Copyright law has officially entered the twenty-first century. On October 11, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Music Modernization Act (MMA) into law, revolutionizing outdated copyright laws to account for new technologies, such as streaming.
The MMA, which was spearheaded by Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Sen. Orrin Hatch, will help to protect songwriters and producers by ensuring that they receive royalties for digital reproductions of audio recordings—in essence, online streaming and digital radio broadcasts. It is also important to note that, before the MMA, producers had never been protected by copyright law.
“There’s a lot more that needs to be done here. We need to go after the record labels next, and things like free goods. But this is a great start to protect songwriters, producers, engineers — the unsung heroes behind many of these songs that go out there. People like myself who are maybe more at the top of the food chain, it really doesn’t affect as much. But I know many people it does affect,” said Kid Rock, one of several notable celebrities who attended the signing ceremony at the White House. Mike Love, Sam Moore, John Rich, Craig Morgan and Jeff Baxter were also present when President Trump signed the MMA into law.
The act also closed an existing loophole in copyright law that excluded recordings made before February 15, 1972 from federal copyright protection. Under the MMA, these recordings will be protected until February 15, 2067 at the latest, though older copyrights may still lapse before that date.
“It has been something that has been needed for decades. It has been a situation where the music licensing system in this country hasn’t worked fairly,” said Goodlatte. “This is an effort from a lot of people all across this country in the Congress and out of the Congress over a long time.”
The MMA will be administered by a non-profit organization called the Mechanical Licensing Collective. The Collective will collect data from digital music providers, such as Spotify or Apple, and then distribute royalties directly to artists and other copyright holders. According to a report by Music Business Worldwide, the Collective reached its first funding agreement this past November and is expected to officially launch in January 2021. Another non-profit organization, SoundExchange, will the distribute royalties from satellite and digital radio streams.
On March 11, the Ella Project will host a workshop entitled “Collecting Royalties in the Modern Age.” It takes place at 6 p.m. at the New Orleans Jazz Museum inside the Old U.S. Mint. For more information, click here.
The text of the MMA is available in full at https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5447.
