Sound Royalties, an industry-leading finance firm for music creatives, is commending the official passage of the transformative and much-needed Music Modernization Act. The bill, which contains sweeping changes to long-outdated copyright laws, was signed into law by President Trump earlier today, after unanimously passing the House of Representatives last month and receiving previous approval from the Senate.
In response to the news, Sound Royalties issued the following statement from its Founder and CEO Alex Heiche:
“For years, music professionals have been stuck in an archaic, broken system that made it extremely difficult for music services to locate and pay creatives. This should never happen in any industry, especially not one as centric to our lives as music.
But today’s landmark passage of the Music Modernization Act is an enormous step in the right direction to correct this wrong and ensure that creatives are fairly compensated for their work. This was a long-awaited and hard-fought victory, and Sound Royalties salutes all those who battled tirelessly to make this dream a reality.
The passage of the Music Modernization Act today marks a historic win for songwriters, music publishers, artists, record labels, producers, streaming services and the entire industry that services them.
Music is intrinsic to every part of our lives, and this law will help ensure that the music can play on by creating a path to fair compensation for the creatives behind the songs we all know and love, both the classics recorded before 1972 and the new.”
Renamed the “Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act” in honor of Senator Orrin G. Hatch and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, who were both instrumental in its passage, the final bill combined three pieces of legislation:
· The original MMA of 2018, which will update royalties and licensing for the current age of streaming by creating a blanket mechanical license and a collective entity to administer it.
· The CLASSICS Act (Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society Act), which will ensure that creatives receive royalties from digital and satellite radio for songs recorded before 1972.
· The AMP Act (Allocation for Music Producers Act), which creates a way for producers and engineers to collect royalties from SoundExchange for works used on satellite and online radio services.
As an outspoken advocate for musicians’ rights, Sound Royalties has been a strong supporter of the Music Modernization Act since its inception, and would like to thank everyone who played an instrumental role in bringing this legislation into law: David Israelite and Bart Herbison of the NMPA, Steve Bogard of the NSAI, Mitch Glazier and Cary Sherman of the RIAA, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, NAB, SONA, DiMA, the Internet Association, and all members of the creative community.
