I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5219 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to require broadcasters to obtain 

permission to transmit content owned by another person, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 

Mr. NADLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to require broadcasters to obtain permission to transmit content owned 

by another person, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ask Musicians For 

5 Music Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION CONSENT FOR TERRESTRIAL 

2 BROADCASTS. 

3 (a) RIGHT APPLICABLE TO TRANSMISSIONS GEN4 ERALLY.—Section 106(6) of title 17, United States Code, 

5 is amended by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’. 

6 (b) TRANSMISSION CONSENT.—Section 114(d)(1)(A) 

7 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding 

8 after ‘‘transmission’’ the following: ‘‘, except that, in the 

9 case of a transmission made by a radio station, the radio 

10 station shall obtain the express authority of the copyright 

11 owner of that sound recording for any such transmission 

12 (unless the transmission consists of services at a place of 

13 worship (or at another religious assembly) or incidental 

14 uses of a musical work)’’. 

15 SEC. 3. SMALL BROADCASTERS; PUBLIC AND EDU16 CATIONAL RADIO. 

17 (a) SMALL BROADCASTERS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Consent required under sec19 tion 2 shall be deemed satisfied by the payment of 

20 $500 per year by any radio station with revenues in 

21 that year of less than $1,000,000, including all reve22 nues arising from or relating to the operation of the 

23 station, as calculated in accordance with generally 

24 accepted accounting principles in the United States. 

25 (2) AFFILIATES.—For the purposes of calcu26 lating revenues under paragraph (1) with respect to 


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1 affiliated broadcast stations, revenues shall be allo2 cated reasonably to individual stations that are asso3 ciated with those revenues. 

4 (b) PUBLIC BROADCASTERS, COLLEGE RADIO, AND

5 OTHER NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS.—Any negotiation to 

6 obtain the express authority of a copyright owner that is 

7 required with respect to a transmission made by a radio 

8 station under section 114(d)(1)(A) of title 17, United 

9 States Code, as amended by section 2(b), may not result 

10 in the payment of compensation in an amount that is more 

11 than $100 per year by any individual terrestrial broadcast 

12 station that is— 

13 (1) licensed by the Federal Communications 

14 Commission as an individual terrestrial broadcast 

15 station; and 

16 (2) a public broadcasting entity, as that term is 

17 defined in section 118(f) of title 17, United States 

18 Code. 

19 (c) DESIGNATED AGENT.—Payments made pursuant 

20 to subsections (a) and (b) shall be directed to the agent 

21 designated to distribute receipts from the licensing of dig22 ital transmissions in accordance with section 114(f) of title 

23 17 and used to defray administrative costs as described 

24 in section 114(g)(3)(A) of title 17. 


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1 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

2 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 101 of title 17, United 

3 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat4 ing to ‘‘architectural work’’ the following: 

5 ‘‘An ‘audio transmission’ is the communication of a 

6 sound recording, whether in digital, analog, or other for7 mat, whereby sounds are received beyond the place from 

8 which they are sent. An audio transmission does not in9 clude the transmission of any audiovisual work.’’. 

10 (b) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 17, 

11 United States Code, is amended— 

12 (1) in section 112(e)(8), by striking ‘‘a digital 

13 audio transmission’’ and inserting ‘‘an audio trans14 mission’’; 

15 (2) in section 114— 

16 (A) in subsection (d)— 

17 (i) in paragraph (1)— 

18 (I) in the matter preceding sub19 paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘a digital’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 

21 (II) in subparagraph (B)— 

22 (aa) by striking clauses (i) 

23 and (iii); 

24 (bb) by redesignating 

25 clauses (ii) and (iv) as clauses (i) 

26 and (ii), respectively; and 


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1 (cc) in clause (ii), as so re2 designated, by striking ‘‘retrans3 mission, whether or not simulta4 neous, is a’’ and inserting ‘‘re5 transmission is a non-simulta6 neous,’’; 

7 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 

8 (I) in the matter preceding sub9 paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘subscrip10 tion digital’’ and inserting ‘‘subscrip11 tion’’; and 

12 (II) in subparagraph (C)(viii), by 

13 striking ‘‘digital signal’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘signal’’; and 

15 (iii) in paragraph (4)— 

16 (I) in subparagraph (A), by strik17 ing ‘‘a digital audio transmission’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘an audio transmission’’; 

19 and 

20 (II) in subparagraph (B)(i), by 

21 striking ‘‘a digital audio trans22 mission’’ and inserting ‘‘an audio 

23 transmission’’; 

24 (B) in subsection (g)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘a 

25 digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 


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1 (C) in subsection (j)— 

2 (i) in paragraph (6)— 

3 (I) by striking ‘‘digital’’; and 

4 (II) by striking ‘‘retransmissions 

5 of broadcast transmissions’’ and in6 serting ‘‘broadcast transmissions and 

7 retransmissions of broadcast trans8 missions’’; and 

9 (ii) in paragraph (8), by striking 

10 ‘‘subscription digital’’ and inserting ‘‘sub11 scription’’; and 

12 (3) in section 1401(b), in the matter preceding 

13 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘an’’. 

Æ 


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