I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5576 

To empower independent music creator owners to collectively negotiate with 

dominant online platforms regarding the terms on which their music 

may be distributed. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 

Ms. ROSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To empower independent music creator owners to collectively 

negotiate with dominant online platforms regarding the 

terms on which their music may be distributed. 

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 ‘‘Protect Working Musi5 cians Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Music is a cultural treasure and a unique 

9 source of spiritual inspiration, emotional comfort, 


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1 community connection, and joy. It is also a powerful 

2 economic driver that directly and indirectly supports 

3 nearly 2 million American jobs and almost $150 bil4 lion in annual economic activity. 

5 (2) A healthy music ecosystem is a fundamental 

6 bedrock for a healthy society. 

7 (3) Fair and competitive markets for the use 

8 and licensing of recorded music are integral to a 

9 healthy music ecosystem. 

10 (4) As music distribution has moved online, the 

11 market for use and licensing has become distorted 

12 and imbalanced. The largest Dominant Online Music 

13 Distribution Platforms use their market power to 

14 distort legal requirements and force music creators 

15 into licensing agreements that do not reflect market 

16 value. Those agreements essentially dictate a price 

17 to music creators. If music creators do not agree to 

18 licensing terms, the online platforms profit from un19 licensed uploads of music anyway. 

20 (5) These platforms game the system created 

21 by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which al22 lows dominant online platforms to ignore and profit 

23 from unlicensed use of music and places the respon24 sibility for finding each and every instance of unli25 censed use of music on music creators. This ‘‘notice 


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1 and takedown’’ scheme has been described as a gig2 abit-speed game of whack-a-mole. 

3 (6) The trade association for the major record 

4 labels spends millions of dollars engaged in this ef5 fort which it says has grown to be ‘‘largely useless.’’ 

6 The trade association for the independent record la7 bels agrees, calling it a ‘‘dysfunctional relic’’. 

8 (7) An effort that is largely useless for major 

9 and independent record labels is an exercise in futil10 ity for Independent Music Creator Owners—those 

11 who own the copyrights and market their work 

12 themselves. Independent Music Creator Owners lack 

13 the economic, legal, and political resources to stand 

14 up to the Dominant Online Music Distribution Plat15 forms and have no way to meaningfully negotiate 

16 fair licensing rates for their work. 

17 (8) That power imbalance means that Inde18 pendent Music Creator Owners are forced to take 

19 whatever terms dominant online platforms offer for 

20 their work. If they decline, the platforms simply ig21 nore them since in most cases lacking access to any 

22 single artists’ work does not present a threat to the 

23 platforms’ overall attractiveness to consumers. 

24 (9) This imbalance has decimated careers in 

25 music at an untold cost to our society and culture. 


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1 Multi Grammy-award winning musician Rosanne 

2 Cash recently lamented: ‘‘I see young musicians give 

3 up their missions and dreams all the time because 

4 they can’t make a living.’’ 

5 (10) The antitrust laws were intended to and 

6 do provide important economic and civic benefits. 

7 (11) A central purpose of these laws is to pro8 mote, protect, and strengthen fair and open mar9 kets, including those for music. 

10 (12) While antitrust exemptions are generally 

11 disfavored, should the application of the antitrust 

12 laws ever be applied in a manner that conflicts with 

13 their purpose—such as protecting the online market14 place for creative works—it is the duty and preroga15 tive of the Congress to resolve the conflict. 

16 SEC. 3. SAFE HARBOR FOR CERTAIN COLLECTIVE NEGO17 TIATIONS. 

18 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

19 (1) The term ‘‘antitrust laws’’ has the meaning 

20 given such term in subsection (a) of the first section 

21 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12), and includes— 

22 (A) section 5 of the Federal Trade Com23 mission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that 

24 such section applies to unfair methods of com25 petition; and 


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1 (B) any State law, rule, or regulation that 

2 prohibits or penalizes the conduct described in, 

3 or is otherwise inconsistent with, subsection (b) 

4 of this section. 

5 (2) The term ‘‘Dominant Online Music Dis6 tribution Platform’’ means any entity that— 

7 (A) operates an app, website or other on8 line service that is used by members of the pub9 lic to listen to sound recordings, whether via a 

10 digital audio transmission, an audio-visual pres11 entation, or any other means; 

12 (B) has annual revenues related to the dis13 tribution of music of more than $100 million; 

14 and 

15 (C) is not eligible for a license under sec16 tion 114(d)(2) of title 17 of the United States 

17 Code. 

18 (3) The term ‘‘generative artificial intelligence’’ 

19 means an artificial intelligence system that is capa20 ble of generating novel text, video, images, audio, 

21 and other media based on prompts or other forms of 

22 data provided by a person. 

23 (4) The term ‘‘Individual Music Creator 

24 Owner’’ means any musician or group of musician, 

25 producers, mixers, and sound engineers that— 


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1 (A) owns the copyrights to one or more 

2 sound recordings created by the musician or 

3 group of musicians, producers, and sound engi4 neers; and 

5 (B) either: 

6 (i) has earned less than $1,000,000 in 

7 licensing revenues associated with these 

8 copyrights in the prior year; or 

9 (ii) qualifies as a small business under 

10 the Office of Management and Budget 

11 North American Industry Classification 

12 System (NAICS) code 512250. 

13 (b) LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.—An Individual Music 

14 Creator Owner shall not be held liable under the antitrust 

15 laws for agreeing with other Individual Music Creator 

16 Owners to collectively negotiate music licensing terms with 

17 a Dominant Online Music Distribution Platform or a com18 pany engaged in development or deployment of generative 

19 artificial intelligence, or agreeing with other Individual 

20 Music Creator Owners to collectively refuse to license their 

21 music to a Dominant Online Music Distribution Platform 

22 or a company engaged in development or deployment of 

23 generative artificial intelligence, if— 


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1 (1) the negotiations are not limited to price, are 

2 nondiscriminatory as to similarly situated inde3 pendent creator/owners; 

4 (2) the coordination among Independent Music 

5 Creator Owners is directly related to and reasonably 

6 necessary for negotiations with a Dominant Online 

7 Music Distribution Platform that are otherwise con8 sistent with the operation of the Antitrust laws; and 

9 (3) the negotiations do not involve any person 

10 that is not an Independent Music Creator Owner or 

11 a Dominant Online Music Distribution Platform. 

12 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as provided in 

13 this Act, this Act shall not be construed to modify, impair, 

14 or supersede the operation of the antitrust laws. 

Æ 


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