† HR 1551 EAS 
subject to the confidentiality requirements 
prescribed by the Register of Copyrights 
under paragraph (12)(C) for a period of not 
less than 7 years after the date of creation 
or receipt, whichever occurs later. 
‘‘(ii) RECORDS ACCESS.—The mechan-
ical 
licensing 
collective 
shall 
provide 
prompt access to electronic and other 
records pertaining to the administration of 
a copyright owner’s musical works upon 
reasonable written request of the owner or 
the authorized representative of the owner. 
‘‘(4) TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BLANKET LI-
CENSE.—A blanket license is subject to, and condi-
tioned upon, the following requirements: 
‘‘(A) 
ROYALTY
REPORTING
AND
PAY-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(i) MONTHLY
REPORTS
AND
PAY-
MENT.—A digital music provider shall re-
port and pay royalties to the mechanical li-
censing collective under the blanket license 
on a monthly basis in accordance with 
clause (ii) and subsection (c)(2)(I), except 
that the monthly reporting shall be due on 
the date that is 45 calendar days, rather
† HR 1551 EAS 
than 20 calendar days, after the end of the 
monthly reporting period. 
‘‘(ii) DATA TO BE REPORTED.—In re-
porting usage of musical works to the me-
chanical licensing collective, a digital music 
provider shall provide usage data for musi-
cal works used under the blanket license and 
usage data for musical works used in cov-
ered activities under voluntary licenses and 
individual download licenses. In the report 
of usage, the digital music provider shall— 
‘‘(I) with respect to each sound re-
cording embodying a musical work— 
‘‘(aa) provide identifying in-
formation for the sound recording, 
including sound recording name, 
featured artist, and, to the extent 
acquired by the digital music pro-
vider in connection with its use of 
sound recordings of musical works 
to engage in covered activities, in-
cluding pursuant to subparagraph 
(B), sound recording copyright 
owner, 
producer, 
international 
standard 
recording 
code, 
and
† HR 1551 EAS 
other information commonly used 
in the industry to identify sound 
recordings and match them to the 
musical works the sound record-
ings embody; 
‘‘(bb) to the extent acquired 
by the digital music provider in 
the metadata provided by sound 
recording copyright owners or 
other licensors of sound recordings 
in connection with the use of 
sound recordings of musical works 
to engage in covered activities, in-
cluding pursuant to subparagraph 
(B), provide information con-
cerning authorship and ownership 
of the applicable rights in the mu-
sical work embodied in the sound 
recording (including each song-
writer, publisher name, and re-
spective ownership share) and the 
international standard musical 
work code; and 
‘‘(cc) provide the number of 
digital phonorecord deliveries of
† HR 1551 EAS 
the sound recording, including 
limited downloads and interactive 
streams; 
‘‘(II) identify and provide contact 
information for all musical work copy-
right owners for works embodied in 
sound recordings as to which a vol-
untary license, rather than the blanket 
license, is in effect with respect to the 
uses being reported; and 
‘‘(III) provide such other informa-
tion as the Register of Copyrights shall 
require by regulation. 
‘‘(iii) FORMAT AND MAINTENANCE OF 
REPORTS.—Reports of usage provided by 
digital music providers to the mechanical 
licensing collective shall be in a machine- 
readable format that is compatible with the 
information technology systems of the me-
chanical licensing collective and meets the 
requirements of regulations adopted by the 
Register of Copyrights. The Register shall 
also adopt regulations setting forth require-
ments under which records of use shall be 
maintained and made available to the me-
† HR 1551 EAS 
chanical licensing collective by digital 
music providers engaged in covered activi-
ties under a blanket license. 
‘‘(iv) ADOPTION
OF
REGULATIONS.— 
The Register of Copyrights shall adopt regu-
lations— 
‘‘(I) setting forth requirements 
under which records of use shall be 
maintained and made available to the 
mechanical licensing collective by dig-
ital music providers engaged in cov-
ered activities under a blanket license; 
and 
‘‘(II) regarding adjustments to re-
ports of usage by digital music pro-
viders, including mechanisms to ac-
count for overpayment and under-
payment of royalties in prior periods. 
‘‘(B) COLLECTION
OF
SOUND
RECORDING 
INFORMATION.—A digital music provider shall 
engage in good-faith, commercially reasonable ef-
forts to obtain from sound recording copyright 
owners and other licensors of sound recordings 
made available through the service of such dig-
ital music provider information concerning—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(i) sound recording copyright owners, 
producers, international standard recording 
codes, and other information commonly 
used in the industry to identify sound re-
cordings and match them to the musical 
works the sound recordings embody; and 
‘‘(ii) the authorship and ownership of 
musical works, including songwriters, pub-
lisher names, ownership shares, and inter-
national standard musical work codes. 
‘‘(C) PAYMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE ASSESS-
MENT.—A digital music provider and any sig-
nificant nonblanket licensee shall pay the admin-
istrative assessment established under paragraph 
(7)(D) in accordance with this subsection and 
applicable regulations. 
‘‘(D) VERIFICATION OF PAYMENTS BY DIG-
ITAL MUSIC PROVIDERS.— 
‘‘(i) VERIFICATION PROCESS.—The me-
chanical licensing collective may conduct an 
audit of a digital music provider operating 
under the blanket license to verify the accu-
racy of royalty payments by the digital 
music provider to the mechanical licensing 
collective as follows:
† HR 1551 EAS 
and respond to reasonable requests for 
relevant information, and shall use 
commercially reasonable efforts to pro-
vide access to relevant information 
maintained with respect to a digital 
music provider by third parties. 
‘‘(IV) To commence the audit, the 
mechanical licensing collective shall 
file with the Copyright Office a notice 
of intent to conduct an audit of the 
digital music provider, identifying the 
period of time to be audited, and shall 
simultaneously deliver a copy of such 
notice to the digital music provider. 
The Register of Copyrights shall cause 
the notice of audit to be published in 
the Federal Register not later than 45 
calendar days after the date on which 
notice is received. 
‘‘(V) The qualified auditor shall 
determine the accuracy of royalty pay-
ments, including whether an under-
payment or overpayment of royalties 
was made by the digital music pro-
vider to the mechanical licensing col-
† HR 1551 EAS 
lective, except that, before providing a 
final audit report to the mechanical li-
censing collective, the qualified auditor 
shall provide a tentative draft of the 
report to the digital music provider 
and allow the digital music provider a 
reasonable opportunity to respond to 
the findings, including by clarifying 
issues and correcting factual errors. 
‘‘(VI) The mechanical licensing 
collective shall pay the cost of the 
audit, unless the qualified auditor de-
termines that there was an under-
payment by the digital music provider 
of not less than 10 percent, in which 
case the digital music provider shall 
bear the reasonable costs of the audit, 
in addition to paying the amount of 
any underpayment to the mechanical 
licensing collective. In case of an over-
payment by the digital music provider, 
the mechanical licensing collective shall 
provide a credit to the account of the 
digital music provider.
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(VII) A digital music provider 
may not assert section 507 or any 
other Federal or State statute of limi-
tations, doctrine of laches or estoppel, 
or similar provision as a defense to a 
legal action arising from an audit 
under this subparagraph if such legal 
action is commenced not more than 6 
years after the commencement of the 
audit that is the basis for such action. 
‘‘(ii) ALTERNATIVE VERIFICATION PRO-
CEDURES.—Nothing in this subparagraph 
shall preclude the mechanical licensing col-
lective and a digital music provider from 
agreeing to audit procedures different from 
those described in this subparagraph, except 
that a notice of the audit shall be provided 
to and published by the Copyright Office as 
described in clause (i)(IV). 
‘‘(E) 
DEFAULT
UNDER
BLANKET
LI-
CENSE.— 
‘‘(i) CONDITIONS OF DEFAULT.—A dig-
ital music provider shall be in default 
under a blanket license if the digital music 
provider—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(I) fails to provide 1 or more 
monthly reports of usage to the me-
chanical licensing collective when due; 
‘‘(II) fails to make a monthly roy-
alty or late fee payment to the mechan-
ical licensing collective when due, in 
all or material part; 
‘‘(III) provides 1 or more monthly 
reports of usage to the mechanical li-
censing collective that, on the whole, is 
or are materially deficient as a result 
of inaccurate, missing, or unreadable 
data, where the correct data was avail-
able to the digital music provider and 
required to be reported under this sec-
tion and applicable regulations; 
‘‘(IV) fails to pay the administra-
tive assessment as required under this 
subsection and applicable regulations; 
or 
‘‘(V) after being provided written 
notice by the mechanical licensing col-
lective, refuses to comply with any 
other material term or condition of the 
blanket license under this section for a
† HR 1551 EAS 
period of not less than 60 calendar 
days. 
‘‘(ii) NOTICE OF DEFAULT AND TERMI-
NATION.—In case of a default by a digital 
music provider, the mechanical licensing 
collective may proceed to terminate the 
blanket license of the digital music provider 
as follows: 
‘‘(I) The mechanical licensing col-
lective shall provide written notice to 
the digital music provider describing 
with reasonable particularity the de-
fault and advising that unless such de-
fault is cured not later than 60 cal-
endar days after the date of the notice, 
the blanket license will automatically 
terminate at the end of that period. 
‘‘(II) If the digital music provider 
fails to remedy the default before the 
end of the 60-day period described in 
subclause (I), the license shall termi-
nate without any further action on the 
part of the mechanical licensing collec-
tive. Such termination renders the 
making of all digital phonorecord de-
† HR 1551 EAS 
liveries of all musical works (and 
shares thereof) covered by the blanket 
license for which the royalty or admin-
istrative assessment has not been paid 
actionable as acts of infringement 
under section 501 and subject to the 
remedies provided by sections 502 
through 506. 
‘‘(iii) NOTICE
TO
COPYRIGHT
OWN-
ERS.—The mechanical licensing collective 
shall provide written notice of any termi-
nation under this subparagraph to copy-
right owners of affected works. 
‘‘(iv) REVIEW BY FEDERAL DISTRICT 
COURT.—A digital music provider that be-
lieves a blanket license was improperly ter-
minated by the mechanical licensing collec-
tive may seek review of such termination in 
an appropriate district court of the United 
States. The district court shall determine 
the matter de novo based on the record be-
fore the mechanical licensing collective and 
any additional supporting evidence pre-
sented by the parties. 
‘‘(5) DIGITAL LICENSEE COORDINATOR.—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The digital licensee co-
ordinator shall be a single entity that— 
‘‘(i) is a nonprofit, not owned by any 
other entity, that is created to carry out re-
sponsibilities under this subsection; 
‘‘(ii) is endorsed by and enjoys sub-
stantial support from digital music pro-
viders and significant nonblanket licensees 
that together represent the greatest percent-
age of the licensee market for uses of musi-
cal works in covered activities, as measured 
over the preceding 3 calendar years; 
‘‘(iii) is able to demonstrate that it 
has, or will have prior to the license avail-
ability date, the administrative capabilities 
to perform the required functions of the dig-
ital licensee coordinator under this sub-
section; and 
‘‘(iv) has been designated by the Reg-
ister of Copyrights, with the approval of the 
Librarian of Congress pursuant to section 
702, in accordance with subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) DESIGNATION OF DIGITAL LICENSEE 
COORDINATOR.—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(i) INITIAL DESIGNATION.—The Reg-
ister of Copyrights shall initially designate 
the digital licensee coordinator not later 
than 270 days after the enactment date, in 
accordance with the same procedure de-
scribed for designation of the mechanical li-
censing collective in paragraph (3)(B)(i). 
‘‘(ii) PERIODIC REVIEW OF DESIGNA-
TION.—Following the initial designation of 
the digital licensee coordinator, the Register 
of Copyrights shall, every 5 years, begin-
ning with the fifth full calendar year to 
commence after the initial designation, de-
termine whether the existing designation 
should be continued, or a different entity 
meeting the criteria described in clauses (i) 
through (iii) of subparagraph (A) should be 
designated, in accordance with the same 
procedure described for the mechanical li-
censing collective in paragraph (3)(B)(ii). 
‘‘(iii) INABILITY
TO
DESIGNATE.—If 
the Register of Copyrights is unable to iden-
tify an entity that fulfills each of the quali-
fications described in clauses (i) through 
(iii) of subparagraph (A) to serve as the
† HR 1551 EAS 
digital licensee coordinator, the Register 
may decline to designate a digital licensee 
coordinator. The determination of the Reg-
ister not to designate a digital licensee coor-
dinator shall not negate or otherwise affect 
any provision of this subsection except to 
the limited extent that a provision ref-
erences the digital licensee coordinator. In 
such case, the reference to the digital li-
censee coordinator shall be without effect 
unless and until a new digital licensee coor-
dinator is designated. 
‘‘(C) AUTHORITIES AND FUNCTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The digital licensee 
coordinator is authorized to perform the fol-
lowing functions, subject to more particular 
requirements as described in this subsection: 
‘‘(I) Establish a governance struc-
ture, criteria for membership, and any 
dues to be paid by its members. 
‘‘(II) Engage in efforts to enforce 
notice and payment obligations with 
respect to the administrative assess-
ment, including by receiving informa-
† HR 1551 EAS 
tion from and coordinating with the 
mechanical licensing collective. 
‘‘(III) Initiate and participate in 
proceedings before the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges to establish the adminis-
trative assessment under this sub-
section. 
