|Policy
Music legend Smokey Robinson and Nashville-based songwriter Josh Kear urged Congress on Tuesday to pass the first major music copyright reform law in decades, saying that many songwriters are struggling financially because they are not being adequately paid for use of their songs.
Rarely does a century-old musical instrument drive policy in Washington, but that’s exactly what’s happening in the music community at this moment. Everyone from Internet Association (IA) members to artists to record labels are supporting a new piece of legislation called the Music Modernization Act (MMA), that will help bring music licensing into the digital…
Rarely does a century-old musical instrument drive policy in Washington, but that’s exactly what’s happening in the music community at this moment.
The music industry may be close to an agreement on how to pay musicians fairly for their work — just in time for Sunday’s Grammys. Members of Congress will hold a hearing Friday in New York City to discuss a bipartisan bill to rewrite music licensing and copyright laws, featuring testimony from celebrity artists like…
“In D.C. you’re never going to have 100 percent agreement, but CLASSICS has the support of Pandora and DiMA, the Digital Media Association, which represents online music services,” said Daryl Friedman, who oversees public policy work for the Recording Academy, in an interview before the hearing.
More than 20 prominent music organizations representing U.S. music publishers, record labels, songwriters, composers, artists and performance rights organizations today formally announced their united support for pending music bills, paving the way for a unified piece of music legislation for 2018.
The bill reforms Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act to create a single licensing entity that administers the mechanical reproduction rights for all digital uses of musical compositions, such those used in interactive streaming models offered by Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora, Google and others, according to a release from the National Music Publisher Association.
Under the current system, there is no way for a recording artist to be guaranteed payment in all 50 states. Instead, they are captive to a patchwork of inconsistent and ultimately unworkable state laws – denying them millions in royalties for their older songs.
Music data, ownership records, and a horde of licenses remain wildly disorganized. Three weeks ago, Congress proposed a global, centralized music database to ensure that artists get paid on every streaming platform. And, every other platform — digital, physical, and analog — for that matter.
Two House Republicans introduced bills this week aimed at revamping the copyright system for music recordings.