Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act

Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act

This bill updates copyright law by creating a new compulsory licensing system for digital music services that transmit sound recordings. It also provides for federal protection to sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, which are currently only covered by state law. It also authorizes royalties for producers, mixers, and sound engineers that made a creative contribution to a sound recording.

TITLE I--Music Licensing Modernization

Musical Works Modernization Act

Compulsory licensing systems allow a person or company to use a copyright-protected work by agreeing to pay a set rate, without having to negotiate with or get explicit permission from the rights holder.

This title updates requirements for compulsory licenses for sound recordings. It establishes a new compulsory licensing system that is explicitly available to digital music service providers, where it was unclear whether previously available compulsory licenses granted the rights needed by such services.

Under this title, compulsory licenses are available for sound recordings that have previously been distributed to the public. If the recording has not been publicly distributed, a digital music service can get a license for the recording with the permission of the owner of the distribution right.

The new compulsory license is called a blanket license, which covers essentially all publicly distributed sound recordings. It gives the licensee the right to make and distribute digital copies of the recordings, along with reasonable and necessary activities such as making server and incidental reproductions. The blanket license shall be available January 1, 2021.

When the blanket license becomes available, it shall replace any compulsory licenses that the digital music service provider had previously obtained.

If a digital music provider and rights holder has a voluntary agreement in place, in most instances that voluntary agreement shall remain in effect even after the blanket license becomes available.

The Copyright Office shall designate a nonprofit entity to administer the blanket license, which the bill refers to as the mechanical licensing collective.

The summary continues for 35 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on October 11, 2018. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

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