Houses Passes Music Modernization Act Unanimously

Lawmakers in the House unanimously passed legislation that updated the music licensing and copyright law on Wednesday.

The Music Modernization Act is a bipartisan bill introduced by members on the House Judiciary Committee and reforms the way royalties are collected and also reforms the way artists and labels are compensated in the digital age.

The Hill reported that the new law requires an entity to be created in order to distribute and collect mechanical royalties.

Representatives from both sides of the House praised the passage of the law and called on the upper chamber to take action on the legislation.

“Working together, this vote brings music licensing into the 21st century, where it can better serve those it intends to,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement. “Representative Doug Collins worked with lawmakers from both parties as well with the music community in order to make sure that the reforms passed in the overwhelming fashion that it did. I look forward to the Senate acting on this legislation soon,” he added.

Meanwhile, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer stated that it was the first time in roughly 20 years since the music industry legal framework had been updated to serve the new century.

“I’m glad that the House today passed the Music Modernization Act, which creates a new system for the collection and distribution of streaming royalties and closes the loophole that too often prevented artists who created works before 1972 from receiving due compensation when their songs were distributed digitally,” he said.

Robert Goodlatte, a representative who also helped introduce the bill in the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, said that “music is no longer written on piano rolls, and our laws shouldn’t be based on that technology either,” and that the bill “brings early 20th-century music laws for the analog era into the 21st-century digital era.”

“This legislation stands to benefit artists, songwriters, labels, publishers, studio producers and others,” SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe said. “We are grateful that lawmakers in the House worked to update our nation’s copyright laws for the digital age, and we look forward to working with the Senate to get this legislation passed quickly. Music creators have waited long enough.”

Other champions of the MMA include Recording Academy President & CEO Neil Portnow, who called the House passage of the bill “a historic step forward for all music creators, ensuring that they are credited, paid, and shown the respect they deserve for the impact they have on our culture and daily life.”

National Music Publishers Association President & CEO David Israelite said that its “truly historic for songwriters and the entire music ecosystem which they fuel.”

The bill is now headed to the Senate where the legislation is scheduled to be addressed next month.

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