The MUSIC INDUSTRY in its current form, is about to be burnt down, it appears…
https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=releases&id=E5BB6EF7-80D4-430C-883B-3B9CDB24CFBD
"Our current music licensing laws are badly out of date. Too often, songwriters don’t get paid when their songs get played, and even when they do get paid, they don’t get paid a fair market rate. This has made it increasingly difficult for songwriters to make a living doing what they love and has harmed our entire music industry.
Songwriters are the lifeblood of American music. In order to have a great single, or a great album, you first must have a great song. You need the music. You need the lyrics. And you need them to fit together in a way that makes you feel something, that tugs at your heartstrings, that makes you feel excited or peaceful or nostalgic.
Songwriting is an art. I know this because I’ve done it myself. I’ve written dozens of songs over the years. I’ve even earned a gold and a platinum record. I know firsthand how small the royalties are, even when your song is a success. It’s time to change that. And the Music Modernization Act will do so.
The heart of the bill is the creation of a mechanical licensing collective to administer reproduction and distribution rights for digital music. One of the driving forces in recent years of the decline in songwriter royalties has been the transition to digital music. This may seem a bit surprising, as one might think that the availability of millions of songs at the click of mouse would lead to more royalties, given that more music than ever before is now available instantaneously.
But the problem is that these big digital music companies, like Pandora and Spotify, with their catalogs of millions of songs, simply don’t have the capability to find every single songwriter for every single one of their songs. Tracking down the recording artist—that is, the singer—usually can be done. But finding songwriters is a different story.
And so the bill creates a mechanical licensing collective that is tasked with identifying songwriters, matching them to sound recordings, and then ensuring that the songwriter actually gets paid. Importantly, this collective will be run by songwriters themselves and by their representatives in the publishing community.
This is an enormous victory for songwriters. For the first time in history, songwriters and their representatives will be in charge of making sure they get paid when their songs get played.
Now, this is not the only thing the bill does, not by a long shot. It also changes the rate standard for reproduction and distribution rights, to ensure that songwriters get paid a fair market rate. And it provides important protections to digital music companies. It creates a blanket digital license for companies like Pandora and Spotify so that they can have certainty that they won’t be sued when they offer songs for download or interactive streaming. It also provides a liability shield against past infringement provided certain conditions are met, again so that digital music companies can have certainty going forward.
The Music Modernization Act also makes important changes to performance rights. It creates a federal performance right for pre-72 sound recordings and moves our licensing laws away from the patchwork of inconsistent state laws and toward a more uniform, coherent federal standard. It ends the rate carve-out that legacy cable and satellite providers have enjoyed for two decades that has allowed them to pay below-market rates and stave off meaningful competition. This will result in fairer rates for recording artists and create a more level playing field for new market entrants.
The bill also provides that rate proceedings for performance rights will rotate amongjudges and that judges may consider sound recording royalty rates when setting corresponding rates for musical works. And it makes a clear statement that the Department of Justice should work with Congress to ensure there is a proper framework in place to administer performance rights for musical works in the event the Department decides it’s time to sunset the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees.
Lastly, the bill puts in place a formal process for producers, sound engineers, and other behind-the-scenes players to receive a share of performance royalties. This will help ensure that all of the participants in the music-making process are fairly compensated for their contributions."