‘‘(IV) Initiate and participate in 
proceedings before the Copyright Office 
with respect to activities under this 
subsection. 
‘‘(V) Gather and provide docu-
mentation for use in proceedings before 
the Copyright Royalty Judges to set 
rates and terms under this section. 
‘‘(VI) Maintain records of its ac-
tivities. 
‘‘(VII) Assist in publicizing the 
existence of the mechanical licensing 
collective and the ability of copyright 
owners to claim royalties for un-
matched musical works (and shares of 
works) through the collective. 
‘‘(VIII) Engage in such other ac-
tivities as may be necessary or appro-
† HR 1551 EAS 
priate to fulfill its responsibilities 
under this subsection. 
‘‘(ii) RESTRICTION ON LOBBYING.—The 
digital licensee coordinator may not engage 
in government lobbying activities, but may 
engage in the activities described in sub-
clauses (III), (IV), and (V) of clause (i). 
‘‘(iii) ASSISTANCE
WITH
PUBLICITY 
FOR
UNCLAIMED
ROYALTIES.—The digital 
licensee coordinator shall make reasonable, 
good-faith efforts to assist the mechanical li-
censing collective in the efforts of the collec-
tive to locate and identify copyright owners 
of unmatched musical works (and shares of 
such works) by encouraging digital music 
providers to publicize the existence of the 
collective and the ability of copyright own-
ers to claim unclaimed accrued royalties, 
including by— 
‘‘(I) posting contact information 
for the collective at reasonably promi-
nent locations on digital music pro-
vider websites and applications; and 
‘‘(II) conducting in-person out-
reach activities with songwriters.
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(6) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
SIGNIFICANT
NON-
BLANKET LICENSEES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(i) NOTICE OF ACTIVITY.—Not later 
than 45 calendar days after the license 
availability date, or 45 calendar days after 
the end of the first full calendar month in 
which an entity initially qualifies as a sig-
nificant nonblanket licensee, whichever oc-
curs later, a significant nonblanket licensee 
shall submit a notice of nonblanket activity 
to the mechanical licensing collective. The 
notice of nonblanket activity shall comply 
in form and substance with requirements 
that the Register of Copyrights shall estab-
lish by regulation, and a copy shall be made 
available to the digital licensee coordinator. 
‘‘(ii) REPORTING AND PAYMENT OBLI-
GATIONS.—The notice of nonblanket activity 
submitted to the mechanical licensing collec-
tive shall be accompanied by a report of 
usage that contains the information de-
scribed in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), as well as 
any payment of the administrative assess-
ment required under this subsection and ap-
† HR 1551 EAS 
plicable regulations. Thereafter, subject to 
clause (iii), a significant nonblanket li-
censee shall continue to provide monthly re-
ports of usage, accompanied by any re-
quired payment of the administrative as-
sessment, to the mechanical licensing collec-
tive. Such reports and payments shall be 
submitted not later than 45 calendar days 
after the end of the calendar month being 
reported. 
‘‘(iii) DISCONTINUATION
OF
OBLIGA-
TIONS.—An entity that has submitted a no-
tice of nonblanket activity to the mechanical 
licensing collective that has ceased to qual-
ify as a significant nonblanket licensee may 
so notify the collective in writing. In such 
case, as of the calendar month in which 
such notice is provided, such entity shall no 
longer be required to provide reports of 
usage or pay the administrative assessment, 
but if such entity later qualifies as a sig-
nificant nonblanket licensee, such entity 
shall again be required to comply with 
clauses (i) and (ii).
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(B) REPORTING BY MECHANICAL LICENS-
ING COLLECTIVE TO DIGITAL LICENSEE COORDI-
NATOR.— 
‘‘(i) MONTHLY
REPORTS
OF
NON-
COMPLIANT
LICENSEES.—The mechanical 
licensing collective shall provide monthly re-
ports to the digital licensee coordinator set-
ting forth any significant nonblanket licens-
ees of which the collective is aware that have 
failed to comply with subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(ii) TREATMENT
OF
CONFIDENTIAL 
INFORMATION.—The mechanical licensing 
collective and digital licensee coordinator 
shall take appropriate steps to safeguard the 
confidentiality and security of financial 
and other sensitive data shared under this 
subparagraph, in accordance with the con-
fidentiality requirements prescribed by the 
Register of Copyrights under paragraph 
(12)(C). 
‘‘(C) LEGAL ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS.— 
‘‘(i) FEDERAL COURT ACTION.—Should 
the mechanical licensing collective or digital 
licensee coordinator become aware that a 
significant nonblanket licensee has failed to
† HR 1551 EAS 
comply with subparagraph (A), either may 
commence an action in an appropriate dis-
trict court of the United States for damages 
and injunctive relief. If the significant non-
blanket licensee is found liable, the court 
shall, absent a finding of excusable neglect, 
award damages in an amount equal to 
three times the total amount of the unpaid 
administrative assessment and, notwith-
standing anything to the contrary in sec-
tion 505, reasonable attorney’s fees and 
costs, as well as such other relief as the 
court determines appropriate. In all other 
cases, the court shall award relief as appro-
priate. Any recovery of damages shall be 
payable to the mechanical licensing collec-
tive as an offset to the collective total costs. 
‘‘(ii) STATUTE
OF
LIMITATIONS
FOR 
ENFORCEMENT
ACTION.—Any action de-
scribed in this subparagraph shall be com-
menced within the time period described in 
section 507(b). 
‘‘(iii) OTHER RIGHTS AND REMEDIES 
PRESERVED.—The ability of the mechanical 
licensing collective or digital licensee coordi-
† HR 1551 EAS 
nator to bring an action under this sub-
paragraph shall in no way alter, limit or 
negate any other right or remedy that may 
be available to any party at law or in eq-
uity. 
‘‘(7) FUNDING OF MECHANICAL LICENSING COL-
LECTIVE.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The collective total 
costs shall be funded by— 
‘‘(i) an administrative assessment, as 
such assessment is established by the Copy-
right Royalty Judges pursuant to subpara-
graph (D) from time to time, to be paid 
by— 
‘‘(I) digital music providers that 
are engaged, in all or in part, in cov-
ered activities pursuant to a blanket li-
cense; and 
‘‘(II) significant nonblanket li-
censees; and 
‘‘(ii) voluntary contributions from dig-
ital music providers and significant non-
blanket licensees as may be agreed with 
copyright owners. 
‘‘(B) VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS.—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(i) AGREEMENTS
CONCERNING
CON-
TRIBUTIONS.—Except as provided in clause 
(ii), voluntary contributions by digital 
music providers and significant nonblanket 
licensees shall be determined by private ne-
gotiation and agreement, and the following 
conditions apply: 
‘‘(I) The date and amount of each 
voluntary contribution to the mechan-
ical licensing collective shall be docu-
mented in a writing signed by an au-
thorized agent of the mechanical licens-
ing collective and the contributing 
party. 
‘‘(II) Such agreement shall be 
made available as required in pro-
ceedings before the Copyright Royalty 
Judges to establish or adjust the ad-
ministrative assessment in accordance 
with applicable statutory and regu-
latory provisions and rulings of the 
Copyright Royalty Judges. 
‘‘(ii) 
TREATMENT
OF
CONTRIBU-
TIONS.—Each voluntary contribution de-
scribed in clause (i) shall be treated for pur-
† HR 1551 EAS 
poses of an administrative assessment pro-
ceeding as an offset to the collective total 
costs that would otherwise be recovered 
through the administrative assessment. Any 
allocation or reallocation of voluntary con-
tributions between or among individual dig-
ital music providers or significant non-
blanket licensees shall be a matter of private 
negotiation and agreement among such par-
ties and outside the scope of the administra-
tive assessment proceeding. 
‘‘(C) INTERIM
APPLICATION
OF
ACCRUED 
ROYALTIES.—In the event that the administra-
tive assessment, together with any funding from 
voluntary contributions as provided in subpara-
graphs (A) and (B), is inadequate to cover cur-
rent collective total costs, the collective, with ap-
proval of its board of directors, may apply un-
claimed accrued royalties on an interim basis to 
defray such costs, subject to future reimburse-
ment of such royalties from future collections of 
the assessment. 
‘‘(D) DETERMINATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE 
ASSESSMENT.—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(i) ADMINISTRATIVE ASSESSMENT TO 
COVER COLLECTIVE TOTAL COSTS.—The ad-
ministrative assessment shall be used solely 
and exclusively to fund the collective total 
costs. 
‘‘(ii) SEPARATE PROCEEDING BEFORE 
COPYRIGHT ROYALTY JUDGES.—The amount 
and terms of the administrative assessment 
shall be determined and established in a 
separate and independent proceeding before 
the Copyright Royalty Judges, according to 
the procedures described in clauses (iii) and 
(iv). The administrative assessment deter-
mined in such proceeding shall— 
‘‘(I) be wholly independent of roy-
alty rates and terms applicable to dig-
ital music providers, which shall not be 
taken into consideration in any man-
ner in establishing the administrative 
assessment; 
‘‘(II) be established by the Copy-
right Royalty Judges in an amount 
that is calculated to defray the reason-
able collective total costs;
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(III) be assessed based on usage 
of musical works by digital music pro-
viders and significant nonblanket li-
censees in covered activities under both 
compulsory and nonblanket licenses; 
‘‘(IV) may be in the form of a 
percentage of royalties payable under 
this section for usage of musical works 
in covered activities (regardless of 
whether a different rate applies under 
a voluntary license), or any other 
usage-based metric reasonably cal-
culated to equitably allocate the collec-
tive total costs across digital music 
providers and significant nonblanket 
licensees engaged in covered activities, 
and shall include as a component a 
minimum fee for all digital music pro-
viders and significant nonblanket li-
censees; and 
‘‘(V) take into consideration an-
ticipated future collective total costs 
and collections of the administrative 
assessment, including, as applicable—
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(aa) any portion of past ac-
tual collective total costs of the 
mechanical licensing collective not 
funded by previous collections of 
the administrative assessment or 
voluntary contributions because 
such collections or contributions 
together were insufficient to fund 
such costs; 
‘‘(bb) any past collections of 
the administrative assessment and 
voluntary contributions that ex-
ceeded past actual collective total 
costs, resulting in a surplus; and 
‘‘(cc) the amount of any vol-
untary contributions by digital 
music providers or significant 
nonblanket licensees in relevant 
periods, described in subpara-
graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 
(7). 
‘‘(iii) INITIAL
ADMINISTRATIVE
AS-
SESSMENT.—The procedure for establishing 
the initial administrative assessment shall 
be as follows:
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(I) Not later than 270 days after 
the enactment date, the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges shall commence a pro-
ceeding to establish the initial admin-
istrative assessment by publishing a 
notice in the Federal Register seeking 
petitions to participate. 
‘‘(II) The mechanical licensing 
collective and digital licensee coordi-
nator shall participate in the pro-
ceeding described in subclause (I), 
along with any interested copyright 
owners, digital music providers or sig-
nificant nonblanket licensees that have 
notified the Copyright Royalty Judges 
of their desire to participate. 
‘‘(III) The Copyright Royalty 
Judges shall establish a schedule for 
submission by the parties of informa-
tion that may be relevant to estab-
lishing the administrative assessment, 
including actual and anticipated col-
lective total costs of the mechanical li-
censing collective, actual and antici-
pated collections from digital music
† HR 1551 EAS 
providers and significant nonblanket 
licensees, and documentation of vol-
untary contributions, as well as a 
schedule for further proceedings, which 
shall include a hearing, as the Copy-
right Royalty Judges determine appro-
priate. 
‘‘(IV) The initial administrative 
assessment shall be determined, and 
such determination shall be published 
in the Federal Register by the Copy-
right Royalty Judges, not later than 1 
year after commencement of the pro-
ceeding described in this clause. The 
determination shall be supported by a 
written record. The initial administra-
tive assessment shall be effective as of 
the license availability date, and shall 
continue in effect unless and until an 
adjusted administrative assessment is 
established pursuant to an adjustment 
proceeding under clause (iv). 
‘‘(iv) ADJUSTMENT
OF
ADMINISTRA-
TIVE ASSESSMENT.—The administrative as-
sessment may be adjusted by the Copyright
† HR 1551 EAS 
Royalty Judges periodically, in accordance 
with the following procedures: 
‘‘(I) Not earlier than 1 year after 
the most recent publication of a deter-
mination of the administrative assess-
ment by the Copyright Royalty Judges, 
the mechanical licensing collective, the 
digital licensee coordinator, or one or 
more interested copyright owners, dig-
ital music providers, or significant 
nonblanket licensees, may file a peti-
tion 
with 
the 
Copyright 
Royalty 
Judges in the month of May to com-
mence a proceeding to adjust the ad-
ministrative assessment. 
‘‘(II) Notice of the commencement 
of such proceeding shall be published in 
the Federal Register in the month of 
June following the filing of any peti-
tion, with a schedule of requested infor-
mation and additional proceedings, as 
described in clause (iii)(III). The me-
chanical licensing collective and digital 
licensee coordinator shall participate 
in such proceeding, along with any in-
† HR 1551 EAS 
terested 
copyright 
owners, 
digital 
music providers, or significant non-
blanket licensees that have notified the 
Copyright Royalty Judges of their de-
sire to participate. 
