ristorante Backdraught Adams County Winery Citrus Hills, FL Milwaukee, WI Orrtanna, PA Annapurna’s World Bad Badger Sports Bar AJ’s on East Court Vegetarian Café Appleton, WI Des Moines, IA Albuquerque, NM Bainbridge Vineyards Alara Cellars Annie’s Campground Bainbridge Island, WA Gilroy, CA Gresham, WI Baker Bird Winery Alexander Valley Vineyards Anthony Road Wine Augusta, KY Healdsburg, CA Company Penn Yan, NY Baltic Mill Winery Alumni Grill, LLC Baltic, OH Houma, LA Apollonia San Diego, CA Balzac Communications and American Hotel & Lodging Marketing Educational Institute Appalachian Brewing Napa, CA (AHLEI) Company Orlando, FL Harrisburg, PA Bankshot Billiards Jacksonville, FL Amy’s on the Bay Restaurant Applebee’s & Bar Summerville, SC Bardwell Winery Port Orchard, WA Mt. Orab, OH Arche American Pie Pizza Saint Jo, TX Barili Cellars North Little Rock, AK Spokane, WA Archie Moore’s America’s Incredible Pizza New Haven, CT Barnard Griffin Winery Company Richland, WA Tulsa, OK Argus Bar & Grille Madison, WI Basignani Wintery, Ltd. America’s Incredible Pizza Sparks Glencoe, MD Company Arkansas Hospitality St. Louis, MO Association Beach Club Pizza Bistro Little Rock, AR Euclid, OH America’s Incredible Pizza Company Atlanta North Beanie’s Bar and Sports Grill Springfield, MO Atlanta, GA Ruskin, FL America’s Incredible Pizza Atlantic Grill Bear Pond, Inc. Company Rye, NH Oneonta, NY Oklahoma City, OK Atwater Estate Vineyards Beautiful Day Café Burdett, NY Wichita, KS Page 3 of 23 Beavers Hut Big T Blarney, Inc. Freedom, WI Lawton, MI Saint Paul, MN Beechwood Restaurant Big Texan Steak Ranch Blend of Seven Winery Vicksburg, MS Amarillo, TX Delaware, OH Behm's Sawdust City Bar Biggar’s Supper Club, Inc. Blue Bamboo Weyauwega, WI Winneconne, WI Jacksonville, FL Bell Springs Winery Bill’s Blue Marlin Dripping Springs, TX Bloomfield Hills, MI Chapin, SC Bell’s Chicken Villas Bill’s Corner Club Blue Moon Saginaw, MI Kenosha, WI Rehoboth Beach, DE Bellinger Sportsman’s Bar Billsboro Winery Blue Moon Mexican Café Thorp, WI Geneva, NY Baldwyn, MS Bellview Winery Billy Bob’s Sports Bar Blue Ostrich Winery & Landisville, NJ Tomahawk, WI Vineyard Saint Jo, TX Belmont Loop Biltmore Estate Winery Vancouver, WA Asheville, NC Bluestem Communities Management Inc. Benchmark Redevelopment Bin228 Wichita, KS La Crosse, WI Windsor Locks, CT Blue Plate Bennethum’s Northern Inn Birch Hills Resort, LLC Chicago, IL Gaylord, MI Townsend, WI Bluestone Vineyard, Inc. Bent’s Camp Bison Bar Bridgewater, VA Land O’Lakes, WI Miles City, MT Bolo’s Bar & Grill Bentley Corner Bar and Grill Bistro, LLC Spokane Valley, WA Bentley, KS Oklahoma City, OK Boneyard Pub and Grille Big Daddy’s Bitner Vineyards Mukwonago, WI Rhinelander, WI Caldwell, ID Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Big Dick’s Buckhorn Black Ankle Vineyards Denver, CO Spooner, WI Mount Airy, MD Border Grill Big Dog Billiards Black Sheep Lodge Marquette, MI Des Moines, IA Austin, TX Boucherie Winery Big Dog Daddy’s Roadhouse Black-eyed Sally’s Spottsville, KY Bay City, WI West Hartford, CT Bo’S N Mine Big Grove Brewery Blader’s Dakota Inn River Falls, WI Solon, IA Wautoma, WI Bookcliff Vineyards Big Swede’s Resort Blair Vineyards, LLC Boulder, CO Holcombe, WI Soledad, CA Page 4 of 23 Bootleggers Broadwater Hot Springs Cabana Club Amherst Junction, WI Helena, MT Key Colony Beach, FL Bordeleau Winery Broadway Oyster Bar Café Athena