I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 848 

To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 17, United States 

Code, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2009 

Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. ISSA, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 

HODES, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. WEINER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. NADLER of New York, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SHADEGG, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 

Texas, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. HARMAN, and Mr. 

WAXMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 

17, United States Code, 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 ‘‘Performance Rights 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EQUITABLE TREATMENT FOR TERRESTRIAL 

2 BROADCASTS. 

3 (a) PERFORMANCE RIGHT APPLICABLE TO RADIO

4 TRANSMISSIONS GENERALLY.—Section 106(6) of title 17, 

5 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform 

7 the copyrighted work publicly by means of an audio 

8 transmission.’’. 

9 (b) INCLUSION OF TERRESTRIAL BROADCASTS IN

10 EXISTING PERFORMANCE RIGHT.—Section 114(d)(1) of 

11 title 17, United States Code, is amended— 

12 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

13 by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 

14 (2) by striking subparagraph (A). 

15 (c) INCLUSION OF TERRESTRIAL BROADCASTS IN

16 EXISTING STATUTORY LICENSE SYSTEM.—Section 

17 114(j)(6) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by 

18 striking ‘‘digital’’. 

19 SEC. 3. SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR SMALL, NONCOMMER20 CIAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS STA21 TIONS AND CERTAIN USES. 

22 (a) SMALL, NONCOMMERCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND

23 RELIGIOUS RADIO STATIONS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 114(f)(2) of title 17, 

25 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

26 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub2 paragraphs (A) through (C), each individual terres3 trial broadcast station that has gross revenues in 

4 any calendar year of less than $1,250,000 may elect 

5 to pay for its over-the-air nonsubscription broadcast 

6 transmissions a royalty fee of $5,000 per year, in 

7 lieu of the amount such station would otherwise be 

8 required to pay under this paragraph. Such royalty 

9 fee shall not be taken into account in determining 

10 royalty rates in a proceeding under chapter 8, or in 

11 any other administrative, judicial, or other Federal 

12 Government proceeding. 

13 ‘‘(E) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub14 paragraphs (A) through (C), each individual terres15 trial broadcast station that is a public broadcasting 

16 entity as defined in section 118(f) may elect to pay 

17 for its over-the-air nonsubscription broadcast trans18 missions a royalty fee of $1,000 per year, in lieu of 

19 the amount such station would otherwise be required 

20 to pay under this paragraph. Such royalty fee shall 

21 not be taken into account in determining royalty 

22 rates in a proceeding under chapter 8, or in any 

23 other administrative, judicial, or other Federal Gov24 ernment proceeding.’’. 


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1 (2) PAYMENT DATE.—A payment under sub2 paragraph (D) or (E) of section 114(f)(2) of title 

3 17, United States Code, as added by paragraph (1), 

4 shall not be due until the due date of the first roy5 alty payments for nonsubscription broadcast trans6 missions that are determined, after the date of the 

7 enactment of this Act, under such section 114(f)(2) 

8 by reason of the amendment made by section 2(b)(2) 

9 of this Act. 

10 (b) TRANSMISSION OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES; INCI11 DENTAL USES OF MUSIC.—Section 114(d)(1) of title 17, 

12 United States Code, as amended by section 2(b), is further 

13 amended by inserting the following before subparagraph 

14 (B): 

15 ‘‘(A) an eligible nonsubscription trans16 mission of— 

17 ‘‘(i) services at a place of worship or 

18 other religious assembly; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) an incidental use of a musical 

20 sound recording;’’. 

21 SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF PER PROGRAM LICENSE. 

22 Section 114(f)(2)(B) of title 17, United States Code, 

23 is amended by inserting after the second sentence the fol24 lowing new sentence: ‘‘Such rates and terms shall include 


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1 a per program license option for terrestrial broadcast sta2 tions that make limited feature uses of sound recordings.’’ 

3 SEC. 5. NO HARMFUL EFFECTS ON SONGWRITERS. 

4 (a) NO ADVERSE AFFECT ON LICENSE FEES FOR

5 UNDERLYING MUSICAL WORKS; NECESSITY FOR OTHER

6 LICENSES.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 114(i) of title 17, 

8 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(i) NO ADVERSE AFFECT ON LICENSE FEES FOR

10 UNDERLYING MUSICAL WORKS; NECESSITY FOR OTHER

11 LICENSES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) NO ADVERSE AFFECT ON LICENSE FEES

13 FOR UNDERLYING MUSICAL WORKS.—License fees 

14 payable for the public performance of sound record15 ings under section 106(6) shall not be cited, taken 

16 into account, or otherwise used in any administra17 tive, judicial, or other governmental forum or pro18 ceeding, or otherwise, to set or adjust the license 

19 fees payable to copyright owners of musical works or 

20 their representatives for the public performance of 

21 their works, for the purpose of reducing or adversely 

22 affecting such license fees. License fees payable to 

23 copyright owners for the public performance of their 

24 musical works shall not be reduced or adversely afVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:28 Feb 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H848.IH H848

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1 fected in any respect as a result of the rights grant2 ed by section 106(6). 

3 ‘‘(2) NECESSITY FOR OTHER LICENSES.—Not4 withstanding the grant by an owner of copyright in 

5 a sound recording of an exclusive or nonexclusive li6 cense of the right under section 106(6) to perform 

7 the work publicly, a licensee of that sound recording 

8 may not publicly perform such sound recording un9 less a license has been granted for the public per10 formance of any copyrighted musical work contained 

11 in the sound recording. Such license to publicly per12 form the copyrighted musical work may be granted 

13 either by a performing rights society representing 

14 the copyright owner or by the copyright owner.’’. 