‘‘(III) The determination of the 
adjusted 
administrative 
assessment, 
which shall be supported by a written 
record, shall be published in the Fed-
eral Register during June of the cal-
endar year following the commence-
ment of the proceeding. The adjusted 
administrative assessment shall take ef-
fect January 1 of the year following 
such publication. 
‘‘(v) ADOPTION OF VOLUNTARY AGREE-
MENTS.—In lieu of reaching their own de-
termination based on evaluation of relevant 
data, the Copyright Royalty Judges shall 
approve and adopt a negotiated agreement 
to establish the amount and terms of the ad-
ministrative assessment that has been 
agreed to by the mechanical licensing collec-
tive and the digital licensee coordinator (or 
if none has been designated, interested dig-
† HR 1551 EAS 
ital music providers and significant non-
blanket licensees representing more than 
half of the market for uses of musical works 
in covered activities), except that the Copy-
right Royalty Judges shall have the discre-
tion to reject any such agreement for good 
cause shown. An administrative assessment 
adopted under this clause shall apply to all 
digital music providers and significant 
nonblanket licensees engaged in covered ac-
tivities during the period the administrative 
assessment is in effect. 
‘‘(vi) 
CONTINUING
AUTHORITY
TO 
AMEND.—The Copyright Royalty Judges 
shall retain continuing authority to amend 
a determination of an administrative as-
sessment to correct technical or clerical er-
rors, or modify the terms of implementa-
tion, for good cause, with any such amend-
ment to be published in the Federal Reg-
ister. 
‘‘(vii) APPEAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE AS-
SESSMENT.—The determination of an ad-
ministrative assessment by the Copyright 
Royalty Judges shall be appealable, not
100 
† HR 1551 EAS 
later than 30 calendar days after publica-
tion in the Federal Register, to the Court of 
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 
by any party that fully participated in the 
proceeding. The administrative assessment 
as established by the Copyright Royalty 
Judges shall remain in effect pending the 
final outcome of any such appeal, and the 
mechanical licensing collective, digital li-
censee coordinator, digital music providers, 
and significant nonblanket licensees shall 
implement appropriate financial or other 
measures not later than 90 days after any 
modification of the assessment to reflect and 
account for such outcome. 
‘‘(viii) REGULATIONS.—The Copyright 
Royalty Judges may adopt regulations to 
govern the conduct of proceedings under this 
paragraph. 
‘‘(8) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
RATES
AND
TERMS 
UNDER BLANKET LICENSE.— 
‘‘(A) RESTRICTIONS ON RATESETTING PAR-
TICIPATION.—Neither the mechanical licensing 
collective nor the digital licensee coordinator 
shall be a party to a proceeding described in sub-
101 
† HR 1551 EAS 
section (c)(1)(E), except that the mechanical li-
censing collective or the digital licensee coordi-
nator may gather and provide financial and 
other information for the use of a party to such 
a proceeding and comply with requests for infor-
mation as required under applicable statutory 
and regulatory provisions and rulings of the 
Copyright Royalty Judges. 
‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF LATE FEES.—In any 
proceeding described in subparagraph (A) in 
which the Copyright Royalty Judges establish a 
late fee for late payment of royalties for uses of 
musical works under this section, such fee shall 
apply to covered activities under blanket licenses, 
as follows: 
‘‘(i) Late fees for past due royalty pay-
ments shall accrue from the due date for 
payment until payment is received by the 
mechanical licensing collective. 
‘‘(ii) The availability of late fees shall 
in no way prevent a copyright owner or the 
mechanical licensing collective from assert-
ing any other rights or remedies to which 
such copyright owner or the mechanical li-
102 
† HR 1551 EAS 
censing collective may be entitled under this 
title. 
‘‘(C) INTERIM RATE AGREEMENTS IN GEN-
ERAL.—For any covered activity for which no 
rate or terms have been established by the Copy-
right Royalty Judges, the mechanical licensing 
collective and any digital music provider may 
agree to an interim rate and terms for such ac-
tivity under the blanket license, and any such 
rate and terms— 
‘‘(i) shall be treated as nonprecedential 
and not cited or relied upon in any rate-
setting proceeding before the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges or any other tribunal; and 
‘‘(ii) shall automatically expire upon 
the establishment of a rate and terms for 
such covered activity by the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges, under subsection (c)(1)(E). 
‘‘(D) ADJUSTMENTS FOR INTERIM RATES.— 
The rate and terms established by the Copyright 
Royalty Judges for a covered activity to which 
an interim rate and terms have been agreed 
under subparagraph (C) shall supersede the in-
terim rate and terms and apply retroactively to 
the inception of the activity under the blanket li-
103 
† HR 1551 EAS 
cense. In such case, not later than 90 days after 
the effective date of the rate and terms estab-
lished by the Copyright Royalty Judges— 
‘‘(i) if the rate established by the Copy-
right Royalty Judges exceeds the interim 
rate, the digital music provider shall pay to 
the mechanical licensing collective the 
amount of any underpayment of royalties 
due; or 
‘‘(ii) if the interim rate exceeds the 
rate established by the Copyright Royalty 
Judges, the mechanical licensing collective 
shall credit the account of the digital music 
provider for the amount of any overpay-
ment of royalties due. 
‘‘(9) TRANSITION TO BLANKET LICENSES.— 
‘‘(A) 
SUBSTITUTION
OF
BLANKET
LI-
CENSE.—On the license availability date, a blan-
ket license shall, without any interruption in li-
cense authority enjoyed by such digital music 
provider, be automatically substituted for and 
supersede any existing compulsory license pre-
viously obtained under this section by the digital 
music provider from a copyright owner to engage 
in 1 or more covered activities with respect to a
104 
† HR 1551 EAS 
musical work, except that such substitution shall 
not apply to any authority obtained from a 
record company pursuant to a compulsory li-
cense 
to 
make 
and 
distribute 
permanent 
downloads unless and until such record company 
terminates such authority in writing to take ef-
fect at the end of a monthly reporting period, 
with a copy to the mechanical licensing collec-
tive. 
‘‘(B) EXPIRATION OF EXISTING LICENSES.— 
Except to the extent provided in subparagraph 
(A), on and after the license availability date, li-
censes other than individual download licenses 
obtained under this section for covered activities 
prior to the license availability date shall no 
longer continue in effect. 
‘‘(C) 
TREATMENT
OF
VOLUNTARY
LI-
CENSES.—A voluntary license for a covered ac-
tivity in effect on the license availability date 
will remain in effect unless and until the vol-
untary license expires according to the terms of 
the voluntary license, or the parties agree to 
amend or terminate the voluntary license. In a 
case where a voluntary license for a covered ac-
tivity entered into before the license availability
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† HR 1551 EAS 
date incorporates the terms of this section by ref-
erence, the terms so incorporated (but not the 
rates) shall be those in effect immediately prior 
to the license availability date, and those terms 
shall continue to apply unless and until such 
voluntary license is terminated or amended, or 
the parties enter into a new voluntary license. 
‘‘(D) FURTHER
ACCEPTANCE
OF
NOTICES 
FOR
COVERED
ACTIVITIES
BY
COPYRIGHT
OF-
FICE.—On and after the enactment date— 
‘‘(i) the Copyright Office shall no 
longer accept notices of intention with re-
spect to covered activities; and 
‘‘(ii) notices of intention filed before 
the enactment date will no longer be effec-
tive or provide license authority with re-
spect to covered activities, except that, before 
the license availability date, there shall be 
no liability under section 501 for the repro-
duction or distribution of a musical work 
(or share thereof) in covered activities if a 
valid notice of intention was filed for such 
work (or share) before the enactment date. 
‘‘(10) PRIOR UNLICENSED USES.—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(A) LIMITATION
ON
LIABILITY
IN
GEN-
ERAL.—A copyright owner that commences an 
action under section 501 on or after January 1, 
2018, against a digital music provider for the 
infringement of the exclusive rights provided by 
paragraph (1) or (3) of section 106 arising from 
the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of 
a musical work by such digital music provider 
in the course of engaging in covered activities 
prior to the license availability date, shall, as the 
copyright owner’s sole and exclusive remedy 
against the digital music provider, be eligible to 
recover the royalty prescribed under subsection 
(c)(1)(C) and chapter 8, from the digital music 
provider, provided that such digital music pro-
vider can demonstrate compliance with the re-
quirements of subparagraph (B), as applicable. 
In all other cases the limitation on liability 
under this subparagraph shall not apply. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR LIMITATION ON 
LIABILITY.—The following requirements shall 
apply on the enactment date and through the 
end of the period that expires 90 days after the 
license availability date to digital music pro-
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† HR 1551 EAS 
viders seeking to avail themselves of the limita-
tion on liability described in subparagraph (A): 
‘‘(i) Not later than 30 calendar days 
after first making a particular sound re-
cording of a musical work available through 
its service via one or more covered activi-
ties, or 30 calendar days after the enact-
ment date, whichever occurs later, a digital 
music provider shall engage in good-faith, 
commercially reasonable efforts to identify 
and locate each copyright owner of such 
musical work (or share thereof). Such re-
quired matching efforts shall include the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(I) Good-faith, commercially rea-
sonable efforts to obtain from the owner 
of the corresponding sound recording 
made available through the digital 
music provider’s service the following 
information: 
‘‘(aa) Sound recording name, 
featured artist, sound recording 
copyright owner, producer, inter-
national standard recording code, 
and other information commonly
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† HR 1551 EAS 
used in the industry to identify 
sound recordings and match them 
to the musical works they embody. 
‘‘(bb) Any available musical 
work ownership information, in-
cluding each songwriter and pub-
lisher name, percentage ownership 
share, and international standard 
musical work code. 
‘‘(II) Employment of 1 or more 
bulk electronic matching processes that 
are available to the digital music pro-
vider through a third-party vendor on 
commercially reasonable terms, except 
that a digital music provider may rely 
on its own bulk electronic matching 
process if that process has capabilities 
comparable to or better than those 
available from a third-party vendor on 
commercially reasonable terms. 
‘‘(ii) The required matching efforts 
shall be repeated by the digital music pro-
vider not less than once per month for so 
long as the copyright owner remains un-
identified or has not been located.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(iii) If the required matching efforts 
are successful in identifying and locating a 
copyright owner of a musical work (or share 
thereof) by the end of the calendar month in 
which the digital music provider first makes 
use of the work, the digital music provider 
shall provide statements of account and pay 
royalties to such copyright owner in accord-
ance with this section and applicable regu-
lations. 
‘‘(iv) If the copyright owner is not 
identified or located by the end of the cal-
endar month in which the digital music 
provider first makes use of the work, the 
digital music provider shall accrue and hold 
royalties calculated under the applicable 
statutory rate in accordance with usage of 
the work, from initial use of the work until 
the accrued royalties can be paid to the 
copyright owner or are required to be trans-
ferred to the mechanical licensing collective, 
as follows: 
‘‘(I) Accrued royalties shall be 
maintained by the digital music pro-
110 
† HR 1551 EAS 
vider in accordance with generally ac-
cepted accounting principles. 
‘‘(II) If a copyright owner of an 
unmatched musical work (or share 
thereof) is identified and located by or 
to the digital music provider before the 
license availability date, the digital 
music provider shall— 
‘‘(aa) not later than 45 cal-
endar days after the end of the 
calendar month during which the 
copyright owner was identified 
and located, pay the copyright 
owner all accrued royalties, such 
payment to be accompanied by a 
cumulative statement of account 
that includes all of the informa-
tion that would have been pro-
vided to the copyright owner had 
the digital music provider been 
providing monthly statements of 
account to the copyright owner 
from initial use of the work in ac-
cordance with this section and ap-
plicable regulations, including the
111 
† HR 1551 EAS 
requisite certification under sub-
section (c)(2)(I); 
‘‘(bb) beginning with the ac-
counting period following the cal-
endar month in which the copy-
right owner was identified and lo-
cated, and for all other accounting 
periods prior to the license avail-
ability 
date, 
provide 
monthly 
statements of account and pay 
royalties to the copyright owner 
as required under this section and 
applicable regulations; and 
‘‘(cc) 
beginning 
with 
the 
monthly royalty reporting period 
commencing on the license avail-
ability date, report usage and pay 
royalties for such musical work 
(or share thereof) for such report-
ing period and reporting periods 
thereafter to the mechanical li-
censing collective, as required 
under this subsection and applica-
ble regulations.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(III) If a copyright owner of an 
unmatched musical work (or share 
thereof) is not identified and located by 
the license availability date, the digital 
music provider shall— 
‘‘(aa) not later than 45 cal-
endar days after the license avail-
ability date, transfer all accrued 
royalties to the mechanical licens-
ing collective, such payment to be 
accompanied by a cumulative 
statement of account that includes 
all of the information that would 
have been provided to the copy-
right owner had the digital music 
provider been serving monthly 
statements of account on the copy-
right owner from initial use of the 
work in accordance with this sec-
tion and applicable regulations, 
including the requisite certifi-
cation under subsection (c)(2)(I), 
and accompanied by an addi-
tional certification by a duly au-
thorized officer of the digital
113 
† HR 1551 EAS 
music provider that the digital 
music provider has fulfilled the 
requirements of clauses (i) and 
(ii) of subparagraph (B) but has 
not been successful in locating or 
identifying the copyright owner; 
and 
‘‘(bb) beginning with the 
monthly royalty reporting period 
commencing on the license avail-
ability date, report usage and pay 
royalties for such musical work 
(or share thereof) for such period 
and reporting periods thereafter to 
the mechanical licensing collective, 
as required under this subsection 
and applicable regulations. 
