For nearly two decades, the Recording Academy and the musicFIRST coalition have been working with legislators on Capitol Hill to change the law so that all music creators receive compensation when their music is played on terrestrial (AM/FM) radio.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee took a major step towards doing that by passing the American Music Fairness Act (H.R. 4130) out of committee, marking the most significant action by Congress on performance rights in the last twelve years.

Following the favorable voice vote — with no recorded votes against the bill — Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason jr., released a statement.

"Today's passage of the American Music Fairness Act through the House Judiciary Committee marks an important step for this critical piece of legislation, and I am grateful to Chairman Nadler, Rep. Issa, and members of the committee for supporting the music community's right to fair pay," he said. "It is vital to the health of our industry that creators are compensated for the use of their intellectual property on terrestrial radio, and the Recording Academy will continue to advocate for AMFA until this bill is signed into law."

The bill, which was introduced in the House earlier this Congress by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and former Rep.Ted Deutch (R-FL), seeks to establish a performance right for sound recordings broadcasted by terrestrial radio.

Since its introduction, it has received more than 35 bipartisan co-sponsors, and a companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Senators Padilla (D-CA) and Blackburn (R-TN.). The enactment of the American Music Fairness Act would end a century-long loophole that has enabled AM/FM radio broadcasters to use the music of hard-working performers and producers without compensating them for their work.

Currently, the United States, Iran, and North Korea are among the few developed countries in the world that do not pay artists for their work on AM/FM radio. In turn, American artists do not receive any royalties when their music is played abroad in the many countries that do pay artists leading to an economic loss of approximately $200 million annually.

During the committee markup, Rep. Issa commented on this revenue loss. He stated, "This inequity, these hundreds of millions of dollars that would be flowing into American artists is inherently unfair. Even a penny to each of these artists changes us from no money to money flowing from around the world."

In addition to Rep. Issa, we heard from other legislators on both sides of the aisle voicing their support for the American Music Fairness Act, including Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).

Rep. Nadler stated "[American recording artists and musicians] do not receive a penny in exchange for the broadcast of their performances, even though the large broadcasting corporations playing their music take in billions of dollars every year from advertising."

He continued, "This unfairness exists because our copyright laws recognize a public performance right only in digital audio transmissions, rather than in all audio transmissions...As a result, American artists have been denied the fair compensation they are due when terrestrial radio uses their creative work. It is time for this fundamental unfairness to finally be fixed."

Although it remains to be seen if the American Music Fairness Act will be brought to the House floor for a vote in the final days of this Congress, its passage through committee shows the clear and growing support Members of Congress have for the rights of music creators.

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