II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2393 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide Federal protection to 

the digital audio transmission of a sound recording fixed before February 

15, 1972, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2018 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. CORKER, and Mr. 

BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide Federal 

protection to the digital audio transmission of a sound 

recording fixed before February 15, 1972, 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 ‘‘Compensating Legacy 

5 Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contribu6 tions to Society Act’’ or the ‘‘CLASSICS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. UNAUTHORIZED DIGITAL PERFORMANCE OF PRE2 1972 SOUND RECORDINGS. 

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title 17, United States Code, is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘CHAPTER 14—UNAUTHORIZED DIGITAL 

6 PERFORMANCE OF PRE-1972 SOUND 

7 RECORDINGS 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘1401. Unauthorized digital performance of pre-1972 sound recordings. 

8 ‘‘§ 1401. Unauthorized digital performance of pre9 1972 sound recordings 

10 ‘‘(a) UNAUTHORIZED ACTS.—Anyone who, prior to 

11 February 15, 2067, performs publicly by means of digital 

12 audio transmission a sound recording fixed before Feb13 ruary 15, 1972, without the consent of the rights owner, 

14 shall be subject to the remedies provided in sections 502 

15 through 505 to the same extent as an infringer of copy16 right. 

17 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN UNAUTHORIZED TRANSMISSIONS.— 

18 Transmissions of sound recordings fixed before February 

19 15, 1972, shall be considered authorized and with the con20 sent of the rights owner for purposes of subsection (a), 

21 if— 

22 ‘‘(1) the transmissions are made by a transmit23 ting entity publicly performing sound recordings proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:01 Feb 10, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2393.IS S2393

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1 tected under this title by means of digital audio 

2 transmissions subject to section 114; 

3 ‘‘(2) the transmissions would satisfy the re4 quirements for statutory licensing under section 

5 114(d)(2) or would be exempt under section 

6 114(d)(1), if the sound recordings were fixed on or 

7 after February 15, 1972; 

8 ‘‘(3) in the case of transmissions that would not 

9 be exempt under section 114(d)(1) as described in 

10 paragraph (2), the transmitting entity pays statu11 tory royalties and provides notice of its use of the 

12 relevant sound recordings in the same manner as re13 quired by regulations adopted by the Copyright Roy14 alty Judges for sound recordings that are protected 

15 under this title; and 

16 ‘‘(4) in the case of transmissions that would not 

17 be exempt under section 114(d)(1) as described in 

18 paragraph (2), the transmitting entity otherwise sat19 isfies the requirements for statutory licensing under 

20 section 114(f)(4)(B). 

21 ‘‘(c) TRANSMISSIONS BY DIRECT LICENSING OF

22 STATUTORY SERVICES.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A transmission of a sound 

24 recording fixed before February 15, 1972, shall be 

25 considered authorized and with the consent of the 


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1 rights owner for purposes of subsection (a) if in2 cluded in any license agreement voluntarily nego3 tiated at any time between the rights owner and the 

4 entity performing the sound recording. 

5 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF ROYALTIES TO NONPROFIT

6 AGENT.—To the extent that such a license extends 

7 to transmissions of sound recordings fixed before 

8 February 15, 1972, that satisfy the conditions of 

9 subsection (b), the licensee shall pay 50 percent of 

10 the performance royalties for the transmissions due 

11 under the license to the collective designated to dis12 tribute receipts from the licensing of transmissions 

13 in accordance with section 114(f), with such royal14 ties fully credited as payments due under such li15 cense. 

16 ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION OF ROYALTIES BY NON17 PROFIT AGENT.—That collective shall distribute the 

18 royalties received pursuant to paragraph (2) in ac19 cordance with subparagraphs (B) through (D) of 

20 section 114(g)(2). Such payments shall be the sole 

21 payments to which featured and nonfeatured artists 

22 are entitled by virtue of such transmissions under 

23 the license. 

24 ‘‘(4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section 

25 does not prohibit any other license from directing 


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1 the licensee to pay other royalties due to featured 

2 and nonfeatured artists for such transmissions to 

3 the collective designated to distribute receipts from 

4 the licensing of transmissions in accordance with 

5 section 114(f). 

