I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5219 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to require broadcasters to obtain 
permission to transmit content owned by another person, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 21, 2019 
Mr. NADLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to require broad-
casters to obtain permission to transmit content owned 
by another person, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ask Musicians For 
Music Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 
2. 
TRANSMISSION 
CONSENT 
FOR 
TERRESTRIAL 
BROADCASTS. 
(a) RIGHT APPLICABLE TO TRANSMISSIONS GEN-
ERALLY.—Section 106(6) of title 17, United States Code, 
is amended by striking ‘‘a digital’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’. 
(b) TRANSMISSION CONSENT.—Section 114(d)(1)(A) 
of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding 
after ‘‘transmission’’ the following: ‘‘, except that, in the 
case of a transmission made by a radio station, the radio 
station shall obtain the express authority of the copyright 
owner of that sound recording for any such transmission 
(unless the transmission consists of services at a place of 
worship (or at another religious assembly) or incidental 
uses of a musical work)’’. 
SEC. 
3. 
SMALL 
BROADCASTERS; 
PUBLIC 
AND 
EDU-
CATIONAL RADIO. 
(a) SMALL BROADCASTERS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Consent required under sec-
tion 2 shall be deemed satisfied by the payment of 
$500 per year by any radio station with revenues in 
that year of less than $1,000,000, including all reve-
nues arising from or relating to the operation of the 
station, as calculated in accordance with generally 
accepted accounting principles in the United States. 
(2) AFFILIATES.—For the purposes of calcu-
lating revenues under paragraph (1) with respect to 
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affiliated broadcast stations, revenues shall be allo-
cated reasonably to individual stations that are asso-
ciated with those revenues. 
(b) PUBLIC BROADCASTERS, COLLEGE RADIO, AND 
OTHER NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS.—Any negotiation to 
obtain the express authority of a copyright owner that is 
required with respect to a transmission made by a radio 
station under section 114(d)(1)(A) of title 17, United 
States Code, as amended by section 2(b), may not result 
in the payment of compensation in an amount that is more 
than $100 per year by any individual terrestrial broadcast 
station that is— 
(1) licensed by the Federal Communications 
Commission as an individual terrestrial broadcast 
station; and 
(2) a public broadcasting entity, as that term is 
defined in section 118(f) of title 17, United States 
Code. 
(c) DESIGNATED AGENT.—Payments made pursuant 
to subsections (a) and (b) shall be directed to the agent 
designated to distribute receipts from the licensing of dig-
ital transmissions in accordance with section 114(f) of title 
17 and used to defray administrative costs as described 
in section 114(g)(3)(A) of title 17. 
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SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 
(a) DEFINITION.—Section 101 of title 17, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to ‘‘architectural work’’ the following: 
‘‘An ‘audio transmission’ is the communication of a 
sound recording, whether in digital, analog, or other for-
mat, whereby sounds are received beyond the place from 
which they are sent. An audio transmission does not in-
clude the transmission of any audiovisual work.’’. 
(b) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 17, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in section 112(e)(8), by striking ‘‘a digital 
audio transmission’’ and inserting ‘‘an audio trans-
mission’’; 
(2) in section 114— 
(A) in subsection (d)— 
(i) in paragraph (1)— 
(I) in the matter preceding sub-
paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘a digital’’ 
and inserting ‘‘an’’; and 
(II) in subparagraph (B)— 
(aa) by striking clauses (i) 
and (iii); 
(bb) 
by 
redesignating 
clauses (ii) and (iv) as clauses (i) 
and (ii), respectively; and 
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