Pro Music Rights, AllTrack Face Possible FTC Investigation

The House of Representatives chamber.

Lawmakers’ scrutiny of PROs isn’t letting up: Now, U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) has asked the FTC to “examine potential unfair or deceptive acts” in the public performance space – with a specific focus on AllTrack and Pro Music Rights.

Representative Fitzgerald made that request in a recent letter to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, and the lawmaker’s office shared the message with DMN. As some will recall, September 2024 saw Rep. Fitzgerald and others ask then-Register Shira Perlmutter to examine “emerging issues” affecting performing rights organizations (PROs).

Chief among these issues: A perceived lack of revenue-distribution transparency and, of particular importance to businesses, the “proliferation” of new PROs as well as adjacent licensing headaches.

Fast forward to this past February, when the Copyright Office launched a related inquiry that ultimately drew responses from the likes of ASCAP and BMI. As we broke down in April, both PROs covered quite a few angles in their replies – with BMI opposing new regulations and placing a bit of licensing-confusion blame on “new entrants” AllTrack and Pro Music Rights (PMR).

Back to Rep. Fitzgerald’s letter, the lawmaker asked the FTC to investigate possible “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” on the part of PROs as possible violations of the FTC Act’s fifth section.

“Recently, however, new, purported PROs have emerged, and have begun to solicit businesses for the purchase of a license,” Rep. Fitzgerald wrote. “AllTrack, founded in 2017, and Pro Music Rights, founded in 2018, have begun approaching businesses with requests to purchase a license for their catalog of works, and leveraging the specter of statutory damages for those who do not comply.

“But while both entities feign legitimacy, it is unclear whether AllTrack or Pro Music Rights have amassed a repertoire that a licensee would find valuable to its business. Worse, however, it appears both entities may be misrepresenting to licensees the bodies of work they actually manage, thereby pressuring businesses to obtain a performance license they may not need,” the lawmaker continued.

Citing comments submitted in connection with the aforementioned Copyright Office inquiry, Rep. Fitzgerald then noted the presence of “several well-known artists” – including Billy Ray Cyrus and No Doubt – on AllTrack’s website homepage.

That said, “AllTrack represents only a partial interest in one Billy Ray Cyrus song, and a composition once recorded by No Doubt, but does not represent the artists themselves or a substantial volume of their recorded works,” per the text.

“Pro Music Rights, similarly, claims to represent ‘a market share of 7.4% in the U.S.,’ yet, according to comments offered by BMI, that would equate to more rights management than a combined SESAC and GMR.”

Furthermore, “the lack of a complete, authoritative database has allowed PROs like AllTrack and Pro Music Rights to misrepresent their volume of works without verification,” to the detriment of businesses in the market for performance licenses, according to the document.

In conclusion, Rep. Fitzgerald therefore asked the FTC to “examine the behavior of AllTrack and Pro Music Rights for potential violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act” – and to “consider issuing guidance on potential unfair or deceptive acts or practices in music licensing.”

DMN reached out to AllTrack and Pro Music Rights for comment; the former PRO didn’t respond in time for publishing. But PMR dedicated north of 200 words to “categorically” rejecting “the false and misleading claims contained in Representative Fitzgerald’s letter.”

“The assertions made regarding our company’s legitimacy, transparency, and repertoire are demonstrably inaccurate and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of both our operations and the current regulatory framework governing performing rights organizations,” Pro Music Rights proceeded in part, indicating also that it “operates in full compliance with U.S. law.”

And after pointing to the alleged efforts of “entrenched industry players” to undermine “competition through misinformation and lobbying,” PMR welcomed “any good-faith regulatory review.”

“We welcome any good-faith regulatory review grounded in facts rather than conjecture. Pro Music Rights has cooperated with all relevant authorities in the past and remains committed to full transparency with respect to both its catalog and its licensing activities.

“A formal statement and supporting documentation will be made available to the FTC and the public record in due course,” PMR finished.