Sponsors (6)
The bill increases predictability and boosts artist shares while easing short‑term costs for very small broadcasters, but it delays some royalty payments, centralizes distribution power, and imposes new administrative and evidentiary burdens that raise costs and uncertainty for broadcasters and could reduce or delay income for some rights holders.
Songwriters, recording owners, and broadcasters get regular, evidence‑based rate-setting hearings (initially through 12/31/2028 and every five years thereafter) that aim to produce clearer, more predictable royalty rates grounded in economic and programming evidence.
Small and low‑revenue local broadcast stations and public broadcasters face much lower immediate cash burdens via delayed payments and very low fixed annual fees (as low as $10/year for small stations and $100/year for modest public entities), helping preserve local service and short‑term financial viability.
Featured and nonfeatured recording artists receive a guaranteed 50% share of royalties from direct‑license transmissions and a single designated collective is created to collect and distribute those payments, increasing artist compensation and simplifying payment flow.
Small and regional broadcasters face higher ongoing administrative, legal, and evidentiary burdens (new certification, GAAP allocation, filings, and the need to present economic evidence), increasing compliance costs and complexity for stations with limited staff and budgets.
Songwriters and other rights holders may wait longer to receive royalties for past uses because some payments are postponed until Judges set rates, delaying income for creators who rely on timely payments.
Larger copyright claimants could receive less royalty income from eligible low‑revenue stations because the statute allows very low fixed fees for those stations, shifting more of the revenue burden away from a subset of broadcasters onto other payers or reducing total payments to rights holders.
Based on analysis of 12 sections of legislative text.
Expands performance rights to all audio transmissions including terrestrial broadcasts, requires CRJ rate-setting and five-year reviews, and creates low flat fees for eligible small stations.
Introduced January 30, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress January 30, 2025
Expands federal performance rights for sound recordings so that the public-performance and statutory-license rules apply to audio transmissions in any format, including terrestrial (non-digital) broadcasts. It directs the Copyright Royalty Judges to set rates for nonsubscription broadcast (terrestrial) transmissions effective from enactment through Dec 31, 2028, requires recurring five-year proceedings, and creates special low annual flat royalty rates for eligible small terrestrial broadcast stations. The bill also requires certain payments from direct licenses to be shared with the collective that distributes statutory-license receipts and preserves existing rights and royalties for songwriters and musical-work owners.