On January 24, 2018 the Music Modernization Act was introduced into the Senate. This act will change the way that songwriters are paid. This includes royalties, copyrights, and different licences for digital music providers. In a statement made last week by Orrin Hatch, a co-sponsor of the bill, he called the bill a “historic reform for our badly outdated music laws.”
This is act will allow songwriters to get the royalties they are owed for songs played on the internet. To do this, a separate organization will be formed to make payments easier. This will be headed up by publishers and songwriters. The Music Modernization Act will also let digital providers get blanket licenses which will cut down on copyright infringement lawsuits. This will also let writers receive royalties from songs written before 1972.
Last week, the House of Representatives unanimously approved of the Senate's bill. Before this bill was passed, the Senate renamed it to the Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act in honor of the bill’s sponsor. While no vote has been scheduled as of Sunday, Hatch believes that the Senate will approve of the house bill this week. Lawmakers hope for President Trump to sign the bill into law by mid-October.
Do you believe this bill will help or harm the music industry? Why would some people argue against this bill?
For more information about this bill, go to:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2334/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22music+modernization+act%22%5D%7D 
I think the bill is a great idea and i'm honestly surprised it hadn't been introduced years prior. The bill will be helpful to artist within the music industry, but it will probably be hurtful to record producers and record companies that sign artist.However, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. For too long record companies have taken advantage of artists and made millions off of the work that artists produce. It's finally time that the record companies that have kept a stranglehold on artist come toppling down.
ReplyDeleteI believe this bill will both help and hurt the industry. It will help artists become more successful, while hurting record companies. The bill will help more than hurt and give artists more of the benefits from their song rather than giving it to record companies.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the bill is a good idea. Artists will no longer be taken advantage of by producers and companies. Artists will now be more successful and benefit more from their work rather than the companies gaining benefits from them.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! When I think about law - especially the Law of the Land :) - I don't usually think about such "fun" topics as being included. Thank you for bringing this to light for us! I think this is a really wise and innovative approach to a very relevant and prevalent issue that has actually needed some work for a long time; I'm sure it will be difficult to enforce, seeing as there are so many avenues to listen to music and already so many illegal download/access sites and companies that are making their money that way. This bill makes me wonder if music companies like Apple Music and Spotify will need to/raise their prices to adjust to the presumably higher cost of doing digital music business...
ReplyDeleteThis issue has been around for a long time, and I am relieved to know that it is being slowly resolved. Owners of music should be compensated properly, as this bill would ensure. This will be very beneficial for the music companies. The artists will also be able to improve their status, and receive rightful financial dividends.
ReplyDeleteI think that this bill will help the actual musicians while hurting the producers and record labels that they are signed to. The bill will help the musicians because it will increase what they are paid and how fast they are paid. I believe it will hurt the record labels because they take as much money from the musicians as possible and won't be getting as much with this new bill. But, I think overall the bill will be very helpful and help to grow the music industry.
ReplyDeleteI like this bill. It benefits the people who are really earning the money in my opinion. It will also make more people try to follow their dreams. The only people I could see arguing against the bill are the record companies.
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