The music industry rejoiced as different sides united. Even opposing politicians seemed to find agreement. Countless sources ran articles to help celebrate that after many rounds of hard work and addressing concerns, the Music Modernization Act finally passed Congress and is on its way to the president.
bit.ly/2IoHJIp / Screenshot / September 29, 2018
Originally introduced in April 2018 to the House of Representatives by Rep. Goodlatte, Bob (R-VA), was bill H.R.5447, which seemingly earned full representative support with 415-0 votes. The act had a harder time before eventually on September 18 passing lobbied senators, likely because as it affects many aspects of the music business, the possibility of the bill becoming law and changing the marketplace landscape got realer. As of September 25, there have been links reported by Copyright Alliance and stories from several other sources that Senator Orrin Hatch's revised Music Modernization Act successfully made its final pass through the House of Representatives and is indeed ready for presidential approval.
"Wyden" by Sam Churchill (Original Photo / Flickr / License: bit.ly/1ryPA8o)
Leave it to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to hold up the laws for music modernization. In August, April Baer for OPB reported, “music industry professionals are lobbying (Wyden) to stand down and allow a bill updating music rights laws to pass,” however; blindly letting another Modernization Act slide passed him isn’t on the senator's agenda. Maybe his impression is similar to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, that which promised to revolutionize the U.S. broadcasting industry, actually loosened some of the restrictions for keeping reporting fair. This April, Radio Ink outlined major law changes. In the article, New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler also said regarding music modernization, "because of loopholes in the law, there has been litigation in federal and state courts with mixed results, and that has put music creators’ rights at risk and created uncertainty for digital streaming services."
Mitch Glazier, President, RIAA communicated, “the Music Modernization Act is based on two simple principles – streamline the licensing system and work towards fair-market-value based rules for creators.” The August OPB story continued, “but Wyden introduced an alternative bill this spring that suggests streamlined laws for older music and less strenuous copyright protections than the Music Modernization Act," (S.2293, the ACCESS to Recordings Act). Tracy Maddux, CEO of CD Baby said in an Oregonian/Oregon Live article, "we urge Sen. Wyden to reconsider his support of the ACCESS Act and to join dozens of Senators in supporting the Music Modernization Act (H.R. 5447)." Upon looking for further clues, trying to contact his office, and being led to the “Issues” section of his website, there didn't seem to be a section for music, but the section under the "Technology: Copyright" heading said, “he has introduced legislation to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to ensure that security researchers, journalists and owners of everyday devices have the ability to undertake legitimate activities.” According to an August Billboard report, he and the Senate might have reached an agreement.
LATELY -- compared to web radio app station playlists, on-demand ad-supported streaming with custom playlists seem to be preferred, since services such as YouTube and Spotify have grown more. Among the on-demand streaming player giants, July and March Billboard reports by Cherie Hu and Ed Christman suggest Apple Music and Spotify significantly pulled ahead with their advertising/subscription-based service model. Oftentimes, subscribing allows for unlocking enhanced features of music applications and stopping advertising from interrupting the music experience.