‘‘(v) A digital music provider that 
complies with the requirements of this sub-
paragraph with respect to unmatched musi-
cal works (or shares of works) shall not be 
liable for or accrue late fees for late pay-
ments of royalties for such works until such 
time as the digital music provider is re-
quired to begin paying monthly royalties to
114 
† HR 1551 EAS 
the copyright owner or the mechanical li-
censing collective, as applicable. 
‘‘(C) 
ADJUSTED
STATUTE
OF
LIMITA-
TIONS.—Notwithstanding anything to the con-
trary in section 507(b), with respect to any 
claim of infringement of the exclusive rights pro-
vided by paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 106 
against a digital music provider arising from 
the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of 
a musical work by such digital music provider 
in the course of engaging in covered activities 
that accrued not more than 3 years prior to the 
license availability date, such action may be 
commenced not later than the later of— 
‘‘(i) 3 years after the date on which the 
claim accrued; or 
‘‘(ii) 2 years after the license avail-
ability date. 
‘‘(D) OTHER RIGHTS AND REMEDIES PRE-
SERVED.—Except as expressly provided in this 
paragraph, nothing in this paragraph shall be 
construed to alter, limit, or negate any right or 
remedy of a copyright owner with respect to un-
authorized use of a musical work.
115 
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(11) LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR LICENSING AC-
TIVITIES.— 
‘‘(A) EXEMPTION
FOR
COMPULSORY
LI-
CENSE ACTIVITIES.—The antitrust exemption de-
scribed in subsection (c)(1)(D) shall apply to ne-
gotiations and agreements between and among 
copyright owners and persons entitled to obtain 
a compulsory license for covered activities, and 
common agents acting on behalf of such copy-
right owners or persons, including with respect 
to the administrative assessment established 
under this subsection. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION ON COMMON AGENT EX-
EMPTION.—Notwithstanding the antitrust ex-
emption provided in subsection (c)(1)(D) and 
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (except for 
the administrative assessment referenced in such 
subparagraph (A) and except as provided in 
paragraph (8)(C)), neither the mechanical licens-
ing collective nor the digital licensee coordinator 
shall serve as a common agent with respect to the 
establishment of royalty rates or terms under 
this section. 
‘‘(C) ANTITRUST EXEMPTION FOR ADMINIS-
TRATIVE ACTIVITIES.—Notwithstanding any pro-
116 
† HR 1551 EAS 
vision of the antitrust laws, copyright owners 
and persons entitled to obtain a compulsory li-
cense under this section may designate the me-
chanical licensing collective to administer vol-
untary licenses for the reproduction or distribu-
tion of musical works in covered activities on be-
half of such copyright owners and persons, sub-
ject to the following conditions: 
‘‘(i) Each copyright owner shall estab-
lish the royalty rates and material terms of 
any such voluntary license individually and 
not in agreement, combination, or concert 
with any other copyright owner. 
‘‘(ii) Each person entitled to obtain a 
compulsory license under this section shall 
establish the royalty rates and material 
terms of any such voluntary license individ-
ually and not in agreement, combination, 
or concert with any other digital music pro-
vider. 
‘‘(iii) The mechanical licensing collec-
tive shall maintain the confidentiality of 
the voluntary licenses in accordance with 
the confidentiality provisions prescribed by
117 
† HR 1551 EAS 
the Register of Copyrights under paragraph 
(12)(C). 
‘‘(D) LIABILITY
FOR
GOOD-FAITH
ACTIVI-
TIES.—The mechanical licensing collective shall 
not be liable to any person or entity based on a 
claim arising from its good-faith administration 
of policies and procedures adopted and imple-
mented to carry out the responsibilities described 
in subparagraphs (J) and (K) of paragraph (3), 
except to the extent of correcting an under-
payment or overpayment of royalties as provided 
in paragraph (3)(L)(i)(VI), but the collective 
may participate in a legal proceeding as a stake-
holder party if the collective is holding funds 
that are the subject of a dispute between copy-
right owners. For purposes of this subparagraph, 
the term ‘good-faith administration’ means ad-
ministration in a manner that is not grossly 
negligent. 
‘‘(E) PREEMPTION
OF
STATE
PROPERTY 
LAWS.—The holding and distribution of funds by 
the mechanical licensing collective in accordance 
with this subsection shall supersede and preempt 
any State law (including common law) con-
cerning escheatment or abandoned property, or
118 
† HR 1551 EAS 
any analogous provision, that might otherwise 
apply. 
‘‘(F) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Except as 
expressly provided in this subsection, nothing in 
this subsection shall negate or limit the ability 
of any person to pursue an action in Federal 
court against the mechanical licensing collective 
or any other person based upon a claim arising 
under this title or other applicable law. 
‘‘(12) REGULATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) ADOPTION
BY
REGISTER
OF
COPY-
RIGHTS AND COPYRIGHT ROYALTY JUDGES.—The 
Register of Copyrights may conduct such pro-
ceedings and adopt such regulations as may be 
necessary or appropriate to effectuate the provi-
sions of this subsection, except for regulations 
concerning proceedings before the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges to establish the administrative as-
sessment, which shall be adopted by the Copy-
right Royalty Judges. 
‘‘(B) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF REGULATIONS.— 
Except as provided in paragraph (7)(D)(vii), 
regulations adopted under this subsection shall 
be subject to judicial review pursuant to chapter 
7 of title 5.
119 
† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(C) PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFOR-
MATION.—The Register of Copyrights shall adopt 
regulations to provide for the appropriate proce-
dures to ensure that confidential, private, pro-
prietary, or privileged information contained in 
the records of the mechanical licensing collective 
and digital licensee coordinator is not improp-
erly disclosed or used, including through any 
disclosure or use by the board of directors or per-
sonnel of either entity, and specifically including 
the unclaimed royalties oversight committee and 
the dispute resolution committee of the mechan-
ical licensing collective. 
‘‘(13) SAVINGS CLAUSES.— 
‘‘(A) 
LIMITATION
ON
ACTIVITIES
AND 
RIGHTS COVERED.—This subsection applies sole-
ly to uses of musical works subject to licensing 
under this section. The blanket license shall not 
be construed to extend or apply to activities 
other than covered activities or to rights other 
than the exclusive rights of reproduction and dis-
tribution licensed under this section, or serve or 
act as the basis to extend or expand the compul-
sory license under this section to activities and
120 
† HR 1551 EAS 
rights not covered by this section on the day be-
fore the enactment date. 
‘‘(B) RIGHTS
OF
PUBLIC
PERFORMANCE 
NOT
AFFECTED.—The rights, protections, and 
immunities granted under this subsection, the 
data concerning musical works collected and 
made available under this subsection, and the 
definitions under subsection (e) shall not extend 
to, limit, or otherwise affect any right of public 
performance in a musical work.’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 
‘‘(1) ACCRUED
INTEREST.—The term ‘accrued 
interest’ means interest accrued on accrued royalties, 
as described in subsection (d)(3)(H)(ii). 
‘‘(2) ACCRUED ROYALTIES.—The term ‘accrued 
royalties’ means royalties accrued for the reproduc-
tion or distribution of a musical work (or share there-
of) in a covered activity, calculated in accordance 
with the applicable royalty rate under this section. 
‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 
‘administrative assessment’ means the fee established 
pursuant to subsection (d)(7)(D). 
‘‘(4) AUDIT.—The term ‘audit’ means a royalty 
compliance examination to verify the accuracy of roy-
121 
† HR 1551 EAS 
alty payments, or the conduct of such an examina-
tion, as applicable. 
‘‘(5) BLANKET LICENSE.—The term ‘blanket li-
cense’ means a compulsory license described in sub-
section (d)(1)(A) to engage in covered activities. 
‘‘(6) COLLECTIVE TOTAL COSTS.—The term ‘col-
lective total costs’— 
‘‘(A) means the total costs of establishing, 
maintaining, and operating the mechanical li-
censing collective to fulfill its statutory functions, 
including— 
‘‘(i) startup costs; 
‘‘(ii) financing, legal, audit, and in-
surance costs; 
‘‘(iii) investments in information tech-
nology, infrastructure, and other long-term 
resources; 
‘‘(iv) outside vendor costs; 
‘‘(v) costs of licensing, royalty admin-
istration, and enforcement of rights; 
‘‘(vi) costs of bad debt; and 
‘‘(vii) costs of automated and manual 
efforts to identify and locate copyright own-
ers of musical works (and shares of such 
musical works) and match sound recordings
122 
† HR 1551 EAS 
to the musical works the sound recordings 
embody; and 
‘‘(B) does not include any added costs in-
curred by the mechanical licensing collective to 
provide services under voluntary licenses. 
‘‘(7) COVERED ACTIVITY.—The term ‘covered ac-
tivity’ means the activity of making a digital phono-
record delivery of a musical work, including in the 
form of a permanent download, limited download, or 
interactive stream, where such activity qualifies for a 
compulsory license under this section. 
‘‘(8) DIGITAL MUSIC PROVIDER.—The term ‘dig-
ital music provider’ means a person (or persons oper-
ating under the authority of that person) that, with 
respect to a service engaged in covered activities— 
‘‘(A) has a direct contractual, subscription, 
or other economic relationship with end users of 
the service, or, if no such relationship with end 
users exists, exercises direct control over the pro-
vision of the service to end users; 
‘‘(B) is able to fully report on any revenues 
and consideration generated by the service; and 
‘‘(C) is able to fully report on usage of 
sound recordings of musical works by the service 
(or procure such reporting).
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(9) DIGITAL
LICENSEE
COORDINATOR.—The 
term ‘digital licensee coordinator’ means the entity 
most recently designated pursuant to subsection 
(d)(5). 
‘‘(10) DIGITAL PHONORECORD DELIVERY.—The 
term ‘digital phonorecord delivery’ means each indi-
vidual delivery of a phonorecord by digital trans-
mission of a sound recording that results in a specifi-
cally identifiable reproduction by or for any trans-
mission recipient of a phonorecord of that sound re-
cording, regardless of whether the digital transmission 
is also a public performance of the sound recording 
or any musical work embodied therein, and includes 
a permanent download, a limited download, or an 
interactive stream. A digital phonorecord delivery 
does not result from a real-time, noninteractive sub-
scription transmission of a sound recording where no 
reproduction of the sound recording or the musical 
work embodied therein is made from the inception of 
the transmission through to its receipt by the trans-
mission recipient in order to make the sound record-
ing audible. A digital phonorecord delivery does not 
include the digital transmission of sounds accom-
panying a motion picture or other audiovisual work 
as defined in section 101.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(11) ENACTMENT DATE.—The term ‘enactment 
date’ means the date of the enactment of the Musical 
Works Modernization Act. 
‘‘(12) INDIVIDUAL
DOWNLOAD
LICENSE.—The 
term ‘individual download license’ means a compul-
sory license obtained by a record company to make 
and distribute, or authorize the making and distribu-
tion of, permanent downloads embodying a specific 
individual musical work. 
‘‘(13) INTERACTIVE STREAM.—The term ‘inter-
active stream’ means a digital transmission of a 
sound recording of a musical work in the form of a 
stream, where the performance of the sound recording 
by means of such transmission is not exempt under 
section 114(d)(1) and does not in itself, or as a result 
of a program in which it is included, qualify for stat-
utory licensing under section 114(d)(2). An inter-
active stream is a digital phonorecord delivery. 
‘‘(14) INTERESTED.—The term ‘interested’, as 
applied to a party seeking to participate in a pro-
ceeding under subsection (d)(7)(D), is a party as to 
which the Copyright Royalty Judges have not deter-
mined that the party lacks a significant interest in 
such proceeding.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(15) LICENSE AVAILABILITY DATE.—The term 
‘license availability date’ means January 1 following 
the expiration of the 2-year period beginning on the 
enactment date. 
‘‘(16) LIMITED DOWNLOAD.—The term ‘limited 
download’ means a digital transmission of a sound 
recording of a musical work in the form of a 
download, where such sound recording is accessible for 
listening only for a limited amount of time or speci-
fied number of times. 
‘‘(17) MATCHED.—The term ‘matched’, as ap-
plied to a musical work (or share thereof), means that 
the copyright owner of such work (or share thereof) 
has been identified and located. 
‘‘(18) MECHANICAL
LICENSING
COLLECTIVE.— 
The term ‘mechanical licensing collective’ means the 
entity most recently designated as such by the Reg-
ister of Copyrights under subsection (d)(3). 
‘‘(19) 
MECHANICAL
LICENSING
COLLECTIVE 
BUDGET.—The term ‘mechanical licensing collective 
budget’ means a statement of the financial position of 
the mechanical licensing collective for a fiscal year or 
quarter thereof based on estimates of expenditures 
during the period and proposals for financing those
126 
† HR 1551 EAS 
expenditures, including a calculation of the collective 
total costs. 
‘‘(20) MUSICAL
WORKS
DATABASE.—The term 
‘musical works database’ means the database de-
scribed in subsection (d)(3)(E). 
