Big thanks to Tom Truitt and the wonderful audience!

David and Chris discuss improvements in the Copyright Royalty Board rules and procedures including:

–A songwriter advocate as a permanent independent representative of songwriter interests and participant in the Phonorecords proceedings with full rights of a participant. All other participants would bear the cost of the advocate. Other participants would be prohibited from using the advocate as a way to engage in overreaching discovery against individual songwriters or their publishers.

–Each participant would be limited to one lawyer representing their interests in the Phonorecords proceedings. This would counteract the current abuses forced upon the CRB and intimidation tactics of Big Tech.

–Songwriters would be permitted to form a bargaining collective with a general antitrust examption.

–Music users who appeal the Judges’ rulings must pay higher rates pending appeal.

–Discovery would be extremely curtailed to protect songwriters from abuses by Big Tech to punish and intimidate songwriters such as that currently being imposed by Google and other Big Tech companies without songwriter consent or even notification.

–Should songwriters get an across-the-board antitrust exemption under competition law (like the Sherman Act)?