Eaden, MD St. Louis, MO San Diego, CA Boyd’s Cardinal Hollow Brown’s Catfish Café Crave Winery Russellville, AR Florence, MS West Point, PA Broz Sports Bar & Grill Café 9 Brackett Bar River Falls, WI New Haven, CT Fall Creek, WI Brushy Creek Vineyards Caffe Ladro Brandeberry Winery Alford, TX Edmonds, WA Enon, OH Buccia Vineyard Cal’s Fine Food Brannon Management Conneaut, OH Carlisle, IA Fort Smith, AR Buck ‘N Beam’s Bar & Capital Ale House Breakthru Beverage Campground Midlothian, VA Hartland, WI Cameron, WI Capitol Grill Bretz Wildlife Lodge & Buck Horn Saloon Jackson, MS Winery Comstock, WI Carlyle, IL Caprock Restaurants, Inc. Buckets Pub Lubbock, TX Breitenbach Wine Cellars Racine, WI Dover, OH Capt. John’s Dockside Buckeye Bar Chapel Hill, NC Brennan Vineyards Bridger, MT Comanche, TX Carbon County Coal Wine & Buffalo Wild Wings Spirits, Inc. Briar Valley Vineyard & Westminster, MD Red Lodge, MT Winery, Inc. Bedford, PA Buffalo Wild Wings Carbone’s Hospitality Stephens City, VA Wethersfield, CT Bricco Akron, OH Bull’n Bear Saloon Cartecay Vineyards Red Lodge, MT Ellijay, GA Brick Glendale, WI Burgey’s Pub & Prime Casa Ole Caledonia, WI Bellaire, TX Brickyard Bar & Grill Neillsville, WI Burnett Hall Casa Rio Burnett, WI San Antonio, TX Bridge Inn Pleasantville Oley, PA Burwell’s Stone Fire Grill Casey’s Cowtown Club Charleston, SC Dodge City, KS Brixco, LLC Iowa City, IA Bushmill Tavern Castel Grisch Winery Abingdon, MD Watkins Glen, NY Broad Street Bar and Grill Prescott, WI Buttonwood Farm Winery Castiglioni Restaurant Group Solvang, CA East Greenwich, RI Page 5 of 23 Catania Hospitality Group Chateau Bu De City Chef Catering Barnstable, MA Chesapeake City, MD Miami, FL Catoctin Breeze Vineyard Chateau Chantal City Lights Brewing Co Thurmont, MD Traverse City, MI Milwaukee, WI Cattle Baron Restaurants, Chateau Davell Claremont Inn & Winery Inc. Camino, CA Stratton, CO Roswell, NM Chateau Grand Traverse Clarion Hotel & Suites Cave Vineyard LLC Traverse City, MI Wichita, KS Ste. Genevieve, MO Chateau Morrisette Clearview Vineyard Cedar Mountain Winery Floyd, VA Warwick, NY Livermore, CA Checkered Flag Room Cleats Club Seat Grille Celebrations Food & Drink, Loves Park, IL Cleveland, OH LLC Antigo, WI Chef Toddzilla’s Gourmet Clint and Moe’s Pub and Putt Burgers Black Creek, WI Cellar Pub & Grill Roswell, NM Oak Creek, WI CLE Urban Winery, LLC Chef-O-Nette Restaurant Cleveland, OH Cellar 426 Winery Columbus, OH Ashland, NE CLM, Inc. Chelsea Tavern Essex, MA Chalice Vineyards, LLC Hockessin, DE Eugene, OR Club Brady Chicago Cut Steakhouse Milwaukee, WI Cham-Tap Chicago, IL Racine, WI Coad Cafes LLC Chicago Grill Shawnee, KS Chambers Hill Lake Delton, WI Green Bay, WI Coastal Carolina Winery Childress Winery, LLC Myrtle Beach, SC Chapel Grille Lexington, NC Cranston, RI Club 13 China West Phillips, WI Charleston Marriott Seattle, WA Charleston, SC Coda Rossa Winery Chop Stop Franklinville, NJ Charlestowne Hotels Los Angeles, CA Charleston, SC Coeur d’Alene Cellars Chris’ Pancake & Dining Coeur d’Alene, ID Charis Winery St. Louis, MO Cumberland, MD Coiled Wines Chrome Bar Garden City, ID Charlie Brown’s Absarokee, MT Beaver Dam, WI Colony House Restaurant Cibo Granby, LLC Trevor, WI Charlie’s Restaurant Granby, CT Puyallup, WA Colloca Estate Winery Cimaroli’s Supper Club Fair Haven, NY Portage, WI Page 6 of 23 Complete Hospitality Creative Banners Flags & Dakota Ram, Inc.