Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

MUSIC LICENSING AND SMALL BUSINESS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 8, 1996

Printed for the use of the Committee on Small Business

Serial No. 104-76

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

24-690 CC

WASHINGTON: 1997

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office

Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402

ISBN 0-16-054123-9

DEPOSITORY

MAR 1 0 1997

Stanford Un

Jonssor

JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

JAN MEYERS, Kansas, Chair

WILLIAM H. ZELIFF, JR., New Hampshire
JAMES M. TALENT, Missouri
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois

PETER G. TORKILDSEN, Massachusetts
ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland
LINDA SMITH, Washington

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey

ZACH WAMP, Tennessee
SUE W. KELLY, New York

DICK CHRYSLER, Michigan
JAMES B. LONGLEY, JR., Maine

WALTER B. JONES, JR., North Carolina
MATT SALMON, Arizona
VAN HILLEARY, Tennessee
MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
STEVEN J. CHABOT, Ohio
SUE MYRICK, North Carolina
DAVID FUNDERBURK, North Carolina
JACK METCALF, Washington
STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio

JOHN J. LAFALCE, New York
IKE SKELTON, Missouri
NORMAN SISISKY, Virginia
FLOYD H. FLAKE, New York
GLENN POSHARD, Illinois

EVA M. CLAYTON, North Carolina
MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts
NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York
CLEO FIELDS, Louisiana

EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama

DOUGLAS "PETE” PETERSON, Florida BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi

KEN BENTSEN, Texas

WILLIAM P. LUTHER, Minnesota

JOHN ELIAS BALDACCI, Maine

JENIFER LOON, Staff Director

JEANNE M. ROSLANOWICK, Minority Staff Director

(II)

MUSIC LICENSING AND SMALL BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1996

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS,

Washington, DC.

The Committee met, pursuant to notice at 10 a.m., in room 2359, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Jan Meyers (Chair of the Committee) presiding.

Chair MEYERS. Good morning. The Committee will come to order. Today's hearing is our second in a series of hearings looking at intellectual property issues of importance to small business.

The issues surrounding music licensing practices of the Performing Rights Societies, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, has long been a major concern for small businesses in the entertainment and retailing industry.

The background music that we all hear when we're out at our favorite restaurant or local bar or a retail store is something that many people don't really think that much about. Today's hearing will change all that. Because how music is licensed and who pays for it, and how many times it is paid for, is going to surprise many of us.

As many of you know, music licensing under the copyright laws and the antitrust consent decrees in effect with respect to ASCAP and BMI are issues that are within the legislative jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary.

However, the Committee on Small Business has a tradition of holding oversight hearings on issues of importance to small business. In fact, in 1957, during the 85th Congress, a Subcommittee of the Permanent Select Committee on Small Business of the U.S. House of Representatives held 5 days of investigative hearings on the practices of ASCAP.

The record of those hearings covered over 700 printed pages; and as a result of those hearings, members of the Committee held an executive session with Representatives of the Department of Justice who took the matters presented at the Subcommittee hearings under consideration in their continuing enforcement of the 1950 consent decree against ASCAP.

Today this issue of music licensing remains critical to many small businesses. For example, 92 percent of NFIB members have demanded music licensing reform legislation and are firmly behind H.R. 789, the Fairness in Music Licensing Act. This legislation was introduced by my colleague and friend, Jim Sensenbrenner, and I am proud to be a cosponsor.

[blocks in formation]
« iepriekšējāTurpināt »