musicmodernizationact
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President Trump signs the Music Modernization Act into law
Today, the president signed the Music Modernization Act into law with various celebrities, including Kid Rock, Mike Love and John Rich, present. This is one of the largest reforms to copyright law in decades, and it focuses on updating music copyright law to be current with the streaming era. It also will hopefully mean more royalties for artists and songwriters.
US bill modernizing music royalties only needs the President's signature
The House of Representatives has given the Senate's version of the Music Modernization Act two thumbs up, which means the bill is now heading to the White House. MMA will update rules regarding royalties and licensing when it comes to streaming in an effort to make sure creators are properly compensated. It will lead to the creation of a publicly-accessible database that makes it easier to see which publishers and artists need to be compensated for particular songs. Further, it will update the royalty rates for artists behind pre-1972 songs and will update royalty rates to reflect market changes all around.
US Senate passes bill modernizing music licensing and payouts
The US Senate has unanimously passed the Music Modernization Act, which aims to bring the way the music business works in line with the digital age. Providing the bill is met with approval from the House, and is subsequently signed by President Donald Trump, the legislation -- renamed the Orrin G Hatch Music Modernization Act in honour of the Republican senior senator responsible for introducing the bill -- will finally be enshrined into law. It's not expected to meet any opposition.
House sends key music royalties bill to the Senate
Today, the Music Modernization Act passed the House of Representatives in a unanimous vote (there were no negative votes, but 16 representatives did not cast a vote). The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate, but considering the overwhelming support in the House, it seems like a safe bet that the MMA will become law soon. This comprehensive bill reforms the way the music business works in four different ways.
Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit over song licensing
Spotify is no stranger to facing lawsuits accusing it of offering unlicensed songs, but the latest could prove to be very costly. Hollywood Reporter has learned that Wixen Music Publishing, which manages the song composition rights for artists ranging from Neil Young to Zach de la Rocha, has sued Spotify for copyright damages of at least $1.6 billion. Wixen claims that the streaming service is using tens of thousands of songs without proper licenses and the compensation to match. The plaintiff had already objected to proposed $43 million settlement in another case in May, so this wasn't coming entirely out of the blue.
