American Music Fairness Act

Summary

American Music Fairness Act 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.

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Timeline

1. 30 January 2025

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 30 January 2025

   Introduced

   Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

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

Documents

2 official files

• Introduced in Senate

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 30 January 2025

  DownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 30 January 2025

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] · D · Sponsor
• Sen. Hagerty, Bill [R-TN] · R · Cosponsor
• Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] · D · Cosponsor
• · ssju00 · Standing

Related records

• related to ← American Music Fairness Act of 2025