I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7763 

To establish the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2024 

Ms. TLAIB (for herself, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. 

RAMIREZ, and Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish the Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, 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 ‘‘Living Wage for Musi5 cians Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ARTIST COMPENSATION ROYALTY FUND. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Register, with the ap9 proval of the Librarian of Congress, shall designate 

10 an eligible entity to establish and administer a fund 


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1 to be known as the Artist Compensation Royalty 

2 Fund. 

3 (2) NOTICE OF DESIGNATION IN FEDERAL REG4 ISTER.—Not later than 30 days after the eligible en5 tity is designated under paragraph (1), the Register 

6 shall publish a notice in the Federal Register that— 

7 (A) includes the contact information for 

8 the eligible entity; and 

9 (B) the reason for why the Register des10 ignated the eligible entity under such para11 graph. 

12 (b) DEPOSIT OF AMOUNTS INTO FUND.— 

13 (1) DEPOSIT.—The Fund Administrator shall 

14 deposit into the Fund any amounts received by the 

15 Fund Administrator under paragraph (2) or (3). 

16 (2) AMOUNTS FROM SERVICE PROVIDERS.—Not 

17 later than the last day of the first calendar quarter 

18 after the calendar quarter in which the Fund admin19 istrator is designated, and each calendar quarter 

20 thereafter, a service provider shall provide to the 

21 Fund Administrator, for deposit into the Fund— 

22 (A) the amounts collected by the service 

23 provider in the prior calendar quarter from the 

24 living wage royalty fee; and 


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1 (B) 10 percent of any non-subscription 

2 revenue received by the service provider in the 

3 prior calendar quarter. 

4 (3) AMOUNTS FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN

5 SERVICE PROVIDERS.—The Fund Administrator may 

6 receive amounts for deposit into the Fund from any 

7 source, including from a Federal, State, or local gov8 ernment. 

9 (c) USE OF FUND.—Amounts in the Fund shall be 

10 made available in accordance with section 3. 

11 SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO MUSICAL ARTISTS FROM ARTIST 

12 COMPENSATION ROYALTY FUND. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

14 (1) ALLOCATION OF PAYMENTS.—Amounts in 

15 the Fund shall be allocated as follows: 

16 (A) 90 percent of such amounts shall be 

17 allocated for payments to eligible featured art18 ists. 

19 (B) 10 percent of such amounts shall be 

20 allocated for payments to eligible non-featured 

21 artists. 

22 (2) PAYMENTS FROM FUND.—Not later than 

23 the last day of the calendar quarter in which 

24 amounts are first deposited into the Fund under sec25 tion 2(b)(2), and once each calendar quarter thereVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:24 Apr 04, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7763.IH H7763

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1 after, the Fund Administrator shall promptly pro2 vide— 

3 (A) a percentage of the amount allocated 

4 under paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection to 

5 each eligible featured artist, that is equal to the 

6 percentage of qualifying streams accrued by the 

7 eligible featured artist in the prior calendar 

8 quarter out of all qualifying streams accrued by 

9 all eligible featured artists in the prior calendar 

10 quarter; and 

11 (B) payment from the amount allocated 

12 under paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection to 

13 the American Federation of Musicians and 

14 Screen Actors Guild and the American Federa15 tion of Television and Radio Artists Intellectual 

16 Property Rights Distribution Fund (or any suc17 cessor Fund) for distribution to each eligible 

18 non-featured artist. 

19 (3) UNCLAIMED FUNDS.—If the Fund Adminis20 trator attempts to the best of the ability of the Fund 

21 Administrator to identify an eligible featured artist 

22 to provide payment to such artist under paragraph 

23 (2)(A), and is unable to identify such artist at such 

24 time, the Fund shall— 


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1 (A) retain the required payment in a seg2 regated trust account; and 

3 (B) if the Fund Administrator is not able 

4 to identify such artist after a period determined 

5 reasonable by the Fund Administrator, deposit 

6 the payment back into the Fund. 

