My name is Christopher S. Harrison. I’m currently the Chief Operating Officer for DMX, Inc., a leading provider of business music services. Business Affairs and Licensing continue to report to me in my current role.
DMX provides commercial music services to more than 100,000 business in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and South Africa. DMX’ residential music services are received in more than 18,000,000 homes in the U.S. through cable and DTH satellite multichannel service operators, including DIRECTV. In addition, DMX’ residential music services are received in more than 5,000,000 homes in Latin America through cable and DTH multichannel service operators, including Sky Mexico and DIRECTV Latin America.
Before becoming COO, I served as General Counsel for DMX where I implemented the first successful direct licensing initiative to secure the public performance, reproduction and distribution rights to musical compositions directly from music publishers, resulting in 1,000+ licenses covering more than 5,000 catalogs. In addition, I represented DMX in its successful litigation efforts to obtain the first-ever adjustable fee blanket licenses from ASCAP and BMI to afford DMX credit against its blanket fees for the public performance of works licensed directly from music publishers, in which both courts adopted DMX’s position, resulting in more than $5.5mm in annual savings.
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. DMX, Inc., 08 Civ. 216 (LLS), 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78417, (S.D.N.Y. July 26, 2010); on appeal at 10-3429-cv (Second Circuit). BMI sought payments of $41.81 per location per year. Judge Stanton adopted DMX’s lowest proposal of $18.91.
• In Re Application of THP Capstar Acquisition Corp. (now known as DMX, Inc.), 09 Civ. 7069 (DLC), 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131424, (S.D.N.Y. December 7, 2010); on appeal at 11-127-cv (Second Circuit). ASCAP sought payments of $49.50 per location per year. Judge Cote adopted DMX’s lowest proposal of $13.74.
As General Counsel, I was responsible for all necessary music licenses, including public performance, reproduction, distribution and synchronization associated with the musical compositions and sound recordings, as applicable, utilized as part of DMX’ music services to (a) commercial establishments, (b) private residences, (c) personal computers and mobile devices as a digital stream and/or digital download, and (e) personal portable media devices or other physical media, and managed 2,000+ catalog-wide licenses with record labels, 1,000+ catalog-wide licenses with music publishers, and hundreds of individual synchronization licenses.
I have received my J.D. in 2001 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I also received by Ph.D. (Political Science) in 2001, also from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. My dissertation The Politics of the International Pricing of Prescription Drugs
This is the “official” blog of the University of Texas Law School’s Music Law Seminar. This seminar will introduce students to the law as it applies to the music industry. Topics may include legal issues surrounding writing music, recording music, performing music, distributing music (physically and digitally), licensing music, and miscellaneous but related topics such as trademarks and rights of publicity. This blog will be used to facilitate and enhance our in-class lectures by providing a single point of information that students can review at their leisure. This is my personal blog and does not represent the views of the University of Texas Law School, any past, present, or future clients or employers.
Nothing herein constitutes legal advice.
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