Ensure fair pay for artists who recorded their music before 1972.

WHAT’S THE ISSUE? Based on an interpretation of state and federal copyright laws, some of the biggest digital radio services in the world believe they can use music recorded before 1972 for free. While today’s artists are paid royalties every time their recordings are played by digital radio services, the inspirational legacy artists who came before them, icons of American music — Motown acts, the legends of jazz and blues, and musicians who gave birth to Rock ’n’ Roll — are at risk of earning nothing.

Why? Sound recordings were not brought within the scope of federal copyright protection until 1972. Even then, sound recordings made before February 15, 1972, were covered only by a patchwork of state laws. Even though these recordings are protected by state law, some digital music services were using them without paying royalties or receiving permission.

WHO’S AFFECTED? Anyone who made or owns the rights to a sound recording made before February 15, 1972. This includes the classic artists of every genre whose work continues to inspire future generations of artists.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT? Pre-1972 sound recordings represent close to 15% of what digital radio services play, and an even higher percentage of popular recordings in some genres. Some digital radio services’ convenient interpretation of the law costs artists and record labels, with recordings before 1972, $60 to $80 million in royalties per year. Multiple lawsuits were filed by artists and copyright owners in several states to reclaim these lost royalties. So far, those lawsuits have resulted in $300 million in settlements paid to music creators and rights owners by the services that had been withholding royalties, but these settlements do not create certainty in the law about the protection of recordings from this iconic era of music going forward.

HOW CAN WE FIX THIS?It is unfair to force classic artists and their record labels to drag digital music services into state court just to be paid fairly for the use of their creative contributions. Congress can put an end to this unfair practice by closing the pre-1972 loophole with the CLASSICS Act (H.R.3301/S.2393), which would authorize digital radio services to play pre-1972 recordings under the same statutory license terms applied to sound recordings made after 1972, or under direct licensing agreement with the copyright owner. Under either option, artists will always directly receive 50% of the royalties through SoundExchange for transmissions otherwise eligible for the statutory license. The CLASSICS Act was part of Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler’s (D-NY) comprehensive Music Modernization Act (H.R.5447) which the House passed by an unanimous vote (415-0) on April 25, 2018. It is also part of the Senate version (S.2823) introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on May 10, 2018 with 16 original bipartisan cosponsors.

WHO SUPPORTS THE CLASSICS ACT?The bill enjoys broad support from both music creators and digital service providers including: American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), RIAA, Pandora, SoundExchange, the musicFIRST Coalition, the Internet Association, the GRAMMYs, SAG-AFTRA, American Federation of Musicians, the Content Creators Coalition, the Future of Music Coalition, the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, and the Living Legends Foundation.

TELL CONGRESS – DIGITAL RADIO SHOULD RESPECT ALL MUSIC!

WWW.PROJECT-72.ORG