More Trouble for ASCAP

Six years ago, the Department of Justice filed an anti-trust suit against ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers). Bogged down until last December, the case warmed up when trust-busting Thurman Arnold turned it over to plump, blond Victor Waters, his able assistant. Since then the Department has been busy bolstering its contention that ASCAP is a monopoly. Thread of the Government argument: Since ASCAP insists that clients contract for all ASCAP tunes or none, any individual composer who is a member of ASCAP is deprived of potential profits when ASCAP terms are refused. "The profit from a song," says the Department, "belongs to the individual composer, not to an association."

This does not seem to bother individual ASCAP members, but last week, in the midst of ASCAP's squabble to get more money out of the radio chains, the Department of Justice began to close in on the society. Under way in Washington were negotiations for a consent decree by which ASCAP would forsake its blanket agreements. Since these blanket agreements have been a major factor in the networks' difficulties with ASCAP, it looked at week's end as if the Department of Justice might spike a major ASCAP gun. Meanwhile the society and the networks continued brawling bitterly. Still ignored by both the battlers was FCC, oft cited as a possible arbitrator for the feud. Said a spokesman for the Commission : "We look at it more or less this way : It's just a quarrel between two business men over dividing up the swag."

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