The Radio Music License Committee has announced the filing of an antitrust complaint against Global Music Rights concerning what the RMLC calls anticompetitive behavior. Global Music Rights was founded in 2013 by Irving Azoff and represents music rights holders for the licensing of their public performances. THE RMLC says if GMR is allowed to go unchecked, GMR would be able to charge the radio industry monopoly prices to publicly perform musical works in the GMR repertory.
Unlike SESAC, ASCAP and BMI, which are all now subject to some form of rate regulation that acts to prevent monopoly pricing, GMR has managed to avoid similar limits on its pricing. The RMLC complaint alleges that GMR has created and maintained an unlawful monopoly over the works in its repertory. RMLC seeks injunctive relief, requiring, among other things, that GMR submit to a judicial rate-making procedure comparable to what the consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI impose. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the law firm of Latham & Watkins, on behalf of the RMLC as the sole plaintiff in the action.
