IB 
Union Calendar No. 405 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 848 
[Report No. 111–680] 
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. NAD-
LER of New York, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. JOHNSON of Geor-
gia, 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 Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
DECEMBER 14, 2010 
Additional sponsors: Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. COOPER, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. POLIS 
of Colorado, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 
TOWNS, Mr. HOLT, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. 
ISRAEL, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, 
Ms. FUDGE, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. WAMP, Mr. VAN 
HOLLEN, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. WATSON, Mr. GORDON of 
Tennessee, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. BRADY of 
Pennsylvania, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 
WOOLSEY, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. DEUTCH, and Mr. ROONEY 
DECEMBER 14, 2010 
Deleted sponsors: Mr. ADLER of New Jersey (added March 3, 2009; deleted 
July 30, 2009), Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (added March 
10, 2009; deleted May 14, 2009), and Ms. NORTON (added March 10, 
2009; deleted June 11, 2009) 
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DECEMBER 14, 2010 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 4, 2009] 
A BILL 
To provide parity in radio performance rights under title 
17, United States Code, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Performance Rights 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING EQUITABLE TREATMENT FOR TER-
RESTRIAL, CABLE, SATELLITE, AND INTER-
NET SERVICES. 
(a) PERFORMANCE RIGHT APPLICABLE
TO RADIO 
TRANSMISSIONS GENERALLY.—Section 106(6) of title 17, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform 
the copyrighted work publicly by means of an audio 
transmission.’’. 
(b) INCLUSION OF TERRESTRIAL BROADCASTS IN EX-
ISTING PERFORMANCE RIGHT.—Section 114(d)(1) of title 
17, United States Code, is amended— 
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(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 
by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 
(2) by striking subparagraph (A). 
(c) INCLUSION OF TERRESTRIAL BROADCASTS IN EX-
ISTING STATUTORY LICENSE SYSTEM.—Section 114(j)(6) of 
title 17, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘dig-
ital’’. 
(d) ENSURING PLATFORM PARITY.—Section 114(f) of 
title 17, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraph (1); 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4), 
and (5) as paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4), respec-
tively; and 
(3) in paragraph (1), as redesignated— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘under chapter 8’’ and all that follows through 
the end of the third sentence and inserting 
‘‘under chapter 8 shall determine reasonable 
rates and terms of royalty payments for trans-
missions subject to statutory licensing under sub-
section (d)(2) during 5-year periods beginning 
on January 1 of the second year following the 
year in which the proceedings are to be com-
menced, except in the case of a different transi-
tional period provided under section 6(b)(3) of 
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the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform 
Act of 2004, or such other period as the parties 
may agree.’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (B)— 
(i) in the second sentence, by striking 
‘‘eligible 
nonsubscription 
transmission’’; 
and 
(ii) in the third sentence, by striking 
‘‘eligible nonsubscription services and new 
subscription’’ and all that follows through 
‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘services, 
in addition to the objectives set forth in sub-
paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of section 
801(b)(1), the Copyright Royalty Judges 
may consider the rates and terms for com-
parable types of services and comparable 
circumstances 
under 
voluntary 
license 
agreements. 
Notwithstanding 
section 
801(b)(1), 
the 
provisions 
of 
section 
801(b)(1)(D) shall not be taken into account 
by the Copyright Royalty Judges in any 
proceeding under this section’’; 
(C) by striking subparagraph (C) and in-
serting the following: 
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‘‘(C) The procedures under subparagraphs 
(A) and (B) shall also be initiated pursuant to 
a petition filed by any copyright owner of sound 
recordings or any transmitting entity indicating 
that a new type of service on which sound re-
cordings are performed is or is about to become 
operational, for the purpose of determining rea-
sonable terms and rates of royalty payments 
with respect to such new type of service for the 
period beginning with the inception of such new 
type of service and ending on the date on which 
the royalty rates and terms for preexisting serv-
ices most recently determined under subpara-
graph (A) or (B) and chapter 8 expire, or such 
other period as the parties may agree.’’. 
(e) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) SECTION 114(F).—Section 114(f) of title 17, 
United States Code (as amended by subsection (d)), 
is further amended— 
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), in the first sen-
tence, by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and inserting 
‘‘paragraph (2)’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (4)(C), by striking 
‘‘under paragraph (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘under 
paragraph (3)’’. 
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(2) SECTION 114(J).—Section 114(j)(6) of title 
17, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘re-
transmissions of broadcast transmissions’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘broadcast transmissions and retransmissions of 
broadcast transmissions’’. 
(3) SECTION 804.—Section 804(b)(3)(C) of title 
17, United States Code, is amended— 
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and 
114(f)(2)(C)’’; 
(B) 
in 
clause 
(iii)(II), 
by 
striking 
‘‘114(f)(4)(B)(ii)’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘114(f)(3)(B)(ii)’’; and 
(C) 
in 
clause 
(iv), 
by 
striking 
‘‘or 
114(f)(2)(C), as the case may be’’. 