15 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

16 114(d)(3)(C) of title 17, United States Code, is 

17 hereby repealed. 

18 (b) PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS AND ROYAL19 TIES.—Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by 

20 this Act shall adversely affect in any respect the public 

21 performance rights of or royalties payable to songwriters 

22 or copyright owners of musical works. 

23 (c) PRESERVATION OF ROYALTIES ON UNDERLYING

24 WORKS PUBLICLY PERFORMED BY TERRESTRIAL BROAD25 CAST STATIONS.—Section 114(f) of title 17, United States 


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1 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of 

4 this section, under no circumstances shall the rates 

5 established by the Copyright Royalty Judges for the 

6 public performance of sound recordings be cited, 

7 taken into account, or otherwise used in any admin8 istrative, judicial, or other governmental forum or 

9 proceeding, or otherwise, to reduce or adversely af10 fect the license fees payable to copyright owners of 

11 musical works or their representatives for the public 

12 performance of their works by terrestrial broadcast 

13 stations, and such license fees for the public per14 formance of musical works shall be independent of 

15 license fees paid for the public performance of sound 

16 recordings.’’. 

17 SEC. 6. PAYMENT OF CERTAIN ROYALTIES. 

18 Section 114(g) of title 17, United States Code, is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol21 lows: 

22 ‘‘(1) Except in the case of a transmission to 

23 which paragraph (5) applies or a transmission li24 censed under a statutory license in accordance with 


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1 subsection (f) of this section, the following shall 

2 apply: 

3 ‘‘(A) A featured recording artist who per4 forms on a sound recording that has been li5 censed for public performance by means of a 

6 digital audio transmission shall be entitled to 

7 receive payments from the copyright owner of 

8 the sound recording in accordance with the 

9 terms of the artist’s contract. 

10 ‘‘(B)(i) In a case in which the copyright 

11 owner of a sound recording has licensed the 

12 sound recording for the public performance of 

13 the sound recording by means of a digital audio 

14 transmission, the copyright owner shall deposit 

15 1 percent of the receipts from the license with 

16 the American Federation of Musicians and 

17 American Federation of Television and Radio 

18 Artists Intellectual Property Rights Distribu19 tion Fund (or any successor entity) (in this 

20 subparagraph referred to as the ‘Fund’) to be 

21 distributed to nonfeatured performers who have 

22 performed on sound recordings. The sound re23 cording copyright owner shall make such depos24 its for receipts received during the first half of 

25 a calendar year by August 15 and for receipts 


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1 received during the second half of a calendar 

2 year by February 15 of the following calendar 

3 year. 

4 ‘‘(ii) A sound recording copyright owner 

5 shall include with deposits under clause (i) in6 formation regarding the amount of such depos7 its attributable to each licensee and, subject to 

8 obtaining consent, if necessary, from such li9 censee, for each sound recording performed by 

10 means of a digital audio transmission by such 

11 licensee during the applicable time period, and 

12 to the extent included in the accounting reports 

13 provided by the licensee to the sound recording 

14 copyright owner— 

15 ‘‘(I) the identity of the artist; 

16 ‘‘(II) the International Standard Re17 cording Code of the sound recording; 

18 ‘‘(III) the title of the sound recording; 

19 ‘‘(IV) the number of times the sound 

20 recording was transmitted; and 

21 ‘‘(V) the total amount of receipts col22 lected from that licensee. 

23 ‘‘(iii) The Fund shall make the distribu24 tions described in clause (i) as follows: 50 per25 cent shall be paid to nonfeatured musicians 


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1 (whether or not members of the American Fed2 eration of Musicians) and 50 percent shall be 

3 paid to nonfeatured vocalists (whether or not 

4 members of the American Federation of Tele5 vision and Radio Artists). The Fund may, prior 

6 to making such distributions, deduct the rea7 sonable costs related to making such distribu8 tions. 

9 ‘‘(iv) The sound recording copyright owner 

10 shall not be required to provide any additional 

11 information to the Fund other than what is re12 quired under this subparagraph. Sound record13 ing copyright owners shall use reasonable good 

14 faith efforts to include in all relevant licenses a 

15 requirement to report the information identified 

16 in subclauses (I) through (V) of clause (ii). 

17 Amounts required under clause (i) that are not 

18 paid by the date specified in such clause shall 

19 be subject to interest at the rate of 6 percent 

20 per annum for each day of nonpayment after 

21 the date the payment was due.’’; and 

22 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), to the ex25 tent that a license granted by the copyright owner 


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1 of a sound recording to a terrestrial broadcast sta2 tion extends to such station’s nonsubscription broad3 cast transmissions otherwise licensable under a stat4 utory license in accordance with subsection (f), the 

5 station shall pay to the agent designated to dis6 tribute statutory licensing receipts from the licensing 

7 of transmissions in accordance with subsection (f), 

8 50 percent of the total royalties that the station is 

9 required to pay for such transmissions under the ap10 plicable license agreement. That agent shall dis11 tribute such payments in proportion to the distribu12 tions provided in subparagraphs (B) through (D) of 

13 paragraph (2), and such payments shall be the sole 

14 payments to which featured and nonfeatured artists 

15 are entitled by virtue of such transmissions under 

16 the direct license with that station.’’. 

Æ 


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