Justice Department to review just how songwriters are paid

The U.S. Justice Department plans to review agreements that determine how songwriters are paid by radio stations, restaurants and streaming services, a move that could affect billions in royalties doled out each year.

Makan Delrahim, the top antitrust official at the Justice Department, signaled in a speech Wednesday that he was examining the so-called consent decrees.

People familiar with the matter say the department has communicated its plans in discussions with music-industry executives.

The Justice Department has scheduled addi- tional meetings, according to the people, who asked not to be identified.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the meetings.

Consent decrees govern payments collected by go-between groups ASCAP and BMI that later are routed to songwriters or their publishers.

While previous efforts to reform the system haven’t been successful, Delrahim’s stance has given songwriters new hope that the World War II-era agreements finally could be modernized.

“While the industry has grown around these two decrees, it should also recognize they are subject to periodic review,” Delrahim said last week during the speech, held at the annual meeting of the National Music Publishers Association.

Delrahim has announced plans to review many of the more than 1,300 other consent decrees under his jurisdiction at the department, but has yet to officially add ASCAP and BMI to the list.

He said the decrees remain relevant and promised to be deliberate, allaying fears that he’d scrap them with little notice.

Makan Delrahim is the top justice antitrust official.