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Bill · HR

H.R. 861 (119th)

American Music Fairness Act of 2025

Original

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

31 January 2025

Last action

31 January 2025 · Introduced

Status

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Sponsors

Rep. Issa, Darrell [R-CA-48], Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Green, Mark E. [R-TN-7], Tom McClintock, Ted Lieu, Lloyd Doggett, Jamie Raskin, Julia Brownley, Judy Chu, Pramila Jayapal, Laura Friedman, Dwight Evans, Rep. Gooden, Lance [R-TX-5], Sydney Kamlager-Dove

Subjects

Commerce

Source updated

24 February 2026

Commerce

Summary

American Music Fairness Act of 2025 This bill establishes that the copyright holder of a sound recording shall have the exclusive right to perform the sound recording through an audio transmission. (Currently, the public performance right only covers performances through a digital audio transmission in certain instances, which means that nonsubscription terrestrial radio stations generally do not have to get a license to publicly perform a copyright-protected sound recording.) Under the bill, a nonsubscription broadcast transmission must have a license to publicly perform such sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board must periodically determine the royalty rates for such a license. When determining the rates, the board must base its decision on certain information presented by the parties, including the radio stations' effect on other streams of revenue related to the sound recordings. Terrestrial broadcast stations (and the owners of such stations) that fall below certain revenue thresholds may pay certain flat fees, instead of the board-established rate, for a license to publicly perform copyright-protected sound recordings.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 31 January 2025

    Introduced

    Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 31 January 2025

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 31 January 2025

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

2 official files

Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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American Music Fairness Act of 2025 — United States — PoliticalRepo