Songwriters Guild of America Backs Music Modernization Act After Changes

The Songwriters Guild of America endorsed the Music Modernization Act (HR-4706/S-2334) Friday, saying lawmakers agreed to modify provisions to address the group's previous objections. Backers frame it as a compromise supported by songwriters, music publishers and digital streaming services to revamp elements of Copyright Act sections 114 and 115. It would affect some rules on U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York handling of cases involving DOJ consent decrees on the ASCAP and BMI performance rights organizations. House IP Subcommittee Vice Chairman Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., filed HR-4706 in December (see 1712210046). Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, filed S-2334 in January (see 1801240049). SGA initially opposed HR-4706/S-2334 because it worried provisions in the bill inadequately benefited songwriters, including language that would create the Mechanical Licensing Collective. Digital services voluntarily agreed to fund the MLC as a self-governing body using a free-market standard for determining digital music royalty rates (see 1712290025). Agreed-upon amendments include doubling the number of songwriters and composers represented on the MLC's board and shifting the balance on a proposed Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee so half its members come from the music creator community and half from music publishers, SGA said. Lawmakers also agreed to modify language on payments to songwriters from music publishers' “unclaimed” funds under negotiated publishing agreements, SGA said. Music publishers agreed to join SGA in supporting the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (HR-3945), which would establish the Copyright Claims Board, a voluntary alternative forum to U.S. District courts, for copyright owners to protect their work from infringement. The board would be housed in Copyright Office, with jurisdiction limited to civil copyright cases capped at $30,000 in damages (see 1710040058). HR4706/S-2334 is now “deserving of our support,” said SGA President Rick Carnes. “The bill as it now stands would -- on balance -- benefit those creators we are sworn to protect significantly more than no bill at all.” NAB, which also initially opposed HR4706/S-2334, signed on as a supporter in January after lawmakers modified the bill to assuage its concerns (see 1801260049).