7 (b) RETENTION OF RECORDS.—The Fund Adminis8 trator shall— 

9 (1) keep books and records relating to— 

10 (A) amounts provided to the Fund Admin11 istrator under section 2(b)(2); and 

12 (B) amounts distributed from the Fund 

13 under subsection (a) of this section; and 

14 (2) retain any such book or record for a period 

15 of not less than 3 calendar years after the date on 

16 which such book or record is created. 

17 SEC. 4. SERVICE PROVIDER OBLIGATIONS. 

18 (a) LIVING WAGE ROYALTY FEE.—Beginning on a 

19 date determined appropriate by the Fund Administrator, 

20 service provider shall charge each person charged a sub21 scription fee by the provider an additional fee in an 

22 amount equal to 50 percent of the subscription fee charged 

23 by the service provider, except that such additional fee 

24 shall not be an amount less than $4 or more than $10. 


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1 (b) NOTICE OF ADDITIONAL FEE.—In each state2 ment or receipt a service provider provides for the charge 

3 of a subscription fee and the additional fee required by 

4 subsection (a), the service provider shall include a line 

5 item describing such additional fee. 

6 (c) TREATMENT OF ROYALTY.—A service provider 

7 may not include the amounts collected by the service pro8 vider from the living wage royalty fee in any calculation 

9 by the service provider of the total costs or revenue of con10 tent for the service provider. 

11 (d) RECORDS.— 

12 (1) RETENTION.—Beginning on the date on 

13 which the Fund administrator is designated— 

14 (A) each service provider shall keep books 

15 and records relating to activities carried out by 

16 the provider under this Act; and 

17 (B) retain such book and records for a pe18 riod of not less than 3 calendar years after the 

19 date on which such book or record is created. 

20 (2) REGULATIONS.—The Fund Administrator 

21 may— 

22 (A) require, by regulation, that service pro23 viders provide the Fund Administrator informa24 tion on— 


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1 (i) non-subscription revenue received 

2 by the service provider; 

3 (ii) revenue received by the service 

4 provider from subscription fee; 

5 (iii) the collection of the living wage 

6 royalty fee by the provider; and 

7 (iv) data of the service provider with 

8 respect to the number streams accrued by 

9 artists through such provider; and 

10 (B) audit the books and records of a serv11 ice provider to verify any information provided 

12 by that service provider under subparagraph 

13 (A). 

14 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT. 

15 The Fund Administrator may establish, by regula16 tion, penalties for— 

17 (1) a violation of a prohibition under this Act 

18 by a service provider; or 

19 (2) a failure to comply with a requirement 

20 under this Act by a service provider. 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act: 

23 (1) ARTIST.—The term ‘‘artist’’— 

24 (A) means a human creator; and 

25 (B) does not include— 


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1 (i) corporate entities; or 

2 (ii) fully generative artificial intel3 ligence. 

4 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti5 ty’’ means— 

6 (A) a single non-profit entity that is— 

7 (i) established solely for the purpose 

8 of establishing and administering the 

9 Fund; 

10 (ii) governed by a Board of Directors 

11 that includes— 

12 (I) committees that are composed 

13 of a mix of voting and nonvoting 

14 members; and 

15 (II) artist representatives as 

16 members of the Board; and 

17 (iii) able to demonstrate to the Reg18 ister that, by the date described under sec19 tion 3(a)(2) the entity will have the admin20 istrative and technological capabilities to 

21 establish and administer the Fund in ac22 cordance with this Act; and 

23 (B) if no entity meets the criteria under 

24 subparagraph (A), an entity determined by the 

25 Register to most nearly fit such criteria. 


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1 (3) ELIGIBLE FEATURED ARTIST.—The term 

2 ‘‘eligible featured artist’’ means a featured artist 

3 who— 

4 (A) registers with the Fund; and 

5 (B) provides the Fund Administrator with 

6 the information determined necessary by the 

7 Fund Administrator— 

8 (i) identify or locate such featured 

9 artist; and 

10 (ii) provide payment to such featured 

11 artist (or a person designated by such art12 ist to receive such payment on behalf of 

13 such artist). 