‘‘(21) NONPROFIT.—The term ‘nonprofit’ means 
a nonprofit created or organized in a State. 
‘‘(22) NOTICE OF LICENSE.—The term ‘notice of 
license’ means a notice from a digital music provider 
provided under subsection (d)(2)(A) for purposes of 
obtaining a blanket license. 
‘‘(23) NOTICE OF NONBLANKET ACTIVITY.—The 
term ‘notice of nonblanket activity’ means a notice 
from a significant nonblanket licensee provided under 
subsection (d)(6)(A) for purposes of notifying the me-
chanical licensing collective that the licensee has been 
engaging in covered activities. 
‘‘(24) PERMANENT DOWNLOAD.—The term ‘per-
manent download’ means a digital transmission of a 
sound recording of a musical work in the form of a 
download, where such sound recording is accessible for 
listening without restriction as to the amount of time 
or number of times it may be accessed. 
‘‘(25) QUALIFIED AUDITOR.—The term ‘qualified 
auditor’ means an independent, certified public ac-
127 
† HR 1551 EAS 
countant with experience performing music royalty 
audits. 
‘‘(26) RECORD COMPANY.—The term ‘record com-
pany’ means an entity that invests in, produces, and 
markets sound recordings of musical works, and dis-
tributes such sound recordings for remuneration 
through multiple sales channels, including a corporate 
affiliate of such an entity engaged in distribution of 
sound recordings. 
‘‘(27) REPORT OF USAGE.—The term ‘report of 
usage’ means a report reflecting an entity’s usage of 
musical works in covered activities described in sub-
section (d)(4)(A). 
‘‘(28) REQUIRED
MATCHING
EFFORTS.—The 
term ‘required matching efforts’ means efforts to iden-
tify and locate copyright owners of musical works as 
described in subsection (d)(10)(B)(i). 
‘‘(29) SERVICE.—The term ‘service’, as used in 
relation to covered activities, means any site, facility, 
or offering by or through which sound recordings of 
musical works are digitally transmitted to members of 
the public. 
‘‘(30) SHARE.—The term ‘share’, as applied to a 
musical work, means a fractional ownership interest 
in such work.
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‘‘(31) SIGNIFICANT
NONBLANKET
LICENSEE.— 
The term ‘significant nonblanket licensee’— 
‘‘(A) means an entity, including a group of 
entities under common ownership or control 
that, acting under the authority of one or more 
voluntary licenses or individual download li-
censes, offers a service engaged in covered activi-
ties, and such entity or group of entities— 
‘‘(i) is not currently operating under a 
blanket license and is not obligated to pro-
vide reports of usage reflecting covered ac-
tivities under subsection (d)(4)(A); 
‘‘(ii) has a direct contractual, subscrip-
tion, or other economic relationship with 
end users of the service or, if no such rela-
tionship with end users exists, exercises di-
rect control over the provision of the service 
to end users; and 
‘‘(iii) either— 
‘‘(I) on any day in a calendar 
month, makes more than 5,000 dif-
ferent sound recordings of musical 
works available through such service; 
or
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‘‘(II) derives revenue or other con-
sideration in connection with such cov-
ered activities greater than $50,000 in 
a calendar month, or total revenue or 
other 
consideration 
greater 
than 
$500,000 during the preceding 12 cal-
endar months; and 
‘‘(B) does not include— 
‘‘(i) an entity whose covered activity 
consists solely of free-to-the-user streams of 
segments of sound recordings of musical 
works that do not exceed 90 seconds in 
length, are offered only to facilitate a li-
censed use of musical works that is not a 
covered activity, and have no revenue di-
rectly attributable to such streams consti-
tuting the covered activity; or 
‘‘(ii) a ‘public broadcasting entity’ as 
defined in section 118(f). 
‘‘(32) 
SONGWRITER.—The 
term 
‘songwriter’ 
means the author of all or part of a musical work, 
including a composer or lyricist. 
‘‘(33) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
and each territory or possession of the United States.
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‘‘(34) UNCLAIMED
ACCRUED
ROYALTIES.—The 
term ‘unclaimed accrued royalties’ means accrued 
royalties eligible for distribution under subsection 
(d)(3)(J). 
‘‘(35) UNMATCHED.—The term ‘unmatched’, as 
applied to a musical work (or share thereof), means 
that the copyright owner of such work (or share there-
of) has not been identified or located. 
‘‘(36) VOLUNTARY
LICENSE.—The term ‘vol-
untary license’ means a license for use of a musical 
work (or share thereof) other than a compulsory li-
cense obtained under this section.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO 
SECTION 801.—Section 801(b) of title 17, United States 
Code, is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraph (8) as para-
graph (9); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(8) To determine the administrative assessment 
to be paid by digital music providers under section 
115(d). The provisions of section 115(d) shall apply 
to the conduct of proceedings by the Copyright Roy-
alty Judges under section 115(d) and not the proce-
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† HR 1551 EAS 
dures described in this section, or section 803, 804, or 
805.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF AMENDED RATE SETTING 
STANDARD.—The amendments made by subsection (a)(3) 
and section 103(g)(2) shall apply to any proceeding before 
the Copyright Royalty Judges that is commenced on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO 
TITLE 37, PART 385 OF THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULA-
TIONS.—Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Copyright Royalty Judges shall amend the 
regulations for section 115 of title 17, United States Code, 
in part 385 of title 37, Code of Federal Regulations, to con-
form the definitions used in such part to the definitions 
of the same terms described in section 115(e) of title 17, 
United States Code, as added by subsection (a). In so doing, 
the Copyright Royalty Judges shall make adjustments to 
the language of the regulations as necessary to achieve the 
same purpose and effect as the original regulations with 
respect to the rates and terms previously adopted by the 
Copyright Royalty Judges. 
(e) COPYRIGHT OFFICE ACTIVITIES.—The Register of 
Copyrights shall engage in public outreach and educational 
activities—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(1) regarding the amendments made by sub-
section (a) to section 115 of title 17, United States 
Code, including the responsibilities of the mechanical 
licensing collective designated under those amend-
ments; 
(2) which shall include educating songwriters 
and other interested parties with respect to the process 
established under section 115(d)(3)(C)(i)(V) of title 
17, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), 
by which— 
(A) a copyright owner may claim owner-
ship of musical works (and shares of such 
works); and 
(B) royalties for works for which the owner 
is not identified or located shall be equitably dis-
tributed to known copyright owners; and 
(3) which the Register shall make available on-
line. 
(f) UNCLAIMED ROYALTIES STUDY AND RECOMMENDA-
TIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 
the date on which the Register of Copyrights initially 
designates the mechanical licensing collective under 
section 115(d)(3)(B)(i) of title 17, United States 
Code, as added by subsection (a)(4), the Register, in
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† HR 1551 EAS 
consultation with the Comptroller General of the 
United States, and after soliciting and reviewing 
comments and relevant information from music in-
dustry participants and other interested parties, shall 
submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen-
ate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 
of Representatives a report that recommends best 
practices that the collective may implement in order 
to— 
(A) identify and locate musical work copy-
right owners with unclaimed accrued royalties 
held by the collective; 
(B) encourage musical work copyright own-
ers to claim the royalties of those owners; and 
(C) reduce the incidence of unclaimed royal-
ties. 
(2) CONSIDERATION
OF
RECOMMENDATIONS.— 
The mechanical licensing collective shall carefully 
consider, and give substantial weight to, the rec-
ommendations submitted by the Register of Copy-
rights under paragraph (1) when establishing the pro-
cedures of the collective with respect to the— 
(A) identification and location of musical 
work copyright owners; and 
(B) distribution of unclaimed royalties.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
SEC. 103. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 114. 
(a) UNIFORM RATE STANDARD.—Section 114(f) of 
title 17, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(1)(A) Proceedings under chapter 8 shall deter-
mine reasonable rates and terms of royalty payments 
for transmissions subject to statutory licensing under 
subsection (d)(2) during the 5-year period beginning 
on January 1 of the second year following the year 
in which the proceedings are to be commenced pursu-
ant to subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 804(b)(3), 
as the case may be, or such other period as the parties 
may agree. The parties to each proceeding shall bear 
their own costs. 
‘‘(B) The schedule of reasonable rates and terms 
determined by the Copyright Royalty Judges shall, 
subject to paragraph (2), be binding on all copyright 
owners of sound recordings and entities performing 
sound recordings affected by this paragraph during 
the 5-year period specified in subparagraph (A), or 
such other period as the parties may agree. Such rates 
and terms shall distinguish among the different types 
of services then in operation and shall include a min-
imum fee for each such type of service, such dif-
ferences to be based on criteria including the quantity
135 
† HR 1551 EAS 
and nature of the use of sound recordings and the de-
gree to which use of the service may substitute for or 
may promote the purchase of phonorecords by con-
sumers. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall establish 
rates and terms that most clearly represent the rates 
and terms that would have been negotiated in the 
marketplace between a willing buyer and a willing 
seller. In determining such rates and terms, the Copy-
right Royalty Judges— 
‘‘(i) shall base their decision on economic, 
competitive, and programming information pre-
sented by the parties, including— 
‘‘(I) whether use of the service may 
substitute for or may promote the sales of 
phonorecords or otherwise may interfere 
with or may enhance the sound recording 
copyright owner’s other streams of revenue 
from the copyright owner’s sound record-
ings; and 
‘‘(II) the relative roles of the copyright 
owner and the transmitting entity in the 
copyrighted work and the service made 
available to the public with respect to rel-
ative creative contribution, technological
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† HR 1551 EAS 
contribution, capital investment, cost, and 
risk; and 
‘‘(ii) may consider the rates and terms for 
comparable types of audio transmission services 
and comparable circumstances under voluntary 
license agreements. 
‘‘(C) The procedures under subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) shall also be initiated pursuant to a petition 
filed by any sound recording copyright owner or any 
transmitting entity indicating that a new type of 
service on which sound recordings are performed is or 
is about to become operational, for the purpose of de-
termining reasonable terms and rates of royalty pay-
ments 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 roy-
alty rates and terms for eligible nonsubscription serv-
ices and new subscription services, or preexisting sub-
scription services and preexisting satellite digital 
audio radio services, as the case may be, most re-
cently determined under subparagraph (A) or (B) 
and chapter 8 expire, or such other period as the par-
ties may agree.’’; and 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) 
as paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), respectively.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(b) REPEAL.—Subsection (i) of section 114 of title 17, 
United States Code, is repealed. 
(c) USE IN MUSICAL WORK PROCEEDINGS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—License fees payable for the 
public performance of sound recordings under section 
106(6) of title 17, United States Code, shall not be 
taken into account in any administrative, judicial, or 
other governmental proceeding to set or adjust the 
royalties payable to musical work copyright owners 
for the public performance of their works except in 
such a proceeding to set or adjust royalties for the 
public performance of musical works by means of a 
digital audio transmission other than a transmission 
by a broadcaster, and may be taken into account only 
with respect to such digital audio transmission. 
(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
(A) TRANSMISSION BY A BROADCASTER.— 
The term ‘‘transmission by a broadcaster’’ means 
a nonsubscription digital transmission made by 
a terrestrial broadcast station on its own behalf, 
or on the behalf of a terrestrial broadcast station 
under common ownership or control, that is not 
part of an interactive service or a music-inten-
sive service comprising the transmission of sound
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† HR 1551 EAS 
recordings customized for or customizable by re-
cipients or service users. 
(B) TERRESTRIAL BROADCAST STATION.— 
The term ‘‘terrestrial broadcast station’’ means a 
terrestrial, over-the-air radio or television broad-
cast station, including an FM translator (as de-
fined in section 74.1201 of title 47, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations, and licensed as such by the 
Federal Communications Commission) whose 
primary business activities are comprised of, 
and whose revenues are generated through, ter-
restrial, over-the-air broadcast transmissions, or 
the simultaneous or substantially-simultaneous 
digital retransmission by the terrestrial, over- 
the-air broadcast station of its over-the-air 
broadcast transmissions. 
(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Subsection (c)(2) shall 
not be given effect in interpreting provisions of title 17, 
United States Code. 
(e) USE IN SOUND RECORDING PROCEEDINGS.—The 
repeal of section 114(i) of title 17, United States Code, by 
subsection (b) shall not be taken into account in any pro-
ceeding to set or adjust the rates and fees payable for the 
use of sound recordings under section 112(e) or 114(f) of
139 
† HR 1551 EAS 
such title that is pending on, or commenced on or after, 
the date of enactment of this Act. 
(f) DECISIONS AND PRECEDENTS NOT AFFECTED.— 
The repeal of section 114(i) of title 17, United States Code, 
by subsection (b) shall not have any effect upon the deci-
sions, or the precedents established or relied upon, in any 
proceeding to set or adjust the rates and fees payable for 
the use of sound recordings under section 112(e) or 114(f) 
of such title before the date of enactment of this Act. 
(g) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) SECTION
114.—Section 114(f) of title 17, 
United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), is 
further amended in paragraph (4)(C), as so redesig-
nated, in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘under para-
graph (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘under paragraph (3)’’. 
(2) SECTION
801.—Section 801(b) of title 17, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘The 
rates applicable’’ and all that follows though 
‘‘prevailing industry practices.’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (7)(B), by striking 
‘‘114(f)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘114(f)(2)’’. 
