US bill seeks to hand greater power to songwriters
Songwriters could soon claim increased royalties when their works are played in the public domain, including on online services, under new legislation proposed in the US.
The Songwriter Equity Act bill, introduced on Tuesday, February 25, recommends updates to the US Copyright Act to allow songwriters to have greater powers when determining royalty rates.
It was introduced by Representative Doug Collins of Georgia to the US House of Representatives.
The proposed legislation is backed by organisations, including the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), which license music for use by companies including Internet radio station Pandora.
Under current laws a "rate court" based at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York hears royalty conflicts between the licensing bodies and the companies that want to play the songs.
The rates for artists and record labels are heard separately from those for the songwriters and authors.
But Collins' proposal would allow licensors to compare rates and use the comparisons to argue that songwriters should receive more money, a provision that is currently unavailable under US law.
Michael O’Neill, chief executive at BMI, said the inequity caused by the current law resulted in record labels and artists receiving royalties at 12 times the rate of the authors.
O’Neill said the introduction of the bill was an “important step” on the road to fairness for more than 600,000 songwriters and music publishers represented by the organisation.
“We are grateful to Congressman Collins for his leadership on this important issue and for his support in co-sponsoring this important bill. We look forward to working with Congress to find an equitable solution,” O’Neill added.
Hillel Parness, partner at Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP in New York, said the new legislation came in the midst of a “slate of recent decisions” involving new media services by the rate courts.
“In those cases the courts have declined to take various pre-existing benchmark licenses into account, even where they were not prohibited from doing so by statute, resulting in the eyes of many in untenably low license fees to the songwriters, especially as compared to those to the record labels for the reproduction of music,” he said.
The legislation also recommends a fair rate standard for reproduction licenses.
Since its enactment at two cents per song in 1909, the royalty rate has risen to 9.1 cents.
However, licensing bodies and rights holders have argued the rate is still too low.
The legislation would require the Copyright Royalty Board, which determines the statutory rate, to consider fair market value and what the song would be worth if it were a product being sold by a willing seller to a willing buyer.
If the bill is passed by the House of Representatives, it would also need to be passed by the US Senate before becoming law.
“While this bill appears aimed at specific provisions of the Copyright Act, it also appears to be part of a larger effort to broaden the perspective of those deciding on the license fees due to the creators of music,” Parness said.
