SPECIAL REPORT: June 30, 2016: The Day The Music Died? The DOJ v Joe Songwriter, Ep.1

Sarah Schuberth, Esq. (Music Law Chick)   Jonathan Singleton-The Getaway   Brandon Barnett-Your Everloving Arms   Department Of Justice Contact Page     Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution reads as follows: “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."   I’ve decided to fire up the podcast in between seasons. You know why? Because I can. See, that’s what’s so liberating about creating something yourself. You can do with it whatever you want. There are no special committees or board members to vote on whether or not you can move forward. If I want to walk away from this podcast thing right now, I can. If I want to put out two episodes a day, that’s my prerogative.   Creative control is a beautiful thing. And the concept of intellectual property rights is just downright gorgeous. I can create something out of thin air and own it just like you own your automobile or your puppy dog. No one person or government can just come in and take that away from me, legally. That’s what the framers of the U.S. Constitution thought anyway.   But on June 30th, just two days before the Independence Day weekend, the United States Department Of Justice not only refused to change outdated consent decrees concerning Performing Rights Organizations (or PROs) that have been in place since the second world war, it also issued new regulations that would make 100% licensing with one PRO mandatory on co-written songs.   So what the hell does all this mean? Well, by refusing to update the existing consent decrees, songwriters do not have the right to pull their songs from streaming services if they so choose. The government sets the rate and songwriters have to live with it. And that rate is fractions of a penny on the dollar.   But evidently that wasn’t enough for the DOJ. The new ruling concerning 100% licensing is an entirely different can of worms, that evidently, no one saw coming.   Long-time listeners of Left Of Nashville will be familiar with Jonathan Singleton.  Jonathan is a hit songwriter out of Nashville. Some of his hits include “Watching Airplanes” by Gary Allan, “Red Light and Let It Rain” both by David Nail, “A Guy Walks Into A Bar” by Tyler Farr and the GRAMMY nominated “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools” by Tim McGraw. Here’s his explanation of the new ruling:       Speaking of lawyers, Sarah Ruth Schuberth, esq. is an attorney as well as a songwriter. Why you slacking Sarah? Why not a doctor too? Oh yeah, that’s what she was studying before music law caught her eye. Sarah is going to serve as Left Of Nashville’s in house counsel for this series. You can see what she’s about at facebook.com/musiclawchick. I’ll have it linked up in the show notes.   I must admit, I’m somewhat surprised at the lack of outrage coming from the music community about this ruling. I believe that one reason many are not speaking out is because of a lack of empathy for those “millionaire” songwriters whining about their gravy train being derailed.     But I believe by and large the reason more are not speaking out is because they are artists. It’s the nature of the beast. Either they don’t know what is happening or they don’t want to know. Most figure that someone else will take care of this. And because we have an artist’s heart, we are easy pickings. Sarah Schuberth esq     And the ones who do know what is going on are having trouble concentrating on anything else.     We have one year before this new ruling goes into effect. And this podcast series isn’t just going to ring the bell on the problems. We are going to look for solutions.    Like I said earlier, we have a year before this ruling takes effect. But we can’t rely on others to fight this. We as songwriters, musicians, podcasters, bloggers and anyone who cares about music and the rule of law must unite. You might think that this doesn’t  even affect you. Hell, the two licensing deals I currently have in L.A. are solo writes. I wrote the State I’m In with Jonathan and we are both ASCAP writers. So technically, this doesn’t even affect me…YET. Well, not that I know of. But this decision will have a ripple effect that will impact everyone. It is my feeling that even if you could get every songwriter to move to the same PRO to bypass this logistical nightmare, there will be even more anti-trust legislation put in place. That was the whole reason for the consent decrees in the first place back when ASCAP was the only game in town.    This will impact the entire music industry and then spread to others. What do you think will happen to Nashville’s booming real estate and tourism markets over the long term? What will happen to the quality and quantity of songs when writers who have that magic are no longer able to write together because of junk regulations?   So I’m asking you to join the fight. Share this podcast series with anyone who will listen. Leave a review in iTunes to help make it more visible. I want to have people in the industry on this show who have the power to stop this thing dead in its tracks and reverse the regulations put in place over seventy years ago.