(3) SECTION 803.—Section 803(c)(2)(E)(i)(II) of 
title 17, United States Code, is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘or 114(f)(2)(C)’’; and
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(B) by striking ‘‘114(f)(4)(B)’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘114(f)(3)(B)’’. 
(4) 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’’. 
(h) EFFECTIVE DATE OF AMENDED RATE SETTING 
STANDARD.—The amendments made by subsection (a)(1) 
shall apply to any proceeding before the Copyright Royalty 
Judges that is commenced on or after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(i) TIMING
OF
RATE
DETERMINATIONS.—Section 
804(b)(3)(B) of title 17, United States Code, is amended, 
in the third sentence, by inserting the following after ‘‘fifth 
calendar year’’: ‘‘, except that—(i) with respect to pre-
existing subscription services, the terms and rates finally 
determined for the rate period ending on December 31, 
2022, shall remain in effect through December 31, 2027, and 
there shall be no proceeding to determine terms and rates 
for preexisting subscription services for the period begin-
141 
† HR 1551 EAS 
ning on January 1, 2023, and ending on December 31, 
2027; and’’ ‘‘(ii) with respect to pre-existing satellite digital 
audio radio services, the terms and rates set forth by the 
Copyright Royalty Judges on December 14, 2017, in their 
initial determination for the rate period ending on Decem-
ber 31, 2022, shall be in effect through December 31, 2027, 
without any change based on a rehearing under section 
803(c)(2) and without the possibility of appeal under sec-
tion 803(d), and there shall be no proceeding to determine 
terms and rates for preexisting satellite digital audio radio 
services for the period beginning on January 1, 2023, and 
ending on December 31, 2027’’. 
SEC. 104. RANDOM ASSIGNMENT OF RATE COURT PRO-
CEEDINGS. 
Section 137 of title 28, United States Code, is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking ‘‘The business’’ and inserting 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The business’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) RANDOM ASSIGNMENT OF RATE COURT PRO-
CEEDINGS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘performing rights society’ has the meaning 
given the term in section 101 of title 17.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF LICENSE FEE.— 
Except as provided in subparagraph (C), in the 
case of any performing rights society subject to 
a consent decree, any application for the deter-
mination of a license fee for the public perform-
ance of music in accordance with the applicable 
consent decree shall be made in the district court 
with jurisdiction over that consent decree and 
randomly assigned to a judge of that district 
court according to the rules of that court for the 
division of business among district judges, pro-
vided that any such application shall not be as-
signed to— 
‘‘(i) a judge to whom continuing juris-
diction over any performing rights society 
for any performing rights society consent 
decree is assigned or has previously been as-
signed; or 
‘‘(ii) a judge to whom another pro-
ceeding concerning an application for the 
determination of a reasonable license fee is 
assigned at the time of the filing of the ap-
plication. 
‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (B) does 
not apply to an application to determine reason-
143 
† HR 1551 EAS 
able license fees made by individual proprietors 
under section 513 of title 17. 
‘‘(2) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 
paragraph (1) shall modify the rights of any party to 
a consent decree or to a proceeding to determine rea-
sonable license fees, to make an application for the 
construction of any provision of the applicable con-
sent decree. Such application shall be referred to the 
judge to whom continuing jurisdiction over the appli-
cable consent decree is currently assigned. If any such 
application is made in connection with a rate pro-
ceeding, such rate proceeding shall be stayed until the 
final determination of the construction application. 
Disputes in connection with a rate proceeding about 
whether a licensee is similarly situated to another li-
censee shall not be subject to referral to the judge with 
continuing jurisdiction over the applicable consent de-
cree.’’. 
SEC. 105. PERFORMING RIGHTS SOCIETY CONSENT DE-
CREES. 
(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘per-
forming rights society’’ has the meaning given the term in 
section 101 of title 17, United States Code. 
(b) NOTIFICATION OF REVIEW.—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Department of Justice 
shall provide timely briefings upon request of any 
Member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
House of Representatives regarding the status of a re-
view in progress of a consent decree between the 
United States and a performing rights society. 
(2) CONFIDENTIALITY AND DELIBERATIVE PROC-
ESS.—In accordance with applicable rules relating to 
confidentiality and agency deliberative process, the 
Department of Justice shall share with such Members 
of Congress detailed and timely information and per-
tinent documents related to the consent decree review. 
(c) ACTION BEFORE MOTION TO TERMINATE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Before filing with the appro-
priate district court of the United States a motion to 
terminate a consent decree between the United States 
and a performing rights society, including a motion 
to terminate a consent decree after the passage of a 
specified period of time, the Department of Justice 
shall— 
(A) notify Members of Congress and com-
mittees of Congress described in subsection (b); 
and
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(B) provide to such Members of Congress 
and committees information regarding the im-
pact of the proposed termination on the market 
for licensing the public performance of musical 
works should the motion be granted. 
(2) NOTIFICATION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—During the notification 
described in paragraph (1), and not later than 
a reasonable time before the date on which the 
Department of Justice files with the appropriate 
district court of the United States a motion to 
terminate a consent decree between the United 
States and a performing rights society, the De-
partment of Justice should submit to the chair-
men and ranking members of the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee 
on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 
a written notification of the intent of the De-
partment of Justice to file the motion. 
(B) CONTENTS.—The notification provided 
in subparagraph (A) shall include a written re-
port to the chairmen and ranking members of the 
Committee on the Judiciary of Senate and the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-
resentatives setting forth—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(i) an explanation of the process used 
by the Department of Justice to review the 
consent decree; 
(ii) a summary of the public comments 
received by the Department of Justice dur-
ing the review by the Department; and 
(iii) other information provided to 
Congress under paragraph (1)(B). 
(d) SCOPE.—This section applies only to a consent de-
cree between the United States and a performing rights soci-
ety. 
SEC. 106. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This title, and the amendments made by this title, 
shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. 
TITLE II—CLASSICS 
PROTECTION AND ACCESS 
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Classics Protection and 
Access Act’’. 
SEC. 202. UNAUTHORIZED USE OF PRE-1972 SOUND RE-
CORDINGS. 
(a) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW RIGHTS; PROTEC-
TION FOR UNAUTHORIZED USE.—Title 17, United States 
Code, is amended—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
(1) in section 301, by striking subsection (c) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 303, 
and in accordance with chapter 14, no sound recording 
fixed before February 15, 1972, shall be subject to copyright 
under this title. With respect to sound recordings fixed be-
fore February 15, 1972, the preemptive provisions of sub-
section (a) shall apply to activities that are commenced on 
and after the date of enactment of the Classics Protection 
and Access Act. Nothing in this subsection may be construed 
to affirm or negate the preemption of rights and remedies 
pertaining to any cause of action arising from the non-
subscription broadcast transmission of sound recordings 
under the common law or statutes of any State for activities 
that do not qualify as covered activities under chapter 14 
undertaken during the period between the date of enactment 
of the Classics Protection and Access Act and the date on 
which the term of prohibition on unauthorized acts under 
section 1401(a)(2) expires for such sound recordings. Any 
potential preemption of rights and remedies related to such 
activities undertaken during that period shall apply in all 
respects as it did the day before the date of enactment of 
the Classics Protection and Access Act.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following:
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘CHAPTER 14—UNAUTHORIZED USE OF 
PRE-1972 SOUND RECORDINGS 
‘‘Sec. 
‘‘1401. Unauthorized use of pre-1972 sound recordings. 
‘‘§ 1401. Unauthorized use of pre-1972 sound record-
ings 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) UNAUTHORIZED ACTS.—Anyone who, on or 
before the last day of the applicable transition period 
under paragraph (2), and without the consent of the 
rights owner, engages in covered activity with respect 
to a sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, 
shall be subject to the remedies provided in sections 
502 through 505 and 1203 to the same extent as an 
infringer of copyright or a person that engages in un-
authorized activity under chapter 12. 
‘‘(2) TERM OF PROHIBITION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The prohibition under 
paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(i) subject to clause (ii), shall apply 
to a sound recording described in that para-
graph— 
‘‘(I) through December 31 of the 
year that is 95 years after the year of 
first publication; and
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(II) for a further transition pe-
riod as prescribed under subparagraph 
(B) of this paragraph; and 
‘‘(ii) shall not apply to any sound re-
cording after February 15, 2067. 
‘‘(B) TRANSITION PERIODS.— 
‘‘(i) PRE-1923
RECORDINGS.—In the 
case of a sound recording first published be-
fore January 1, 1923, the transition period 
described in subparagraph (A)(i)(II) shall 
end on December 31 of the year that is 3 
years after the date of enactment of this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(ii) 1923–1946 RECORDINGS.—In the 
case of a sound recording first published 
during the period beginning on January 1, 
1923, and ending on December 31, 1946, the 
transition period described in subparagraph 
(A)(i)(II) shall end on the date that is 5 
years after the last day of the period de-
scribed in subparagraph (A)(i)(I). 
‘‘(iii) 1947–1956 RECORDINGS.—In the 
case of a sound recording first published 
during the period beginning on January 1, 
1947, and ending on December 31, 1956, the
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† HR 1551 EAS 
transition period described in subparagraph 
(A)(i)(II) shall end on the date that is 15 
years after the last day of the period de-
scribed in subparagraph (A)(i)(I). 
‘‘(iv) POST-1956 RECORDINGS.—In the 
case of a sound recording fixed before Feb-
ruary 15, 1972, that is not described in 
clause (i), (ii), or (iii), the transition period 
described in subparagraph (A)(i)(II) shall 
end on February 15, 2067. 
‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For the purposes 
of this subsection, the term ‘anyone’ includes any 
State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer 
or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State 
acting in the official capacity of the officer or em-
ployee, as applicable. 
‘‘(b) CERTAIN AUTHORIZED TRANSMISSIONS AND RE-
PRODUCTIONS.—A public performance by means of a dig-
ital audio transmission of a sound recording fixed before 
February 15, 1972, or a reproduction in an ephemeral pho-
norecord or copy of a sound recording fixed before February 
15, 1972, shall, for purposes of subsection (a), be considered 
to be authorized and made with the consent of the rights 
owner if—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(1) the transmission or reproduction would sat-
isfy the requirements for statutory licensing under 
section 112(e)(1) or section 114(d)(2), or would be ex-
empt under section 114(d)(1), as the case may be, if 
the sound recording were fixed on or after February 
15, 1972; and 
‘‘(2) the transmitting entity pays the statutory 
royalty for the transmission or reproduction pursuant 
to the rates and terms adopted under sections 112(e) 
and 114(f), and complies with other obligations, in 
the same manner as required by regulations adopted 
by the Copyright Royalty Judges under sections 
112(e) and 114(f) for sound recordings that are fixed 
on or after February 15, 1972, except in the case of 
a transmission that would be exempt under section 
114(d)(1). 
‘‘(c) CERTAIN NONCOMMERCIAL USES OF SOUND RE-
CORDINGS THAT ARE NOT BEING COMMERCIALLY EX-
PLOITED.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Noncommercial use of a 
sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, that 
is not being commercially exploited by or under the 
authority of the rights owner shall not violate sub-
section (a) if—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(A) the person engaging in the non-
commercial use, in order to determine whether 
the sound recording is being commercially ex-
ploited by or under the authority of the rights 
owner, makes a good faith, reasonable search for, 
but does not find, the sound recording— 
‘‘(i) in the records of schedules filed in 
the Copyright Office as described in sub-
section (f)(5)(A); and 
‘‘(ii) on services offering a comprehen-
sive set of sound recordings for sale or 
streaming; 
‘‘(B) the person engaging in the non-
commercial use files a notice identifying the 
sound recording and the nature of the use in the 
Copyright Office in accordance with the regula-
tions issued under paragraph (3)(B); and 
‘‘(C) during the 90-day period beginning on 
the date on which the notice described in sub-
paragraph (B) is indexed into the public records 
of the Copyright Office, the rights owner of the 
sound recording does not, in its discretion, opt 
out of the noncommercial use by filing notice 
thereof in the Copyright Office in accordance 
with the regulations issued under paragraph (5).
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‘‘(2) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 
this subsection— 
‘‘(A) merely recovering costs of production 
and distribution of a sound recording resulting 
from a use otherwise permitted under this sub-
section does not itself necessarily constitute a 
commercial use of the sound recording; 
‘‘(B) the fact that a person engaging in the 
use of a sound recording also engages in commer-
cial activities does not itself necessarily render 
the use commercial; and 
‘‘(C) the fact that a person files notice of a 
noncommercial use of a sound recording in ac-
cordance with the regulations issued under para-
graph (3)(B) does not itself affect any limitation 
on the exclusive rights of a copyright owner de-
scribed in section 107, 108, 109, 110, or 112(f) 
as applied to a claim under subsection (a) of this 
section pursuant to subsection (f)(1)(A) of this 
section. 
‘‘(3) NOTICE OF COVERED ACTIVITY.—Not later 
than 180 days after the date of enactment of this sec-
tion, the Register of Copyrights shall issue regulations 
that—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(A) provide specific, reasonable steps that, 
if taken by a filer, are sufficient to constitute a 
good faith, reasonable search under paragraph 
(1)(A) to determine whether a recording is being 
commercially exploited, including the services 
that satisfy the good faith, reasonable search re-
quirement under paragraph (1)(A) for purposes 
of the safe harbor described in paragraph (4)(A); 
and 
‘‘(B) establish the form, content, and proce-
dures for the filing of notices under paragraph 
(1)(B). 
