NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – “Today Congress officially passed the Music Modernization Act, giving American songwriters real hope for fair royalty compensation in the future,” said songwriter Steve Bogard, President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
The final procedural vote on the MMA occurred as the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill unanimously with its new name, “The Hatch-Goodlatte Music Modernization Act,” named for retiring Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the lead Senate sponsor of the legislation and U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (VA) who is also retiring from Congress at the end of this term.
“It has been a long, long journey,” said NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison. “But in many ways the journey has really just begun. After the President signs the legislation into law. songwriters and music publishers being a two-year process to create a new licensing agency that they will oversee. Controlling that process is very important and along with tools to achieve higher streaming royalty rates makes the MMA the most important bill for songwriters in history.”
The Music Licensing Collective (MLC) begins operation January 2, 2021 and will administer a new blanket license for digital mechanical royalties, work to identify song owners so they can be properly compensated, distribute unclaimed funds and represent every American songwriter at no cost! It will also be the first time in history 100 cents of every dollar collected will be paid to songwriters since the streaming companies have agreed to pay all costs associated with operating the MLC.
The bill also:
- Changes the standard by which songwriter streaming rates are established replacing an outdated 1909 law that governs songwriter mechanical or sales royalties, changes consent decree regulations from 1941 that govern songwriter performance royalties.
- Requires the random selection of judges when performing rights societies ASCAP or BMI go to a rate court proceeding. Presently those judges are appointed for life.
- Eliminates the disastrous Notice of Intent (NOI) program administered by the U.S. Copyright Office that allows digital streaming companies to put the licensing burden back on songwriters.
- Guarantees streaming royalty payments to artists whose recordings were done before 1972 who now are not required to be paid due to a loophole in the Copyright Act.
- Pays streaming royalties directly to music producers and engineers instead of going through other parties first.