Music Copyright Changed in US

Subject: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Dec 18 - 03:27 PM

I haven't seen anything on this here and it has some big implications, so here goes. The The Music Modernization Act has been signed into law. Here's
another link.

Subject: RE: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Dec 18 - 04:38 PM

It appears to be aimed at fairness, begging the question, "where's the catch?" There probably is one in there somewhere.

Subject: RE: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Dec 18 - 12:23 AM

The SoundExchange link that Rapparee provided gives some good information. I was especially interested to see that the law provides for a publicly accessible database for song ownership information. This is a question I deal with a lot, and such a database would be very helpful to me. The Harry Fox Agency Songfile database just isn't comprehensive enough, so licensing always involves a lot of guesswork.
This is bipartisan legislation that passed unanimously or nearly so, so I tend to think it will be OK. Maybe that's a wrong assumption, but my reading of the articles makes me think it will be fair and just.

Here's what SoundExchange says:

The Music Modernization Act

After undertaking a thorough review of the Copyright Act during his tenure as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) introduced comprehensive music licensing reform legislation (H.R.5447) with Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) on April 10, 2018. On April 11, 2018, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously (32-0) to approve the legislation and on April 25, 2018 the full House voted unanimously (415-0) to pass the legislation.

On May 10, 2018, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Senate version of the Music Modernization Act (S.2823).

The Music Modernization Act is a bipartisan package that incorporates several pieces of consensus legislation.

Background

The bill includes the CLASSICS Act (H.R.3301/S.2393), the AMP Act (H.R.881/S.2625) and rate standard parity provisions from the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (H.R.1836) and would:

1. Close the pre-72 loophole by establishing federal copyright protection that will guarantee compensation for artists who recorded music before February 15, 1972;
2. Codify SoundExchange’s longtime practice of honoring “Letters of Direction” from artists who want to share royalties with studio producers and other creative participants who work with them;
3. Create a new process that will allow eligible participants in recordings made before the digital performance right was enacted in 1995 to share in digital royalties for those recordings; and
4. Establish a “willing buyer, willing seller” rate standard that will require all digital platforms to pay fair market value for music.

The bill also reflects elements from the previously introduced Music Modernization Act (H.R.4706/S.2334) and would:

5. Reform Section 115 to ensure songwriters are being compensated in a timely manner by ending the bulk Notice of Intent (NOI) process, creating a single Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) funded by the digital services, and providing a publicly accessible database for song ownership information; and
6. Repeal Section 114(i) which will allow courts setting public performance royalty rates to consider rates for sound recording royalties.

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Rap also provided a link to TheVerge.com, which also has good information:

President Trump has signed the Music Modernization Act (MMA) into law, officially passing the most sweeping reform to copyright law in decades. The bill, heralded by labels, musicians, and politicians, unanimously passed through both the House and Senate before going to the president.

The bill revamps Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act and aims to bring copyright law up to speed for the streaming era. These are the act’s three main pieces of legislation:

• The Music Modernization Act, which streamlines the music-licensing process to make it easier for rights holders to get paid when their music is streamed online
• The Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society (CLASSICS) Act for pre-1972 recordings
• The Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act, which improves royalty payouts for producers and engineers from SoundExchange when their recordings are used on satellite and online radio (Notably, this is the first time producers have ever been mentioned in copyright law.)

What does all this mean? First, songwriters and artists will receive royalties on songs recorded before 1972. Second, the MMA will improve how songwriters are paid by streaming services with a single mechanical licensing database overseen by music publishers and songwriters. The cost of creating and maintaining this database will be paid for by digital streaming services. Third, the act will take unclaimed royalties due to music professionals and provide a consistent legal process to receive them. Previously, these unclaimed royalties were held by digital service providers like Spotify. All of this should also ensure that artists are paid more and have an easier time collecting money they are owed.

The MMA should ensure that artists are paid more and have an easier time collecting money they are owed

As part of the MMA, blanket licensing and royalty payments will be more streamlined. As Meredith Rose from Public Knowledge told The Verge earlier this month:

“It also does a thing which you couldn’t really do with these kinds of licenses before: obtain a blanket license. You can license the whole corpus of musical compositions, and before you [didn’t have] an entity that was allowed to license everything. So if Spotify was starting today they’d be able to jump in and say, ‘Okay, I want all of it,’ write one check, and then just kind of go about their business.”

“The Music Modernization Act is now the law of the land, and thousands of songwriters and artists are better for it,” said Recording Industry Association of America president Mitch Glazier in a statement. “The result is a music market better founded on fair competition and fair pay. The enactment of this law demonstrates what music creators and digital services can do when we work together collaboratively to advance a mutually beneficial agenda.”

Subject: RE: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 16 Dec 18 - 08:35 PM

It appears....from my last 5.5 months in the Schengen Area ...
access to simple USA newspapers is restricted. The news-media is requied to register.

It is easy to enderstand why the flow to the"torrent" is ten-fold...mudcat...mremains, remarkably. neuatrak

Subject: RE: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: medievallassie
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 12:06 AM

I really do wish Mudcat had a LIKE button!

Subject: RE: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 02:04 AM

I also hope"Big G" will continue their "Chilling Effects" transparency.

Sincerely,
Gargoylr
<It is a brillant example of verbal judo that permits Fox Agency to trip over their own hubris.

Subject: RE: Music Copyright Changed in US
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Aug 19 - 03:46 AM

It appears to me that after having been stopped for several years by Sonny Bono (rest his soul), the Copyright Clock has begun to click again. Works published in 1923 moved into the public domain in 2019, and the world has now resumed acquiring a new year's worth of music every year. The songs of the Great American Songbook will be coming into the Public Domain over the next two decades. I wonder if this will herald a rebirth of this wonderful collection of songs.
Here's the scoop:

https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/

Ah, it's a wonderful time to be alive!
-Joe-