‘‘(4) SAFE HARBOR.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A person engaging in a 
noncommercial use of a sound recording other-
wise permitted under this subsection who estab-
lishes that the person made a good faith, reason-
able search under paragraph (1)(A) without 
finding commercial exploitation of the sound re-
cording by or under the authority of the rights 
owner shall not be found to be in violation of 
subsection (a). 
‘‘(B) STEPS
SUFFICIENT
BUT
NOT
NEC-
ESSARY.—Taking the specific, reasonable steps 
identified by the Register of Copyrights in the
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† HR 1551 EAS 
regulations issued under paragraph (3)(A) shall 
be sufficient, but not necessary, for a filer to sat-
isfy the requirement to conduct a good faith, rea-
sonable search under paragraph (1)(A) for pur-
poses of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. 
‘‘(5) OPTING OUT OF COVERED ACTIVITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of enactment of this section, 
the Register of Copyrights shall issue regulations 
establishing the form, content, and procedures for 
the rights owner of a sound recording that is the 
subject of a notice under paragraph (1)(B) to, in 
its discretion, file notice opting out of the covered 
activity described in the notice under paragraph 
(1)(B) during the 90-day period beginning on 
the date on which the notice under paragraph 
(1)(B) is indexed into the public records of the 
Copyright Office. 
‘‘(B) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—The fact 
that a rights holder opts out of a noncommercial 
use of a sound recording by filing notice thereof 
in the Copyright Office in accordance with the 
regulations issued under subparagraph (A) does 
not itself enlarge or diminish any limitation on 
the exclusive rights of a copyright owner de-
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† HR 1551 EAS 
scribed in section 107, 108, 109, 110, or 112(f) 
as applied to a claim under subsection (a) of this 
section pursuant to subsection (f)(1)(A) of this 
section. 
‘‘(6) CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN ACTS.— 
‘‘(A) FILING OF NOTICES OF NONCOMMER-
CIAL USE.—Any person who willfully engages in 
a pattern or practice of filing a notice of non-
commercial use of a sound recording as described 
in paragraph (1)(B) fraudulently describing the 
use proposed, or knowing that the use proposed 
is not permitted under this subsection, shall be 
assessed a civil penalty in an amount that is not 
less than $250, and not more than $1000, for 
each such notice, in addition to any other rem-
edies that may be available under this title based 
on the actual use made. 
‘‘(B) FILING OF OPT-OUT NOTICES.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Any person who 
files an opt-out notice as described in para-
graph (1)(C), knowing that the person is 
not the rights owner or authorized to act on 
behalf of the rights owner of the sound re-
cording to which the notice pertains, shall 
be assessed a civil penalty in an amount
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† HR 1551 EAS 
not less than $250, and not more than 
$1,000, for each such notice. 
‘‘(ii) PATTERN
OR
PRACTICE.—Any 
person who engages in a pattern or practice 
of making filings as described in clause (i) 
shall be assessed a civil penalty in an 
amount not less than $10,000 for each such 
filing. 
‘‘(C) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this 
paragraph, the term ‘knowing’— 
‘‘(i) does not require specific intent to 
defraud; and 
‘‘(ii) with respect to information about 
ownership of the sound recording in ques-
tion, means that the person— 
‘‘(I) has actual knowledge of the 
information; 
‘‘(II) acts in deliberate ignorance 
of the truth or falsity of the informa-
tion; or 
‘‘(III) acts in grossly negligent 
disregard of the truth or falsity of the 
information.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(d) PAYMENT OF ROYALTIES FOR TRANSMISSIONS OF 
PERFORMANCES
BY DIRECT LICENSING
OF STATUTORY 
SERVICES.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A public performance by 
means of a digital audio transmission of a sound re-
cording fixed before February 15, 1972, shall, for pur-
poses of subsection (a), be considered to be authorized 
and made with the consent of the rights owner if the 
transmission is made pursuant to a license agreement 
voluntarily negotiated at any time between the rights 
owner and the entity performing the sound recording. 
‘‘(2) PAYMENT
OF
ROYALTIES
TO
NONPROFIT 
COLLECTIVE
UNDER
CERTAIN
LICENSE
AGREE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(A) LICENSES
ENTERED
INTO
ON
OR 
AFTER DATE OF ENACTMENT.—To the extent that 
a license agreement described in paragraph (1) 
entered into on or after the date of enactment of 
this section extends to a public performance by 
means of a digital audio transmission of a sound 
recording fixed before February 15, 1972, that 
meets the conditions of subsection (b)— 
‘‘(i) the licensee shall, with respect to 
such transmission, pay to the collective des-
ignated to distribute receipts from the li-
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† HR 1551 EAS 
censing of transmissions in accordance with 
section 114(f), 50 percent of the performance 
royalties for that transmission due under 
the license; and 
‘‘(ii) the royalties paid under clause (i) 
shall be fully credited as payments due 
under the license. 
‘‘(B) CERTAIN AGREEMENTS ENTERED INTO 
BEFORE ENACTMENT.—To the extent that a li-
cense agreement described in paragraph (1), en-
tered into during the period beginning on Janu-
ary 1 of the year in which this section is enacted 
and ending on the day before the date of enact-
ment of this section, or a settlement agreement 
with a preexisting satellite digital audio radio 
service (as defined in section 114(j)) entered into 
during the period beginning on January 1, 2015, 
and ending on the day before the date of enact-
ment of this section, extends to a public perform-
ance by means of a digital audio transmission of 
a sound recording fixed before February 15, 
1972, that meets the conditions of subsection 
(b)— 
‘‘(i) the rights owner shall, with respect 
to such transmission, pay to the collective
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† HR 1551 EAS 
designated to distribute receipts from the li-
censing of transmissions in accordance with 
section 114(f) an amount that is equal to 
the difference between— 
‘‘(I) 50 percent of the difference 
between— 
‘‘(aa) the rights owner’s total 
gross performance royalty fee re-
ceipts or settlement monies re-
ceived for all such transmissions 
covered under the license or settle-
ment agreement, as applicable; 
and 
‘‘(bb) the rights owner’s total 
payments for outside legal ex-
penses, including any payments of 
third-party claims, that are di-
rectly attributable to the license or 
settlement agreement, as applica-
ble; and 
‘‘(II) the amount of any royalty 
receipts or settlement monies under the 
agreement that are distributed by the 
rights owner to featured and nonfea-
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† HR 1551 EAS 
tered into before the date of enactment of this 
section, or any other license agreement not as de-
scribed in paragraph (2), extends to a public 
performance by means of a digital audio trans-
mission of a sound recording fixed before Feb-
ruary 15, 1972, that meets the conditions of sub-
section (b), the payments made by the licensee 
pursuant to the license shall be made in accord-
ance with the agreement. 
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL
PAYMENTS
NOT
RE-
QUIRED.—To the extent that a licensee has made, 
or will make in the future, payments pursuant 
to a license as described in subparagraph (A), 
the provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3) shall 
not require any additional payments from, or 
additional financial obligations on the part of, 
the licensee. 
‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 
this subsection may be construed to prohibit the 
collective designated to distribute receipts from 
the licensing of transmissions in accordance with 
section 114(f) from administering royalty pay-
ments under any license not described in para-
graph (2).
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(e) PREEMPTION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN PAST 
ACTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section preempts any 
claim of common law copyright or equivalent right 
under the laws of any State arising from a digital 
audio transmission or reproduction that is made be-
fore the date of enactment of this section of a sound 
recording fixed before February 15, 1972, if— 
‘‘(A) the digital audio transmission would 
have satisfied the requirements for statutory li-
censing under section 114(d)(2) or been exempt 
under section 114(d)(1), or the reproduction 
would have satisfied the requirements of section 
112(e)(1), as the case may be, if the sound re-
cording were fixed on or after February 15, 
1972; and 
‘‘(B) either— 
‘‘(i) except in the case of a trans-
mission that would have been exempt under 
section 114(d)(1), not later than 270 days 
after the date of enactment of this section, 
the transmitting entity pays statutory roy-
alties and provides notice of the use of the 
relevant sound recordings in the same man-
ner as required by regulations adopted by
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† HR 1551 EAS 
the Copyright Royalty Judges for sound re-
cordings that are fixed on or after February 
15, 1972, for all the digital audio trans-
missions and reproductions satisfying the 
requirements for statutory licensing under 
sections 112(e)(1) and 114(d)(2) during the 
3 years before that date of enactment; or 
‘‘(ii) an agreement voluntarily nego-
tiated between the rights owner and the en-
tity performing the sound recording (in-
cluding a litigation settlement agreement 
entered into before the date of enactment of 
this section) authorizes or waives liability 
for any such transmission or reproduction 
and the transmitting entity has paid for 
and reported such digital audio trans-
mission under that agreement. 
‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION FOR COMMON LAW 
COPYRIGHT.—For purposes of paragraph (1), a claim 
of common law copyright or equivalent right under 
the laws of any State includes a claim that character-
izes conduct subject to that paragraph as an unlawful 
distribution, act of record piracy, or similar viola-
tion.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION FOR PUBLIC PER-
FORMANCE RIGHTS.—Nothing in this section may be 
construed to recognize or negate the existence of public 
performance rights in sound recordings under the 
laws of any State. 
‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS ON REMEDIES.— 
‘‘(1) FAIR USE; USES BY LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES, 
AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The limitations on the 
exclusive rights of a copyright owner described in 
sections 107, 108, 109, 110, and 112(f) shall 
apply to a claim under subsection (a) with re-
spect to a sound recording fixed before February 
15, 1972. 
‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION FOR SECTION 
108(H).—With respect to the application of sec-
tion 108(h) to a claim under subsection (a) with 
respect to a sound recording fixed before Feb-
ruary 15, 1972, the phrase ‘during the last 20 
years of any term of copyright of a published 
work’ in such section 108(h) shall be construed 
to mean at any time after the date of enactment 
of this section. 
‘‘(2) ACTIONS.—The limitations on actions de-
scribed in section 507 shall apply to a claim under
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† HR 1551 EAS 
subsection (a) with respect to a sound recording fixed 
before February 15, 1972. 
‘‘(3) MATERIAL
ONLINE.—Section 512 shall 
apply to a claim under subsection (a) with respect to 
a sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972. 
‘‘(4) PRINCIPLES OF EQUITY.—Principles of eq-
uity apply to remedies for a violation of this section 
to the same extent as such principles apply to rem-
edies for infringement of copyright. 
‘‘(5) FILING
REQUIREMENT
FOR
STATUTORY 
DAMAGES AND ATTORNEYS’ FEES.— 
‘‘(A) FILING OF INFORMATION ON SOUND 
RECORDINGS.— 
‘‘(i) FILING REQUIREMENT.—Except in 
the case of a transmitting entity that has 
filed contact information for that transmit-
ting entity under subparagraph (B), in any 
action under this section, an award of stat-
utory damages or of attorneys’ fees under 
section 504 or 505 may be made with re-
spect to an unauthorized use of a sound re-
cording under subsection (a) only if— 
‘‘(I) the rights owner has filed 
with the Copyright Office a schedule 
that specifies the title, artist, and
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† HR 1551 EAS 
rights owner of the sound recording 
and contains such other information, 
as practicable, as the Register of Copy-
rights prescribes by regulation; and 
‘‘(II) the use occurs after the end 
of the 90-day period beginning on the 
date on which the information de-
scribed in subclause (I) is indexed into 
the public records of the Copyright Of-
fice. 
‘‘(ii) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of enactment of this 
section, the Register of Copyrights shall 
issue regulations that— 
‘‘(I) establish the form, content, 
and procedures for the filing of sched-
ules under clause (i); 
‘‘(II) provide that a person may 
request that the person receive timely 
notification of a filing described in 
subclause (I); and 
‘‘(III) set forth the manner in 
which a person may make a request 
under subclause (II).
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(B) FILING OF CONTACT INFORMATION FOR 
TRANSMITTING ENTITIES.— 
‘‘(i) FILING REQUIREMENT.—Not later 
than 30 days after the date of enactment of 
this section, the Register of Copyrights shall 
issue regulations establishing the form, con-
tent, and procedures for the filing of contact 
information by any entity that, as of the 
date of enactment of this section, performs 
a sound recording fixed before February 15, 
1972, by means of a digital audio trans-
mission. 
‘‘(ii) TIME
LIMIT
ON
FILINGS.—The 
Register of Copyrights may accept filings 
under clause (i) only until the 180th day 
after the date of enactment of this section. 
‘‘(iii) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY DAM-
AGES AND ATTORNEYS’ FEES.— 
‘‘(I) LIMITATION.—An award of 
statutory damages or of attorneys’ fees 
under section 504 or 505 may not be 
made against an entity that has filed 
contact information for that entity 
under clause (i) with respect to an un-
authorized use by that entity of a
169 
† HR 1551 EAS 
sound recording under subsection (a) if 
the use occurs before the end of the 90- 
day period beginning on the date on 
which the entity receives a notice 
that— 
‘‘(aa) is sent by or on behalf 
of the rights owner of the sound 
recording; 
‘‘(bb) states that the entity is 
not legally authorized to use that 
sound recording under subsection 
(a); and 
‘‘(cc) identifies the sound re-
cording in a schedule conforming 
to the requirements prescribed by 
the regulations issued under sub-
paragraph (A)(ii). 