6 ‘‘(d) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 

8 shall be construed to annul or limit any rights or 

9 remedies under the common law or statutes of any 

10 State for sound recordings fixed before February 15, 

11 1972, except, notwithstanding section 301(c), the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(A) This section preempts claims of com14 mon law copyright or equivalent rights under 

15 the law of any State arising from digital audio 

16 transmissions of sound recordings fixed before 

17 February 15, 1972, made on and after the ef18 fective date of this section. 

19 ‘‘(B) This section preempts claims of com20 mon law copyright or equivalent rights under 

21 the law of any State arising from reproductions 

22 of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 

23 1972, made on and after the effective date of 

24 this section, for reproductions that would sat25 isfy the requirements for statutory licensing 


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1 under section 112(e)(1) and (6), if the sound 

2 recordings were fixed on or after February 15, 

3 1972. 

4 ‘‘(C) This section preempts claims of com5 mon law copyright or equivalent rights under 

6 the law of any State arising from digital audio 

7 transmissions and reproductions of sound re8 cordings fixed before February 15, 1972, made 

9 before the effective date of this section, if— 

10 ‘‘(i) the digital audio transmissions 

11 and reproductions would have satisfied the 

12 requirements for statutory licensing under 

13 section 114(d)(2) or been exempt under 

14 section 114(d)(1), or would have satisfied 

15 the requirements of section 112(e)(1), re16 spectively; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) within 270 days after the effec18 tive date of this section, except in the case 

19 of transmissions that would have been ex20 empt under section 114(d)(1), the trans21 mitting entity pays statutory royalties and 

22 provides notice of the use of the relevant 

23 sound recordings in the same manner as 

24 required by regulations adopted by the 

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1 cordings that are protected under this title 

2 for all the digital audio transmissions and 

3 reproductions satisfying the requirements 

4 for statutory licensing under section 

5 114(d)(2) and section 112(e)(1) during the 

6 3 years prior to the effective date of this 

7 section. 

8 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION FOR COMMON

9 LAW COPYRIGHT.—For purposes of subparagraphs 

10 (A) through (C) of paragraph (1), claims of common 

11 law copyright or equivalent rights under the law of 

12 any State include claims that characterize conduct 

13 subject to such subparagraphs as an unlawful dis14 tribution, act of record piracy, or similar violation. 

15 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION FOR PUBLIC

16 PERFORMANCE RIGHTS.—Nothing in this section 

17 shall be construed to recognize or negate the exist18 ence of public performance rights in sound record19 ings under the law of any State. 

20 ‘‘(e) LIMITATIONS ON REMEDIES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) FAIR USE; REPRODUCTION BY LIBRARIES

22 AND ARCHIVES.—The limitations on the exclusive 

23 rights of a copyright owner described in sections 107 

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1 formance of a sound recording fixed before February 

2 15, 1972, under subsection (a). 

3 ‘‘(2) ACTIONS.—The limitations on actions de4 scribed in section 507 shall apply to a claim for un5 authorized performance of a sound recording fixed 

6 before February 15, 1972, under subsection (a). 

7 ‘‘(3) MATERIAL ONLINE.—The limitations on li8 ability described in section 512 of this title shall 

9 apply to a claim for unauthorized performance of a 

10 sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, 

11 under subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(4) PRINCIPLES OF EQUITY.—Principles of eq13 uity apply to remedies for a violation of this section 

14 to the same extent as such principles apply to rem15 edies for infringement of copyright. 

16 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION OF SECTION 230 SAFE HAR17 BOR.—For purposes of section 230 of the Communica18 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), subsection (a) shall 

19 be considered ‘intellectual property laws’ under subsection 

20 (e)(2) of such section. 

21 ‘‘(g) RIGHTS OWNER DEFINED.—In this section, the 

22 term ‘rights owner’ means the person who has the exclu23 sive right to reproduce a sound recording under the law 

24 of any State.’’. 


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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

2 The table of chapters for title 17, United States Code, 

3 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘14. Unauthorized Digital Performance of Pre-1972 

Sound Recordings ................................................. 1401’’. 

Æ 


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