Tech Daily Dose has obtained a copy of the lengthy letter, which you can read in its entirety after the jump. In the correspondence, Bainwol and Sherman explain the significance of the proceeding and why private negotiations between stakeholders have not worked.

Here's their bottom line: "The last thing we'd want is to damage the songwriters who are so crucial to the music community. But all of us -- songwriters and publishers, artists and record companies -- must recognize that our business has gone through a fundamental change, the effects of which are still reverberating."