Recording Academy Members Lobby Congress on Music Licensing Issues

More than 2,000 members of The Recording Academy met Wednesday with members of Congress from 315 districts and their aides, the group said. House Judiciary IP Subcommittee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., tweeted that he was among the lawmakers academy members met with. The meetings were aimed at lobbying on the group's policy agenda, including backing the language included in the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733). The organization originally backed HR-1733 when Nadler introduced it in 2015 (see 1504100044). The bill would require most terrestrial radio stations to begin paying performance royalties and would require digital broadcasters to begin paying royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings. The Recording Academy's members backed a revamp of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Broadcast Music Inc. consent decrees, which received renewed attention after the DOJ Antitrust Division's conclusion to its review of the decrees (see 1608040066). The group said its members also lobbied in favor of copyright protections for music producers and engineers.