SESAC Accused Of Trying To Kill MMA

The Tennessean is reporting an 11th-hour proposal by the music licensing company SESAC to change the Music Modernization Act could torpedo the landmark copyright legislation that is on the brink of becoming law, supporters of the legislation warn.

Songwriters and publishers have been hunting for new digital music licensing laws for years, and in 2018 momentum has been on their side. Stakeholders representing every corner of the music industry, including digital music companies such as Spotify and Apple, record labels, artists and the major performance rights organizations all back the legislation.

The Music Modernization Act has already cleared the House and a crucial Senate committee without a single opposition vote.

If enacted, the bill would:

• Improve digital royalty payouts to songwriters
• Begin paying artists and labels a digital royalty for songs recorded prior to 1972
• Create a new licensing collective to oversee digital mechanical licensing for songwriters and music publishers.

It's the last component of the MMA that has irked SESAC, the Nashville-based for-profit licensing agency owned by the private equity firm Blackstone, to propose changes to the legislation.

SESAC's pitch to change the MMA stems from the company's concern that creating a new licensing collective would make companies that administer such licenses obsolete. SESAC owns the licensing firm the Harry Fox Agency, which it purchased in 2015 with eyes on expanding the services it could offer member songwriters.

The proposal to change the bill has sparked a flurry of criticism, with supporters of the current legislation saying the changes could derail the measure. Bart Herbison, the executive director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, said Congress must move urgently to approve legislation that songwriters have pushed for several years.

Bart Herbison

Herbison accused SESAC of trying to kill the bill with the late proposal and said those who crafted the legislation would rather no bill pass than the amended version that SESAC has pitched to Senate offices in Washington D.C.

According to a draft proposal obtained by The Tennessean, SESAC is proposing to allow certified licensing companies such as Harry Fox to handle the licensing and administration of digital mechanical licensing. Under the legislation as constructed, that job would fall to the new music licensing collective, and the digital music companies would actually pay for the cost of administering the licenses.

SESAC's proposal calls for the new licensing collective to maintain a new comprehensive copyright database, serve as the single place for filing a licensing notice and resolve conflicting copyright claims.