Music Fairness Act Clears Committee Hurdle

The American Music Fairness Act (AMFA), which would require AM/FM stations to pay performance royalties to music creators and copyright holders for radio airplay in the U.S., just cleared a key hurdle in Congress — though the bill is unlikely to pass before the new session of Congress convenes in January, reports Billboard.

In a mark-up session on Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee (which deals with copyright matters) voted to advance the bill, clearing its way for a full vote on the House floor. To become law, the bill would need to be approved by the full House of Representatives as well as the Senate and then signed into law by President Biden. However, the proposed legislation is unlikely to pass in the current session of Congress, which is drawing to a close at the end of the month, unless it’s tacked onto a must-pass bill during the lame duck period.

In an opening statement prior to the vote, Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted that bipartisan negotiations over the AMFA in recent months “stalled and never reached a resolution,” though he expressed confidence the bill could make it through the next Congress.

“While today’s debate is an important start in this conversation, if the American music Fairness Act has not become law this Congress, negotiations must resume next year,” Jordan said. “We believe there’s a deal to be struck here that is fair to all sides most importantly, fair to taxpayers and consumers.”

The AMFA is just the latest attempt by members of Congress to compel radio stations to pay performance royalties, which is a common practice in other countries but has not historically been required in the U.S. In Nov. 2019, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced a similar bill, the Ask Musicians for Music Act, which would have allowed artists and copyright owners to negotiate performance royalty rates with radio stations in exchange for permission to play their music. 

That piece of legislation followed a previous bill, the Fair Play Fair Pay Act — also introduced by Blackburn and Nadler — that set out to achieve the same goal.

The AMFA was introduced in the House by Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) in June 2021, with the legislation announced during a press conference attended by singers Dionne Warwick and Sam Moore and Dropkick Murphys singer/bassist Ken Casey. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this past September.

Unlike satellite/online radio and streaming services, AM/FM stations pay only songwriter royalties on the music they broadcast. To rectify that, the AMFA legislation would establish fair market value for radio performance royalties in the same way it has been for those other platforms.