14 (4) ELIGIBLE NON-FEATURED ARTIST DE15 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘‘eligible non16 featured artist’’ means a non-featured artist that 

17 provides the American Federation of Musicians and 

18 Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of 

19 Television and Radio Artists Intellectual Property 

20 Rights Distribution Fund (or any successor Fund) 

21 with the information determined necessary by such 

22 Fund— 

23 (A) to identify or locate such non-featured 

24 artist; and 


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1 (B) provide payment to the non-featured 

2 artist (or a person designated by such artist to 

3 receive such payment on behalf of such artist). 

4 (5) END USER.—The term ‘‘end user’’ means a 

5 unique person that receives an offering from the 

6 service provider, including the following: 

7 (A) A person who pays no fee for receiving 

8 the offering. 

9 (B) A person who pays a subscription fee 

10 for receiving the offering. 

11 (6) FEATURED ARTIST.—The term ‘‘featured 

12 artist’’ means an artist who is prominently featured 

13 on a sound recording made available through an of14 fering. 

15 (7) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Art16 ist Compensation Royalty Fund established by the 

17 Fund Administrator under section 2(a). 

18 (8) FUND ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Fund 

19 Administrator’’ means the eligible entity designated 

20 under section 2(a)(1). 

21 (9) LIVING WAGE ROYALTY FEE.—The term 

22 ‘‘living wage royalty fee’’ means the additional free 

23 required to be charged under section 4(a). 


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1 (10) MASTER RECORDING.—The term ‘‘master 

2 recording’’ means the original sound recording of a 

3 song. 

4 (11) NON-FEATURED ARTIST.—The term ‘‘non5 featured artist’’— 

6 (A) means an artist who is not promi7 nently featured on a sound recording made 

8 available through an offering; and 

9 (B) includes the following: 

10 (i) A session musician. 

11 (ii) A back-up vocalist. 

12 (12) NON-SUBSCRIPTION REVENUE.—The term 

13 ‘‘non-subscription revenue’’ means any revenue re14 ceived from music streaming (including revenue re15 ceived from advertising with respect to such music 

16 streaming), other than revenue from a subscription 

17 fee. 

18 (13) OFFERING.—The term ‘‘offering’’ means 

19 the provision of a stream by a service provider. 

20 (14) QUALIFYING STREAM.—The term ‘‘quali21 fying stream’’ means with respect to a master re22 cording and a calendar month, the lesser of— 

23 (A) the number of streams of the master 

24 recording accrued by the eligible featured artist 

25 in that calendar month; and 


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1 (B) 1,000,000 streams. 

2 (15) REGISTER.—The term ‘‘Register’’ means 

3 the Register of Copyrights. 

4 (16) SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘service 

5 provider’’ means an entity, that— 

6 (A) provides a stream to an end user; 

7 (B) contracts with or has a direct relation8 ship with an end user to provide such streams; 

9 and 

10 (C) controls which such streams are made 

11 available to such end users. 

12 (17) STREAM.—The term ‘‘stream’’— 

13 (A) means an interactive, encrypted digital 

14 transmission that embodies a master recording 

15 that allows a person to receive and listen to 

16 such master recording upon request at a time 

17 chosen by the person; 

18 (B) does not include a temporary copy of 

19 such master recording— 

20 (i) generated by a service provider in 

21 the course of providing the transmission; 

22 and 

23 (ii) used solely for the purpose of 

24 caching or buffering. 


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1 (18) SUBSCRIPTION FEE.—The term ‘‘subscrip2 tion fee’’ means a monthly fee that a person pays to 

3 the service provider to access an offering of the serv4 ice provider, whether or not the person pays the fee 

5 on a standalone basis or as part of a single trans6 action that includes such fee and another fee for one 

7 or more product or services having more than token 

8 value. 

Æ 


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