SEC. 3. TREATMENT FOR MINORITY, FEMALE, RELIGIOUS, 
RURAL, SMALL, NONCOMMERCIAL, PUBLIC, 
EDUCATIONAL, AND COMMUNITY STATIONS 
AND CERTAIN USES. 
(a) MINORITY, FEMALE, RELIGIOUS, RURAL, SMALL, 
NONCOMMERCIAL, PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, AND COMMUNITY 
RADIO STATIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 114(f)(1) of title 17, 
United States Code, as redesignated by section 2(d), 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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administrative, judicial, or other Federal Gov-
ernment proceeding.’’. 
(2) PAYMENT DATE.—A payment under subpara-
graph (D) or (E) of section 114(f)(1) of title 17, 
United States Code, as added by paragraph (1), shall 
not be due until the due date of the first royalty pay-
ments for nonsubscription broadcast transmissions 
that are determined, after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, under such section 114(f)(2) by reason of 
the amendment made by section 2(b)(2) of this Act. 
(b) TRANSMISSION
OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES; INCI-
DENTAL USES OF MUSIC.—Section 114(d)(1) of title 17, 
United States Code, as amended by section 2(b), is further 
amended by inserting the following before subparagraph 
(B): 
‘‘(A) an eligible nonsubscription trans-
mission of— 
‘‘(i) services at a place of worship or 
other religious assembly; and 
‘‘(ii) an incidental use of a musical 
sound recording;’’. 
SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF PER PROGRAM LICENSE. 
Section 114(f)(1)(B) of title 17, United States Code, 
as redesignated by section 2(d), is amended by inserting 
after the second sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘Such 
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rates and terms shall include a per program license option 
for terrestrial broadcast stations that make limited feature 
uses of sound recordings.’’ 
SEC. 5. NO HARMFUL EFFECTS ON SONGWRITERS. 
(a) NO ADVERSE AFFECT ON LICENSE FEES FOR UN-
DERLYING MUSICAL WORKS; NECESSITY FOR OTHER LI-
CENSES.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 114(i) of title 17, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(i) NO ADVERSE AFFECT ON LICENSE FEES FOR UN-
DERLYING MUSICAL WORKS; NECESSITY FOR OTHER LI-
CENSES.— 
‘‘(1) NO ADVERSE AFFECT ON LICENSE FEES FOR 
UNDERLYING MUSICAL WORKS.—License fees payable 
for the public performance of sound recordings under 
section 106(6) shall not be cited, taken into account, 
or otherwise used in any administrative, judicial, or 
other governmental forum or proceeding, or otherwise, 
to set or adjust the license fees payable to copyright 
owners of musical works or their representatives for 
the public performance of their works, for the purpose 
of reducing or adversely affecting such license fees. Li-
cense fees payable to copyright owners for the public 
performance of their musical works shall not be re-
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duced or adversely affected in any respect as a result 
of the rights granted by section 106(6). 
‘‘(2) NECESSITY
FOR
OTHER
LICENSES.—Not-
withstanding the grant by an owner of copyright in 
a sound recording of an exclusive or nonexclusive li-
cense of the right under section 106(6) to perform the 
work publicly, a licensee of that sound recording may 
not publicly perform such sound recording unless a li-
cense has been granted for the public performance of 
any copyrighted musical work contained in the sound 
recording. Such license to publicly perform the copy-
righted musical work may be granted either by a per-
forming rights society representing the copyright 
owner or by the copyright owner.’’. 
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
114(d)(3)(C) of title 17, United States Code, is hereby 
repealed. 
(b) PUBLIC
PERFORMANCE
RIGHTS
AND
ROYAL-
TIES.—Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 
Act shall adversely affect in any respect the public perform-
ance rights of or royalties payable to songwriters or copy-
right owners of musical works. 
(c) PRESERVATION OF ROYALTIES ON UNDERLYING 
WORKS PUBLICLY PERFORMED BY TERRESTRIAL BROAD-
CAST STATIONS.—Section 114(f) of title 17, United States 
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Code, (as amended by section 2(d)) is further amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
section, under no circumstances shall the rates estab-
lished by the Copyright Royalty Judges for the public 
performance of sound recordings be cited, taken into 
account, or otherwise used in any administrative, ju-
dicial, or other governmental forum or proceeding, or 
otherwise, to reduce or adversely affect the license fees 
payable to copyright owners of musical works or their 
representatives for the public performance of their 
works by terrestrial broadcast stations, and such li-
cense fees for the public performance of musical works 
shall be independent of license fees paid for the public 
performance of sound recordings.’’. 
SEC. 6. PAYMENT OF CERTAIN ROYALTIES. 
