Goodlatte Planning Music Modernization Markup in April
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., plans to mark up a music copyright package the week of April 9, a committee aide told us Tuesday (see 1803140061). Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., lead sponsor of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) (HR-4706), said he’s looking forward to movement on the bill. Asked during an event hosted by the Technology Policy Institute when Goodlatte plans to unveil the package, Collins said, “That’s up to Chairman Goodlatte, and I think the Classics Act’s always been discussed, the AMP [Allocation for Music Producers HR-881] Act’s always been discussed. We always said that having a good collaborative process, those are things that we could look at.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Not all musicians and publishers support the bill, but Collins said the vast majority do, calling the bill a victory in a Congress that has been criticized for its inability to pass consensus legislation. The bill ensures “creative energy is protected and paid for,” Collins said.
Executives from the two groups which led negotiations over the bill, the Digital Media Association and the National Music Publishers’ Association, discussed how they have reached agreement over a debate that began in 2006. NMPA CEO David Israelite said a lot of players care about the issue, and it’s tough to get agreement. Stakeholders spent a lot of time arguing, but the MMA solves major problems of a broken system, he said. He called the MMA a consensus bill that's likely to pass because there’s buy-in from “almost every credible musical organization.” The music industry was originally built on antiquated models, like radio and hard-copy music, but the industry has “become a streaming industry in everything but name,” he said. Companies want to pay every penny of royalties, he said, and the industry is ready to pass a comprehensive package of legislation. While Goodlatte prepares to potentially unveil a package, Israelite credited Collins for doing the spadework on the legislation for the past year.
Digital Media Association CEO Chris Harrison agreed with Israelite “for the most part,” saying all his members want to pay publishers and songwriters. Everyone also agrees the system is broken, he said. The group’s members average about 1 billion U.S. streams daily, but fewer than 1 billion song are downloaded per year, and it’s been declining for years. The current system doesn’t allow all the relevant information to be in one place, he said. Efficiency, transparency and certainty have been key motivators in crafting the legislation, while attempting to avoid duplicative efforts, he said. The organization is “always willing” to have a conversation about whether publishers and platforms are paying the right amount to stream music, he said.
GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies founder Bill Rosenblatt expressed concern about the mechanical licensing collective database drawn up in the legislation. The worry is that the industry will become complacent once the database is in place, he said, saying the system will need continuous maintenance. Berklee College of Music Vice President-Innovation and Strategy Panos Panay said he's excited about the bill, despite its imperfections, because it’s the biggest step the industry has taken in a long time.