A number of musicians and Paul Williams, president and chairman of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), have been taking to Capitol Hill pushing for changes to the process by which they are paid royalties in the US President Donald Trump’s deregulation era.
“I think there is a leaning away from government regulation, and as a songwriter, as a small business owner, I am one of the most heavily regulated businesses that you can name,” Williams said at the ASCAP ‘I Write Music’ Expo here, reports variety.com.
Although many in the music business opposed Trump in the general election, from a business standpoint, there is some hope that a call for music licensing reforms will resonate in a deregulated environment.
The musicians, songwriters and ASCAP went to the Captiol Hill on Tuesday.
One music attorney declared that “songwriters are more heavily regulated than pharmaceutical companies.”
In Washington on Tuesday evening, Williams and performers such as Peter Frampton, Gordon Kennedy, Rob Thomas, Eric Bazilian, Rob Hyman, Ledisi, and Camille Thurman were scheduled for an event at the Library of Congress.
Williams and other songwriters are planning to lobby on Capitol Hill for what is being billed as “Stand with Songwriters” Advocacy Day.
Some of the topics in the agenda include periodic reviews of a 76-year-old antitrust consent decree in which ASCAP, along with another performance rights organization (PRO), BMI, are governed.
Last year, after calls to modify the consent decree, the Department of Justice decided to leave it intact.
Williams and ASCAP members also want changes to the rate court system, which sets royalty rate payments and settles disputes.
According to Williams the problem is that the licensing regulations have failed to keep pace with the way that listeners consume music, to the detriment of songwriters.
Williams says that it takes one million streams of a song on major streaming services for a songwriter to earn an average of about $170.
