Songwriter Equity Act Announced Without Jeffries’ Support
The Songwriter Equity Act (SEA) was announced without the support of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., at a news conference Tuesday. Jeffries withdrew his co-sponsorship at the “11th hour,” said his spokeswoman. Jeffries was slated to attend the briefng along with the SEA’s sponsor, Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said a Monday news release (CD Feb 25 p10). “We didn’t feel comfortable moving forward without the music creator community being united behind it,” said Jeffries’ spokeswoman, though she didn’t say whose support was missing. Section 2 of the bill, on “savings clauses for sound recordings,” which would keep sound recording royalty rates from being “negatively impacted” by SEA, was the linchpin that led to Jeffries’ withdrawal, said the spokeswoman. Higher sound recording royalties, compared to those of songwriters and music publishers, is what the SEA attempts to balance
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
"We're disappointed Mr. Jeffries didn’t participate this morning because he’s been a very key part of uniting the music community,” said Collins’ spokeswoman. “The music community is widely united around this.” Collins was joined by representatives from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and Recording Academy, all of which support the bill. The bill should be part of the larger reform of the Copyright Act going forward, said Collins. “We wanted to make a claim here for the Copyright Act.”
The SEA seeks to update sections 114(i) and 115 of the Copyright Act, which “prevent songwriters from receiving royalty rates that reflect fair market value” for their use, said a bill summary provided by Collins’ office. Under an amended Section 114(i), rate courts would be allowed to “consider all relevant evidence when determining songwriter compensation,” it said. To improve Section 115, mechanical royalties would “reflect free market conditions,” as opposed to being determined by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), it said. The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act prohibits activities in the CRB from being used in other proceedings, “like consent decrees,” said David Israelite, NMPA president, at the news conference. “By changing that law, you're freeing ASCAP and BMI to introduce that type of evidence,” which helps “because the rate courts aren’t able to look at other market benchmarks,” he said, referring to the U.S. District Court in New York, which has overseen consent decrees with ASCAP and BMI since 1941.
"Today’s legislation is important to focusing the conversation on those creators whose talents help power the music marketplace,” said Casey Rae, interim executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, in a statement. “As Congress examines this and other issues, it will be necessary to hear the perspectives of actual songwriters and not just the small handful of powerful music publishing companies.”