As I noted in my earlier post, the public version of Judge Cote’s decision in the ASCAP / Pandora rate court proceeding was released today.  It is a remarkable and comprehensive 136-page opinion, thoroughly rejecting all of ASCAP’s arguments for a rate increase, and keeping Pandora’s rate at 1.85% of revenue.

One of the most remarkable features of the decision is its detailed look behind the curtain at the motivation and behavior of the withdrawing music publishers.  [Read more…]

The public version of Judge Cote’s ASCAP Pandora rate decision has been released.  Commentary to follow, once I have had the chance to read, but here is the decision for those interested:

ASCAP has suffered a significant defeat in its rate court litigation against Pandora.  In that proceeding, Pandora sought to have its current ASCAP musical composition public performance license rate (1.85% of revenue) cut to the same 1.7% rate paid by terrestrial radio.  ASCAP, as it has in several recent digital music rate cases, sought an increase to 3% of revenue.

[Read more…]