The protection of creators rights has moved one step closer! One week after the Recording Academy™’s GRAMMYs on the Hill® Awards and Advocacy Day, music creators are applauding the House of Representatives’ passage of the Music Modernization Act (H.R. 5447).
Introduced on April 10, 2018, by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the bill quickly gained bipartisan support for the need to update music copyright laws and align legislation with the changes in music consumption, ensuring fair pay for all creators. The historic bill, if passed by the Senate, would be the biggest update to music legislation in 40 years.
The Recording Academy first called for this comprehensive update to music legislation in 2014, tirelessly advocating for its support since. On April 18–19, as a part of the Academy’s GRAMMYs on the Hill grassroots initiative, more than 100 GRAMMY® winners, nominees, and Academy leaders met with nearly 60 Senate and House offices, including key congressional leadership, to advocate for the bill.
The Music Modernization Act unites provisions from four previously introduced bills—the Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act, the CLASSICS Act, the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, and a songwriter-specific version of the Music Modernization Act—under one legislative umbrella to ensure advancement and protections for all music creators.
As the only organization that represents all music creators—performers, songwriters, and studio professionals— the Recording Academy has been championing the need for music reform for the past 20 years, when the Academy first established a presence in Washington, D.C.
A hearing is expected to be scheduled in the Senate within the coming weeks.
For more information about the Recording Academy’s ongoing advocacy work, visit www.grammy.com/advocacy, follow @GRAMMYAdvocacy on Twitter, and “like” GRAMMY Advocacy on Facebook.
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