Section 114(g) of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(1) Except in the case of a transmission to 
which paragraph (5) applies or a transmission li-
censed under a statutory license in accordance with 
subsection (f) of this section, the following shall apply: 
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‘‘(A) A featured recording artist who per-
forms on a sound recording that has been li-
censed for public performance by means of an 
audio transmission shall be entitled to receive 
payments from the copyright owner of the sound 
recording in accordance with the terms of the 
artist’s contract. 
‘‘(B)(i) In a case in which the copyright 
owner of a sound recording has licensed the 
sound recording for the public performance of the 
sound recording by means of an audio trans-
mission, the copyright owner shall deposit 1 per-
cent of the receipts from the license with the 
American Federation of Musicians and Amer-
ican Federation of Television and Radio Artists 
Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund 
(or any successor entity) (in this subparagraph 
referred to as the ‘Fund’) to be distributed to 
nonfeatured performers who have performed on 
sound recordings. The sound recording copyright 
owner shall make such deposits for receipts re-
ceived during the first half of a calendar year by 
August 15 and for receipts received during the 
second half of a calendar year by February 15 
of the following calendar year. 
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‘‘(ii) A sound recording copyright owner 
shall include with deposits under clause (i) in-
formation regarding the amount of such deposits 
attributable to each licensee and, subject to ob-
taining consent, if necessary, from such licensee, 
for each sound recording performed by means of 
an audio transmission by such licensee during 
the applicable time period, and to the extent in-
cluded in the accounting reports provided by the 
licensee 
to 
the 
sound 
recording 
copyright 
owner— 
‘‘(I) the identity of the artist; 
‘‘(II) the International Standard Re-
cording Code of the sound recording; 
‘‘(III) the title of the sound recording; 
‘‘(IV) the number of times the sound 
recording was transmitted; and 
‘‘(V) the total amount of receipts col-
lected from that licensee. 
‘‘(iii) The Fund shall make the distribu-
tions described in clause (i) as follows: 50 per-
cent shall be paid to nonfeatured musicians 
(whether or not members of the American Fed-
eration of Musicians) and 50 percent shall be 
paid to nonfeatured vocalists (whether or not 
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members of the American Federation of Tele-
vision and Radio Artists). The Fund may, prior 
to making such distributions, deduct the reason-
able costs related to making such distributions. 
‘‘(iv) The sound recording copyright owner 
shall not be required to provide any additional 
information to the Fund other than what is re-
quired under this subparagraph. Sound record-
ing copyright owners shall use reasonable good 
faith efforts to include in all relevant licenses a 
requirement to report the information identified 
in subclauses (I) through (V) of clause (ii). 
Amounts required under clause (i) that are not 
paid by the date specified in such clause shall be 
subject to interest at the rate of 6 percent per 
annum for each day of nonpayment after the 
date the payment was due.’’; 
(2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘digital’’; 
and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), to the ex-
tent that a license granted by the copyright owner of 
a sound recording to a terrestrial broadcast station 
extends to such station’s nonsubscription broadcast 
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transmissions otherwise licensable under a statutory 
license in accordance with subsection (f), the station 
shall pay to the agent designated to distribute statu-
tory licensing receipts from the licensing of trans-
missions in accordance with subsection (f), 50 percent 
of the total royalties that the station is required to 
pay for such transmissions under the applicable li-
cense agreement. That agent shall distribute such pay-
ments in proportion to the distributions provided in 
subparagraphs (B) through (D) of paragraph (2), and 
such payments shall be the sole payments to which 
featured and nonfeatured artists are entitled by virtue 
of such transmissions under the direct license with 
that station.’’. 
SEC. 7. NO EFFECT ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES. 
Section 114(f) of title 17, United States Code, (as 
amended by section 5(c)) is further amended by adding at 
the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(6) Neither this subsection nor the payment of 
royalties by broadcasters hereunder shall affect in any 
respect the public interest obligations of a broadcaster 
to its local community under part 73 of title 47 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 
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SEC. 8. PRESERVATION OF DIVERSITY. 
Section 114(f) of title 17, United States Code, (as 
amended by section 7) is further amended by adding at the 
end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(7) PRESERVATION OF DIVERSITY.—The Copy-
right Royalty Judges shall, in making determinations 
or adjustments of rates and terms of copyright roy-
alty payments for public performances of sound re-
cordings, consider evidence on the effect of such rates 
and terms on— 
‘‘(A) religious, minority-owned, female- 
owned, small, and noncommercial broadcasters; 
‘‘(B) non-music programming, including 
local news and information programming for 
stations that are part of station groups in which 
all stations within the group are located in one 
designated market area (as such term is defined 
in section 122(j)(2)(C)); and 
‘‘(C) religious, minority or minority-owned, 
and female or female-owned royalty recipients.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 405 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 848 
[Report No. 111–680] 
A BILL 
To provide parity in radio performance rights under 
title 17, United States Code, and for other pur-
poses. 
DECEMBER 14, 2010 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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