H. R. 1551 
One Hundred Fifteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen 
An Act 
To modernize copyright law, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Orrin G. 
Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act 
is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Customs user fees. 
TITLE I—MUSIC LICENSING MODERNIZATION 
Sec. 101. Short title. 
Sec. 102. Blanket license for digital uses and mechanical licensing collective. 
Sec. 103. Amendments to section 114. 
Sec. 104. Random assignment of rate court proceedings. 
Sec. 105. Performing rights society consent decrees. 
Sec. 106. Effective date. 
TITLE II—CLASSICS PROTECTION AND ACCESS 
Sec. 201. Short title. 
Sec. 202. Unauthorized use of pre-1972 sound recordings. 
TITLE III—ALLOCATION FOR MUSIC PRODUCERS 
Sec. 301. Short title. 
Sec. 302. Payment of statutory performance royalties. 
Sec. 303. Effective date. 
TITLE IV—SEVERABILITY 
Sec. 401. Severability. 
SEC. 2. CUSTOMS USER FEES. 
Section 13031(j)(3)(A) of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Rec-
onciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(j)(3)(A)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘October 13, 2027’’ and inserting ‘‘October 20, 2027’’. 
TITLE I—MUSIC LICENSING 
MODERNIZATION 
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Musical Works Modernization 
Act’’.
H. R. 1551—2 
SEC. 102. BLANKET LICENSE FOR DIGITAL USES AND MECHANICAL 
LICENSING COLLECTIVE. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 115 of title 17, United States Code, 
is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in the subsection heading, by inserting ‘‘IN GEN-
ERAL’’ after ‘‘AVAILABILITY
AND SCOPE
OF COMPULSORY 
LICENSE’’; 
(B) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY FOR COMPULSORY LICENSE.— 
‘‘(A) CONDITIONS FOR COMPULSORY LICENSE.—A person 
may by complying with the provisions of this section obtain 
a compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords 
of a nondramatic musical work, including by means of 
digital phonorecord delivery. A person may obtain a 
compulsory license only if the primary purpose in making 
phonorecords of the musical work is to distribute them 
to the public for private use, including by means of digital 
phonorecord delivery, and— 
‘‘(i) phonorecords of such musical work have pre-
viously been distributed to the public in the United 
States under the authority of the copyright owner of 
the work, including by means of digital phonorecord 
delivery; or 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a digital music provider seeking 
to make and distribute digital phonorecord deliveries 
of a sound recording embodying a musical work under 
a compulsory license for which clause (i) does not 
apply— 
‘‘(I) the first fixation of such sound recording 
was made under the authority of the musical work 
copyright owner, and the sound recording copy-
right owner has the authority of the musical work 
copyright owner to make and distribute digital 
phonorecord deliveries embodying such work to 
the public in the United States; and 
‘‘(II) the sound recording copyright owner, or 
the authorized distributor of the sound recording 
copyright owner, has authorized the digital music 
provider to make and distribute digital phono-
record deliveries of the sound recording to the 
public in the United States. 
‘‘(B) DUPLICATION
OF
SOUND
RECORDING.—A person 
may not obtain a compulsory license for the use of the 
work in the making of phonorecords duplicating a sound 
recording fixed by another, including by means of digital 
phonorecord delivery, unless— 
‘‘(i) such sound recording was fixed lawfully; and 
‘‘(ii) the making of the phonorecords was author-
ized by the owner of the copyright in the sound 
recording or, if the sound recording was fixed before 
February 15, 1972, by any person who fixed the sound 
recording pursuant to an express license from the 
owner of the copyright in the musical work or pursuant 
to a valid compulsory license for use of such work 
in a sound recording.’’; and