President Donald Trump signed the landmark Music Modernization Act (MMA) into law on Thursday during a ceremony held at the White House. The MMA marks a huge change in music licensing regulations, which have now been updated for the streaming age. Mike Love of the Beach Boys, guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and legendary vocalist Sam Moore were a few of the musicians on hand at the ceremony.
The MMA combines three bills previously introduced in congress. One makes it easier for rights holders to receive payment when their songs are streamed online. A second, the CLASSICS Act, establishes that songs written before 1972 are now covered by copyright law, which will facilitate payment of royalties to both songwriters and performers for pre-1972 recordings. Finally, the Allocation For Music Producers Act, designates SoundExchange to distribute a portion of royalties for songs streamed online and on satellite radio to “a producer, mixer, or sound engineer who was part of the creative process that created [the] sound recording.” Producers had never before been mentioned in copyright law. The MMA received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
“With the president’s signature today, the Music Modernization Act is officially the law of the land. As we celebrate the harmony and unity that got us here, we applaud the efforts of the thousands of performers, songwriters, and studio professionals who rallied for historic change to ensure all music creators are compensated fairly when their work is used by digital and satellite music services,” said Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy in a statement. “We thank the members of Congress who championed this issue throughout the past several years to bring music law into the 21st century.”
[Hat Tip – Vox]