‘‘(II) 
UNDELIVERABLE
NO-
TICES.—In any case in which a notice 
under subclause (I) is sent to an entity 
by mail or courier service and the no-
tice is returned to the sender because 
the entity either is no longer located at 
the address provided in the contact in-
formation filed under clause (i) or has
170 
† HR 1551 EAS 
refused to accept delivery, or the notice 
is sent by electronic mail and is un-
deliverable, the 90-day period under 
subclause (I) shall begin on the date of 
the attempted delivery. 
‘‘(C) SECTION 412.—Section 412 shall not 
limit an award of statutory damages under sec-
tion 504(c) or attorneys’ fees under section 505 
with respect to a covered activity in violation of 
subsection (a). 
‘‘(6) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), no provision of this title shall apply 
to or limit the remedies available under this sec-
tion except as otherwise provided in this section. 
‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF DEFINITIONS.—Any 
term used in this section that is defined in sec-
tion 101 shall have the meaning given that term 
in section 101. 
‘‘(g) APPLICATION OF SECTION 230 SAFE HARBOR.— 
For purposes of section 230 of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), subsection (a) shall be considered to 
be a ‘law pertaining to intellectual property’ under sub-
section (e)(2) of such section 230. 
‘‘(h) APPLICATION TO RIGHTS OWNERS.—
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(1) TRANSFERS.—With respect to a rights 
owner described in subsection (l)(2)(B)— 
‘‘(A) subsections (d) and (e) of section 201 
and section 204 shall apply to a transfer de-
scribed in subsection (l)(2)(B) to the same extent 
as with respect to a transfer of copyright owner-
ship; and 
‘‘(B) notwithstanding section 411, that 
rights owner may institute an action with re-
spect to a violation of this section to the same ex-
tent as the owner of an exclusive right under a 
copyright may institute an action under section 
501(b). 
‘‘(2) APPLICATION OF OTHER PROVISIONS.—The 
following provisions shall apply to a rights owner 
under this section to the same extent as any copyright 
owner: 
‘‘(A) Section 112(e)(2). 
‘‘(B) Section 112(e)(7). 
‘‘(C) Section 114(e). 
‘‘(D) Section 114(h). 
‘‘(i) EPHEMERAL RECORDINGS.—An authorized repro-
duction made under this section shall be subject to section 
112(g) to the same extent as a reproduction of a sound re-
cording fixed on or after February 15, 1972.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(j) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—A rights owner of, or 
featured recording artist who performs on, a sound record-
ing under this chapter shall be deemed to be an interested 
copyright party, as defined in section 1001, to the same 
extent as a copyright owner or featured recording artist 
under chapter 10. 
‘‘(k) TREATMENT OF STATES AND STATE INSTRUMEN-
TALITIES, OFFICERS, AND EMPLOYEES.—Any State, and 
any instrumentality, officer, or employee described in sub-
section (a)(3), shall be subject to the provisions of this sec-
tion in the same manner and to the same extent as any 
nongovernmental entity. 
‘‘(l) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) COVERED ACTIVITY.—The term ‘covered ac-
tivity’ means any activity that the copyright owner 
of a sound recording would have the exclusive right 
to do or authorize under section 106 or 602, or that 
would violate section 1201 or 1202, if the sound re-
cording were fixed on or after February 15, 1972. 
‘‘(2) RIGHTS OWNER.—The term ‘rights owner’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) the person that has the exclusive right 
to reproduce a sound recording under the laws of 
any State, as of the day before the date of enact-
ment of this section; or
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(B) any person to which a right to enforce 
a violation of this section may be transferred, in 
whole or in part, after the date of enactment of 
this section, under— 
‘‘(i) subsections (d) and (e) of section 
201; and 
‘‘(ii) section 204.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 
for title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘14. Unauthorized use of pre-1972 sound recordings .................................
1401’’. 
TITLE III—ALLOCATION FOR 
MUSIC PRODUCERS 
SEC. 301. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Allocation for Music 
Producers Act’’ or the ‘‘AMP Act’’. 
SEC. 302. PAYMENT OF STATUTORY PERFORMANCE ROYAL-
TIES. 
(a) LETTER OF DIRECTION.—Section 114(g) of title 
17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(5) LETTER OF DIRECTION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A nonprofit collective 
designated by the Copyright Royalty Judges to 
distribute receipts from the licensing of trans-
missions in accordance with subsection (f) shall
174 
† HR 1551 EAS 
adopt and reasonably implement a policy that 
provides, in circumstances determined by the col-
lective to be appropriate, for acceptance of in-
structions from a payee identified under sub-
paragraph (A) or (D) of paragraph (2) to dis-
tribute, to a producer, mixer, or sound engineer 
who was part of the creative process that created 
a sound recording, a portion of the payments to 
which the payee would otherwise be entitled from 
the licensing of transmissions of the sound re-
cording. In this section, such instructions shall 
be referred to as a ‘letter of direction’. 
‘‘(B) ACCEPTANCE OF LETTER.—To the ex-
tent that a collective described in subparagraph 
(A) accepts a letter of direction under that sub-
paragraph, the person entitled to payment pur-
suant to the letter of direction shall, during the 
period in which the letter of direction is in effect 
and carried out by the collective, be treated for 
all purposes as the owner of the right to receive 
such payment, and the payee providing the letter 
of direction to the collective shall be treated as 
having no interest in such payment. 
‘‘(C) AUTHORITY
OF
COLLECTIVE.—This 
paragraph shall not be construed in such a man-
175 
† HR 1551 EAS 
ner so that the collective is not authorized to ac-
cept or act upon payment instructions in cir-
cumstances other than those to which this para-
graph applies.’’. 
(b) ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS FOR RECORDINGS FIXED 
BEFORE NOVEMBER 1, 1995.—Section 114(g) of title 17, 
United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), is further 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) SOUND RECORDINGS FIXED BEFORE NOVEM-
BER 1, 1995.— 
‘‘(A) PAYMENT ABSENT LETTER OF DIREC-
TION.—A nonprofit collective designated by the 
Copyright Royalty Judges to distribute receipts 
from the licensing of transmissions in accordance 
with subsection (f) (in this paragraph referred to 
as the ‘collective’) shall adopt and reasonably 
implement a policy that provides, in cir-
cumstances determined by the collective to be ap-
propriate, for the deduction of 2 percent of all 
the receipts that are collected from the licensing 
of transmissions of a sound recording fixed be-
fore November 1, 1995, but which is withdrawn 
from the amount otherwise payable under para-
graph (2)(D) to the recording artist or artists 
featured on the sound recording (or the persons
176 
† HR 1551 EAS 
conveying rights in the artists’ performance in 
the sound recording), and the distribution of 
such amount to 1 or more persons described in 
subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, after deduc-
tion of costs described in paragraph (3) or (4), 
as applicable, if each of the following require-
ments is met: 
‘‘(i) CERTIFICATION
OF
ATTEMPT
TO 
OBTAIN A LETTER OF DIRECTION.—The per-
son described in subparagraph (B) who is 
to receive the distribution has certified to 
the collective, under penalty of perjury, 
that— 
‘‘(I) for a period of not less than 
120 days, that person made reasonable 
efforts to contact the artist payee for 
such sound recording to request and 
obtain a letter of direction instructing 
the collective to pay to that person a 
portion of the royalties payable to the 
featured recording artist or artists; and 
‘‘(II) during the period beginning 
on the date on which that person began 
the reasonable efforts described in sub-
clause (I) and ending on the date of
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† HR 1551 EAS 
that person’s certification to the collec-
tive, the artist payee did not affirm or 
deny in writing the request for a letter 
of direction. 
‘‘(ii) COLLECTIVE
ATTEMPT
TO
CON-
TACT ARTIST.—After receipt of the certifi-
cation described in clause (i) and for a pe-
riod of not less than 120 days before the 
first distribution by the collective to the per-
son described in subparagraph (B), the col-
lective attempts, in a reasonable manner as 
determined by the collective, to notify the 
artist payee of the certification made by the 
person described in subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(iii) NO OBJECTION RECEIVED.—The 
artist payee does not, as of the date that 
was 10 business days before the date on 
which the first distribution is made, submit 
to the collective in writing an objection to 
the distribution. 
‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT.—A person 
shall be eligible for payment under subparagraph 
(A) if the person— 
‘‘(i) is a producer, mixer, or sound en-
gineer of the sound recording;
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(ii) has entered into a written con-
tract with a record company involved in the 
creation or lawful exploitation of the sound 
recording, or with the recording artist or 
artists featured on the sound recording (or 
the persons conveying rights in the artists’ 
performance in the sound recording), under 
which the person seeking payment is enti-
tled to participate in royalty payments that 
are based on the exploitation of the sound 
recording and are payable from royalties 
otherwise payable to the recording artist or 
artists featured on the sound recording (or 
the persons conveying rights in the artists’ 
performance in the sound recording); 
‘‘(iii) made a creative contribution to 
the creation of the sound recording; and 
‘‘(iv) submits to the collective— 
‘‘(I) a written certification stat-
ing, under penalty of perjury, that the 
person meets the requirements in 
clauses (i) through (iii); and 
‘‘(II) a true copy of the contract 
described in clause (ii).
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(C) MULTIPLE
CERTIFICATIONS.—Subject 
to subparagraph (D), in a case in which more 
than 1 person described in subparagraph (B) has 
met the requirements for a distribution under 
subparagraph (A) with respect to a sound re-
cording as of the date that is 10 business days 
before the date on which the distribution is 
made, the collective shall divide the 2 percent 
distribution equally among all such persons. 
‘‘(D) OBJECTION TO PAYMENT.—Not later 
than 10 business days after the date on which 
the collective receives from the artist payee a 
written objection to a distribution made pursu-
ant to subparagraph (A), the collective shall 
cease making any further payment relating to 
such distribution. In any case in which the col-
lective has made 1 or more distributions pursu-
ant to subparagraph (A) to a person described in 
subparagraph (B) before the date that is 10 busi-
ness days after the date on which the collective 
receives from the artist payee an objection to 
such distribution, the objection shall not affect 
that person’s entitlement to any distribution 
made before the collective ceases such distribution 
under this subparagraph.
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† HR 1551 EAS 
‘‘(E) OWNERSHIP OF THE RIGHT TO RE-
CEIVE PAYMENTS.—To the extent that the collec-
tive determines that a distribution will be made 
under subparagraph (A) to a person described in 
subparagraph (B), such person shall, during the 
period covered by such distribution, be treated 
for all purposes as the owner of the right to re-
ceive such payments, and the artist payee to 
whom such payments would otherwise be payable 
shall be treated as having no interest in such 
payments. 
‘‘(F) ARTIST
PAYEE
DEFINED.—In this 
paragraph, the term ‘artist payee’ means a per-
son, other than a person described in subpara-
graph (B), who owns the right to receive all or 
part of the receipts payable under paragraph 
(2)(D) with respect to a sound recording. In a 
case in which there are multiple artist payees 
with respect to a sound recording, an objection 
by 1 such payee shall apply only to that payee’s 
share of the receipts payable under paragraph 
(2)(D), and shall not preclude payment under 
subparagraph (A) from the share of an artist 
payee that does not so object.’’.
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(c) TECHNICAL
AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
Section 114(g) of title 17, United States Code, as amended 
by subsections (a) and (b), is further amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘An agent des-
ignated’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided for in 
paragraph (6), a nonprofit collective designated by 
the Copyright Royalty Judges’’; 
(2) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘nonprofit agent des-
ignated’’ and inserting ‘‘nonprofit collective des-
ignated by the Copyright Royalty Judges’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘another designated agent’’ 
and inserting ‘‘another designated nonprofit col-
lective’’; and 
(C) by striking ‘‘agent’’ and inserting ‘‘col-
lective’’ each subsequent place it appears; 
(3) in paragraph (4)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘designated agent’’ and in-
serting ‘‘nonprofit collective’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘agent’’ and inserting ‘‘col-
lective’’ each subsequent place it appears; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) PREEMPTION OF STATE PROPERTY LAWS.— 
The holding and distribution of receipts under section 
112 and this section by a nonprofit collective des-
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ignated by the Copyright Royalty Judges in accord-
ance with this subsection and regulations adopted by 
the Copyright Royalty Judges, or by an independent 
administrator pursuant to subparagraphs (B) and 
(C) of section 114(g)(2), shall supersede and preempt 
any State law (including common law) concerning 
escheatment or abandoned property, or any analogous 
provision, that might otherwise apply.’’. 
SEC. 303. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), this title and the amendments made by this title shall 
take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. 
(b) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraphs (5)(B) 
and (6)(E) of section 114(g) of title 17, United States Code, 
as added by section 302, shall take effect on January 1, 
2020. 
TITLE IV—SEVERABILITY 
SEC. 401. SEVERABILITY. 
If any provision of this Act or any amendment made 
by this Act, or any application of such provision or amend-
ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconsti-
tutional, the remainder of the provisions of this Act and 
the amendments made by this Act, and the application of
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the provision or amendment to any other person or cir-
cumstance, shall not be affected. 
Attest: 
Secretary.